Marian motets in Petrucci's Venetian motet anthologies

Although there is a marked increase in the number of surviving motets from the early sixteenth century, the context in which they were performed remains a mystery. The first five printed anthologies of motets, published by Petrucci in Venice between 1502 and 1508, include a significant proportion of Marian motets (95 of the 174 pieces). In the first chapter I provide evidence that these polyphonic Marian motets were used in the Venetian confraternities, or "scuole." The second chapter draws connections between the musical needs of the scuole and the Marian text types of the motet anthologies. The final chapter looks at settings of the most common devotional prayer of the early sixteenth century, the Ave Maria. This thesis thus proposes a new context---the Venetian scuole---for the consumption of printed motet books and the performance of motets, with a special emphasis on their role in lay Marian devotions