Italian models and local inflections in sacred music in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth : the case of Marco Scacchi's "motetta juxta usum modernum"

Marco Scacchi (c. 1600-1662), in the years 1633-1649/50 the chapel master at the court of the Polish kings Władysław IV and Jan Kazimierz, is today mainly known as the author of the several publications on the theory of music. But above all, he was a composer who left behind dozens of interesting works worth remembering; of particular importance are some small-scale motets labelled by the composer as "motetta juxta usum modernum," which have not been discussed separately. Their characteristics allow a better understanding of the process of transformations on the grounds of the baroque motet in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, because they are relatively early and the most eminent local examples of pieces composed according to the principle of "ut oratio sit domina harmoniae." This article is based on an analysis of all the testimonies of Scacchi's motets known today, although one has to remember that many of his works have disappeared. For a better understanding of the essence of the discussed works, the appropriate views of Scacchi's theoretical works were also used. A large majority of these music sources have been preserved outside of Poland, and this shows the wide reception of Scacchi's music in Central and Northern Europe