The Ordinarium Parts of the Mass by Nicolaus de Radom in Relation to Works by Antonio Zacara da Teramo and Johannes Ciconia1

The aim of the article is to bridge the gap in the study of Nicolaus de Radom’s output by presenting a comparative analysis of his works as juxtaposed with other European artists. The prevailing opinion of musicologists, such as Maria Szczepańska and Mirosław Perz, is that Nicolaus de Radom’s music is closely related to the worksof northern Italian composers. However, such a claim has not yet been supported with the detailed comparative analysis. The article presents the analysis of the manuscripts of Kras 52 and Wn 378, signed by Nicolaus de Radom, confronted with selected masses by Johannes Ciconia and Antonio Zacara da Teramo. A detailed analysis of a two-sectioned cyclic mass helps to distinguish certain similarities and differences in the unification of the Mass pairs, as they are exemplified in the music of the composers. The works of all of the three artists manifest secular songs’ influence on the shaping of the Mass as a genre, although each composer adapts it in a slightly different way. Moreover, it is stated that a thorough analysis of the 15th-century Masses is necessary to determine whether there are any links between Nicolaus de Radom, Antonio Zacara da Teramo and Johannes Ciconia’s works, and whether there are any similarities in their compositional technique. Presented analysis of de Radom, Zacara da Teramo and Ciconia’s Masses refutes the claim that Nicolaus de Radom’s output bears closest relation to those of Zacara da Teramo’s. The results of the study reveal that there are no straightforward examples which would support such a theory