Book Description
The arrival of Francisco de Pealosa at the Aragonese court in May 1498 marks something of an epoch in the history of Spanish music: Pealosa wrote in a mature, northern-oriented style, and his sacred music influenced Iberian composers for generations after his death. Kenneth Kreitner's new book looks at the church music sung by Spaniards in the decades before Pealosa, a repertory that has long been ignored because much of it is anonymous and because it is scattered through manuscripts better known for something else. He identifies sixty-seven pieces of surviving Latin sacred music that were written in Spain between 1400 and the early 1500s, and he discusses them source by source, revealing the rapid and dramatic change, not only in the style and sophistication of these pieces, but in the level of composerly self-consciousness shown in the manuscripts. Within a generation or so at the end of the fifteenth century, Spanish musicians created a new national music just as Ferdinand and Isabella were creating a new nation. KENNETH KREITNER teaches at the University of Memphis.
The Church Music of Fifteenth-Century Spain FROM THE PUBLISHER
Spanish church music prior to the work of Francisco de Penalosa at the end of the fifteenth century has been much neglected, partly because much of it is anonymous and scattered throughout a number of manuscripts. This book aims to redress the balance, identifying and examining nearly 70 pieces of surviving Latin sacred music written in Spain between 1400 and the early 1500s, and discussing them source by source; the author argues that they reveal a rapid and dramatic change, not only in style and sophistication, but in the level of self-consciousness they demonstrate, creating a new national music as Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain were creating a new nation. He moves on from this to set Penalosa's work, written in a more mature, northern-oriented style which influenced Iberian composers for generations after his death.
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