Contrapuntal strategies in William Byrd's 1589 Cantiones Sacrae

v.1. Text (246 leaves) -- v.2. Figures and musical examples (145 leaves)William Byrd's motets with Latin text are a little-known contribution to the sacred vocal repertoire. Most important among these works are three books of Cantiones Sacrae, published 1575, 1589 and 1591, respectively. The 1589 Cantiones Sacrae was Byrd's first harvest from a backlog of motets that had been accumulating since 1575. This collection lies at a midpoint between Byrd's earliest published works and his full maturity, as seen in the Masses of 1592--95.This study will describe the contrapuntal strategies that characterize Byrd's 1589 Cantiones. I will examine Byrd's deeper-level tonal organization and its derivation from cantus firmus technique. I will show how Byrd uses musical material in cantus firmus values (the breve and semibreve) to shape his subject material and his cadence points, and how this shaping plays out over the course of an imitative point.I will then examine Byrd's introductory gestures in the 1589 Cantiones, identifying 24 presentation types that characterize different degrees of beginning. These types contain one or more melodic subjects in a recurring temporal relationship, and form a vertical interval pattern or harmonic motive. Next, I will discuss Byrd's variation techniques by which he develops these presentation types: textural change, transposition, melodic inversion and invertible counterpoint. Byrd's presentation and variation of subject material divides an imitative point into distinct phases of tonal and contrapuntal activity, providing insight into its overall form and tonal design.Finally, I will apply these analytical tools to a complete analysis of Tristitia et anxietas, from the 1589 Cantiones, thereby showing how Byrd establishes central pitches in the middleground. Through this analysis, I will summarize Byrd's contrapuntal strategies, both long-range and local, that typify his middle-period sacred vocal style, as viewed through the lens of the 1589 Cantiones Sacrae