Papal Patronage and the Music of St. Peter's, 1380-1513

A new picture of music at the basilica of St. Peters in the fifteenth century emerges in Christopher A. Reynoldss fascinating chronicle of this rich period of Italian musical history. Reynolds examines archival documents, musical styles, and issues of artistic patronage and cultural context in a fertile consideration of the ways historical and musical currents affected each other. This work is both a historical account of performers and composers and an examination of how their music revealed their cultural values and educational backgrounds. Reynolds analyzes several anonymous masses copied at St. Peters, proposing attributions that have biographical implications for the composers. Taken together, the archival records and the music sung at St. Peters reveal a much clearer picture of musical life at the basilica than either source would alone. The contents of the St. Peters choirbook help document musical life as surely as that musical lifeinsofar as it can be reconstructed from the archivesillumines the choirbook. This title is part of UC Presss Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1995.