Composing Sacred Renaissance Polyphony: Setting the Divine Mercy Sunday Texts for the Liturgy

Slattery, Benjamin

Student Work

Composing Sacred Renaissance Polyphony: Setting the Divine Mercy Sunday Texts for the Liturgy

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The goal of this project was to set the Divine Mercy Sunday Entrance Antiphon, Psalm, Alleluia, and Communion Antiphon in the style of Sacred Renaissance Polyphony. The first step was to study Johann Joseph Fux’s Gradus Ad Parnassum, a classic book about the step-by-step process of learning to write renaissance polyphony, which taught many famous composers such as Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. The second step was to study the great composers of this style and their works, including William Byrd, Thomas Tallis, Tomás Luis de Victoria, and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Next the text was analyzed to find accents and patterns in flow and meaning. The text was set based on those accents and patterns, following Fux’s rules and the examples of the great composers. This project partnered with St John’s and St Bernard’s in Worcester to sing the project live at Catholic Mass for Divine Mercy Sunday.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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