Monson, Concilio Di Trento

The Council of Trent Revisited
Author(s): Craig A. Monson

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 55, No. 1 (Spring 2002), pp. 1-37
Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the American Musicological Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/jams.2002.55.1.1 .
Accessed: 22/02/2012 13:10
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
University of California Press and American Musicological Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,
preserve and extend access to Journal of the American Musicological Society.
http://www.jstor.org

CRMG A. MONSON
lastfiftyyearshavewitnesseda significant
not only
reinterpretation
of the Council of Trent, but also of its aftermath.Long regardedas a
reaction and counterattack against Protestantism, a viewpoint that
originallyarose out of northern European historiography,the conclave has
been resituatedwithin a continuityof Catholicreformand populardevotional
movements spanning many generations.The Council is no longer perceived
as an ultimately decisive event, which by its decrees effectively turned
Catholicismaside from centurtiesof corruption, but as a primaryepisode in
several hundred years of reform. From this new standpoint the old phrase
"Counter-Reformation,"while perhaps still applicableto German religious
historiography,appears to distort the wider reality of ecclesiasticalhistory
in the rest of Europe and beyond. Hubert Jedin's alternatives, "Catholic
Reformation-Counter Reformation, recognized the pluralism of the
Catholic tradition, provoking in turn John O'Malley's "Early Modern
Catholicism." The expanding time frame of Catholic reform, which jean
Delumeau had first extended from Luther to Voltaire,subsequentlybroadened even fuirtherto stretchfrom the thirteenthto the eighteenth centuries.'
The
This paperis respectfullydedicated to Lewis Lockwood. Preliminaryversionswere presented at

the Convegno Internazionale di Studi in Occasione del Quarto Centenario della Morte di
Giovanni Pierluigida Palestrina,Palestrina,October 1994 (in whose proceedings an alternative
text may eventually be published) and at the Sixty-sixth Annual Meeting of the American
Musicological Society, Toronto, November 2000. It has greatlybenefited from the suggestions
and observationsof RichardSherrand the two anonymnous
readersfor this Journal. I also wish to
thank Leofi-ancHolford-Strevensfor his perceptiveadvice and commentaryon the Latin translations, and, indeed, on inaccuraciesthat had crept into publishedversionsof the Latinoriginals.
1. See, in particular,Hubert Jedin, KatbolischeReformation oder Gegenreformation?Ein
Versuchzur Kiarung der Begriffe nebst einer Jubilaumsbetrachtunguiberdas TrienterKonzil
(Lucerne: Josef Stocker, 1946); John W. O'Malley, "WasIgnatius Loyola a Church Reformer?
How to Look at EarlyModern Catholicism,"TheCatholicHistoricalReview77 (1991): 177-93;
Paolo Prodi and WolfgangReinhard,eds., II Conciliodi Trentoe il moderno(Bologna: EIMulino,
1996); as well as Prodi's earlier writings such as "II binomio jediniano 'Riforma cattolica e
Controriforma'e la storiografiaitaliana,"Annuali dell'Istitutostoricoitalo-germanicoin Trento6
(1980): 85-98, and "Controriformae/o Riformacattolica:Superamentodi vecchi dflemiminei
Societ2002, vol. 55, no. 1]
[JournalofteheAmerican
Musicological
? 2002 by the AmericanMusicological
Society.Allrightsreserved.0003-0139/02/5501-0001$2.00
University of California Press

is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to
Journal of the American Musicological Society
www.jstor.org
The familiarold legend of Palestrinaand his MissaPapae Marcellisaving

church music from the Council's attacks,first apparentlyraised by Agostino
Agazzariin 1607 and elaboratedrepeatedlyover the centuriesbefore receiving
its most artistic treatment in Hans Pfitzner's opera Palestrina (1917), has
largely been laid to rest.2 Yet considerableconfusion has continued to surround the place of music at Trent. By revisitingthe voluminous primaryand
secondaryliteratureon Trent, some of which remainsunpublished,this essay
reconsidershow the Council treated the issue of music. It attemptsto distinguish between what was presented about music in importantpreliminarydeliberations,less familiarto music historians,and the specific stipulationsthat
Council memberseventuallychose to make official,particularlyat the twentysecond session. The failureto make such a distinctionhas contributedto significantmisunderstandingin musical scholarshipuntil very recently.3For the
Council actuallychose to say as little as possible about music-much less, in
nuovi panoramistoriografici,"Romischehistorische
Mitteilungen31 (1989): 227-37; and, finally,
John W. O'Malley'srecent Trentand All That:Renaming Catholicismin the EarlyModernEra
(Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 2000). On the expanding time frame of
Catholicreform, see Jean Delumeau, CatholicismBetweenLutherand Voltaire:A New Viewof the
Counter-Reformation(London: Burns and Oates, 1977); and idem, Lepecheet la peur:La culpabilisationen Occident,XIIIe-XVIIIe siecles(Paris:Fayard,1983).
2. LewisH. Lockwood, ed., Palestrina:PopeMarcellusMass,printsseveralversionsof the legend, from Agazzari(1607) to GiuseppeBaini (1828), along with very useful commentary([New
York:Norton, 1975], 28-36). JessieAnn Owens's reconsiderationof Palestrina'sreformingrole,
"WasPalestrinaa Reformer?Rethinkingthe Myths of Reform,"presentedat the YaleUniversity
colloquium series"ReligiousReformations:Liturgy,Theology and the Arts in the EarlyModern
Period"in November 1998, revisitsthe whole question but remainsunpublished.I wish to thank
ProfessorOwens for sharingit with me.
3. Edith Weber'sLe Concilede Trenteet la musique:De la Reformea la Contre-Reforme
provides one of the cleareroutlines of events at the Council, though it concentrateson events at the
generalcongregationsand sessions, and misinterpretsthe outcome of the twenty-fifthsession as
it concerned music ([Paris: Honore Champion, 1982], 65-95). In Ius musicae liturgicae:
Dissertatiohistorico-iuridica,
Fiorenzo Romita incorporatesa wider range of documents in a relatively brief discussion ([Taurini: M. E. Marietti, 1936], 56-64). Robert F. Hayburn's Papal
Legislationon SacredMusic, 95 A.D. to 1977 A.D. provides translationsof the documents from
Romita but is often vague or inaccurateabout their contexts ([Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical
Press, 1979], 25-31). Events at the Council have been briefly but accuratelysummarized in
Agostino Borromeo, "La storia delle cappelle musicalivista nella prospettivadella storia della
chiesa," in La CappellaMusicalenell'Italia della Controriforma,ed. Oscar Mischiatiand Paolo
Russo (Cento: Centro studi G. Baruffaldi, 1993), 229-37; Oscar Mischiati, "I1 Concilio di
Trento e la polifonia:Una diversaproposta di lettera e di prospettivabibliografica,"in Musica e
liturgia nella riformatridentina, ed. Danilo Curti and Marco Gozzi (Trent:Provinciaautonoma
di Trento, Servizio beni librarie archivistici,1995), 19-29; and, regardingthe twenty-fifthsession, Robert Kendrick,CelestialSirens:Nuns and TheirMusic in Early ModernMilan (Oxford:
Oxford UniversityPress, 1996), 58-59. See also CraigMonson, "CatholicReform, Renewal,and
Reaction,"in vol. 4 of TheNew OxfordHistoryof Music,rev.ed., ed. JamesHaar (Oxford:Oxford
University Press, in press since 1993); and idem, "Another Look at Musical Reform at the
Council of Trent," in Atti del III. Convegno di Studi Palestriniani in occasionedel Quarto
Centenario della morte di Giovanni Pierluigi, 1994, ed. Giancarlo Rostirolla (Palestrina:
Fondazione GiovanniPierluigida Palestrina,in presssince 1995).
fact, than many music historianshave commonly suggested. Such a reconsideration of the deliberativeprocess at Trent points up the extent to which the
Council lacked a clearprogram,was selectiveratherthan all-encompassingin
its concerns, and was characterizedby compromiseand, in some cases, confusion. Consequently, historians' attempts to single out looming, individual
saviorsor enemies of churchmusic at the Council have been misguided. I further suggest that when it came to music, the one mandate that proved to be
the most important to the future implementationof the Tridentinedecrees,
though largelyignored by modern musicalhistoriographyuntil quite recently,
was the delegation of responsibilitiesto provincialsynods and local episcopal
authorities in the twenty-fourth session. It not only encouraged a postTridentinesacredmusic considerablymore diversethan generallyenvisioned
in much modern musical scholarship,but also appearsto have prompted an
immediate amplificationin Rome of criteriafor musical reform at the local
level. This modification soon came to be widely perceived and accepted as
"iuxta formam concilii," a perception that has continued down to our own
day.Finally,expandingour view to include the Council'swork for the twentyfifth session (involving the reform of religious orders) sheds light on a littleknown and often misunderstood attempt at Trent to enact measures that
would severelyrestrictmusic in convent churches.
PreliminaryDeliberations and Official Pronouncements

in the Twenty-second Session (1562)
For prelatesat the Council of Trent, musicalmattersdid not loom large.This
is not surprising,of course, since music had little connection with questions of
doctrine or politics, which characterizedthe issues predominatingduring the
third and finalperiod of the Council in 1562-63: communion in both kinds,
episcopalresidency,clandestinemarriage,and reform of the Curia.4Only in
4. Between 1545 and 1563, the Council of Trent met during three periods (1545-47,
1551-52, and 1562-63). The majorityof its work took place in informal,often privategatherings, which culminated in daylong public sessions, where decrees were formallyapproved and
read. Of the twenty-fiveformal sessions, often separatedby weeks or months of preliminarydebate, only seventeen concerned doctrine and reform; the remainderwere ceremonial,involving
the formalopening and reopenings, prorogations,and closing of the convocation. Issues of doctrine and reformwere consideredsimultaneously,commonly by subcommittees,meeting concurrently,with the intention that each doctrinaldecree be accompaniedby relevantreform decrees.
In initial,so-calledparticularcongregations, bishops witnessed debates on an issue by specialists,
afterwhich the papallegates,who managedthe Council, presidedover the bishops'privatediscussions of the matter in "general congregations." Only then were the resulting canons and
decrees publicly presented, voted upon, and promulgated in a session. The first period (13
December 1545 to 2 June 1547, firstto tenth sessions)confrontedthe primarypoints of doctrine
previouslyraised by the Protestants:the function and interpretationof the scripturesand their
essentialrelationshipto tradition;originalsin and justification;the sacramentsin general,and baptism and confirmationin particular;and initial discussionsof episcopal duties, obligations, and
the twenty-secondand twenty-fourthsessionsof that period, as has frequently

been discussed, as well as in the much less familiartwenty-fifth session, did
music finallyfind a place amidstthese topics.
Attitudes toward major doctrinal issues, especially as expressed by the
French and Austro-Germanfactions most strongly beset by Protestantism,
reflected a direct reaction to that threat and were sometimes couched in
"counter-reformational"terms. When it came to music, however, the pronouncements of the more reform-mindedparticipantsat Trent seem less a reaction to Protestantismthan a continuationof the reformtraditionextending
back substantiallybefore the Council. In this respect, interest in musical reform at the Council was part of long-standingconcernswith Catholicreform
and renewal whose continuity with the post-Tridentineperiod has been explored in recent years.5In many details,prelates'attitudestoward musicalreform were also closely akinto some of the less extreme Protestantreactionsto
music, both before the third session of the Council (e.g., Luther's)and more
or less concurrently(e.g., Queen ElizabethI of England's).
Scholars such as Karl Gustav Fellerer and Lewis Lockwood recognized
Tridentinepronouncementson music as the continuation of an earliertradition of complaintsabout the state of churchmusic.6But music historianshave
not alwaysrecognized how closely some of the most significantfigures at the
Council were linked to the earliertraditionof Catholic reform, even as it related to music. Musicologiststend to rememberAngelo Massarelli,for example, who, as Pope MarcellusII's secretary,recorded his familiardiaryentry in
1555 about Marcellus'snegative reaction to the papal choir's inappropriately
joyful Good Fridaymusic, as well as the pope's subsequent exhortation for
textual comprehensibility.7But before his election as pope in 1555, Marcello
Cervini had alreadyserved as papal legate at the Council of Trent during its
first period, while Massarellialso acted as secretaryto the Council, as scrutineer of the votes, and as protonotaryof the sessions during all three periods,
from 1545 until 1563.
residency.The second period (1 May 1551 to 28 April 1552, eleventh to sixteenthsessions)continued work on the sacraments(penance,extremeunction, Christ'srealpresencein the eucharist),
episcopaljurisdiction,and benefices. The third period (17 January1562 to 4 December 1563,
seventeenth to twenty-fifthsessions) addressedissues of the Mass, reception of both bread and
wine at communion, marriage,purgatory,episcopalresidency,and severalother matters,including venerationand invocation of saints, relics and images, holy orders, clericaleducation, service
books, and music.
5. Of the sources in note 3 above, see in particularthe insightful summary and analysisin
Kendrick, Celestial Sirens, 1-8; and Borromeo, "La storia delle cappelle musicali." See also
Monson, "CatholicReform, Renewal,and Reaction."
6. Karl Gustav Fellerer,"Church Music and the Council of Trent," Musical Quarterly 39
(1953): 578-80; and Lewis H. Lockwood, TheCounter-Reformationand the Massesof Vincenzo
Ruffo (Vienna:UniversalEdition, 1969), 74-75.
7. Printedin Lockwood, ed., Palestrina:PopeMarcellusMass,18.
More significant, Girolamo Seripando, sometime vicar general of the

Augustinians,who attended the firstperiod of the Council on behalfof his order and served as papallegate at the third in 1562-63, had begun instituting
regionalreformsof church music in the 1540s, a fact previouslyunnoticed by
musicologists.His successoras papallegate, GiovanniMorone, more familiar
to music historians,had made similarreformsat Modena in the 1530s.8 The
committee appointedto gather the abusesof the Mass, in preparationfor the
twenty-second session, was chaired by the humanist Ludovico Beccadelli,
archbishopof Ragusa,a chief figure of the reformingparty,and formersecretary to the remarkableCardinalGasparoContarini,who had been at the center of Paul III's pre-Tridentinereform movement. It was Beccadelliwhom
Bishop BernardinoCirillohad urged in an oft-quoted letter of 1549 "to see to
it that the praisesof the Lord are sung well and in a manner differentfrom
those of secular texts."9 A dozen years later, back at Trent, Beccadelli was
attemptingto do just that.
Musicalpracticesrepresentedjust one of manyrelativelyminor mattersthat
were to be takenup among "abusesof the Mass"at the twenty-secondsession
in September 1562. The preliminarywork for the session has been called a
"parenthesis"between the major tumults of the twenty-firstsession in mid
Julyand the new tensions provoked by the revivalof the issue of episcopalresidency and by the arrivalof the cardinalof Lorraineand the Frenchcontingent
in the autumn.10
All the issues for that session were repeatedlyrevised, specificallyto avoid
extreme positions that might provoke long-winded discussionsin the general
congregations. To this end, Beccadelli'smultinationalcommittee, appointed
on 20 July 1562 and including representativesof Italy, Spain, France, and
Austro-Hungary,met severaltimes between late Julyand 8 August, collecting
and collatingvarioussuggestions regardingreforms.11As Beccadelliput it on
8. On Morone's reform, see Lewis H. Lockwood, "Vincenzo Ruffo and Musical Reform
After the Council of Trent," Musical Quarterly43 (1957): esp. 343 and n. 5; idem, "Some
Observations on the Commission of Cardinals and the Reform of Sacred Music (1565),"
esp. 44-45 and 74-79.
Quadrivium 7 (1966): esp. 41-44; and idem, TheCounter-Reformation,
On Seripando's reform, see Hubert Jedin, Papal Legate at the Council of Trent, Cardinal
Seripando,trans. FredericE. Eckhoff (St. Louis, Mo., and London: Herder, 1947), 201. Jedin
also comments that Morone had banned figuredsinging at Modena in 1537, citing Pietro Tacchi
Venturi,Storiadella Compagniadi Gesuin Italia, vol. 1 (Rome: Civiltacattolica,1950), 203.
9. BernardinoCirillo's letter is printed in Lockwood, ed., Palestrina:PopeMarcellusMass,
10-16.
10. Paolo Prodi, II Cardinale GabrielePaleotti (1522-1597) (Rome: Edizioni di storiae letteratura,1959-67), 1:137.
11. In addition to Beccadelli,the committee included Giulio Pavesi,archbishopof Sorrento;
Urbanus Vigerius della Rovere, bishop of Senigallia;Martin de Cordoba y Mendoza, bishop of
Tortosa;Bernardodel Bene, bishop of Nimes; Martin Rettinger, bishop of Lavant;and Andreas
Dudith, bishop of Knin. See Concilium Tridentinum:Diariorum, actorum, epistularum,tractatuum, nova collectio,edidit SocietasGoerresiana,13 vols. (Freiburg:Herder, 1901- ) (henceforth indicatedCT), 8:721.
Journalof the AmericanMusicologicalSociety
23 July,"We'rein the midst of the abuses of the Mass, which is a field filled
with pricklyburdock."'12Although not actuallyappointedto the subcommittee, nor a voting member of the general congregations, a key figure in the
draftingof documents during the hectic final days before the twenty-second
session was Gabriele Paleotti, auditor of the rota and future archbishop of
Bologna, who is credited with having composed the canons on abuses.13
Paleotti recordsin his history of the Council that during the subcommittee's
deliberations,variousprelatesbrought up many abuses in the Mass that did
not all merit considerationindividuallyby the generalcongregations.14
There was considerablerelevantmaterial,some of it twentyyearsold. A few
musicalreferencesdating from significantlybefore the meetings of Beccadelli's
committee are outlined below in Appendix 1. The decrees of the Council of
Poissy of October 1561, which articulatedthe Gallicanview, and the much
discussed reform suggestions of the Emperor Ferdinand, offered early in
1562, had a majorimpact on the Council, though music is a relativelyminor
matter in them. Significantly,a comparable Italian list of reforms virtually
ignores music.
Preciouslittle, however, has come down to us from the directsubmissions
to Beccadelli's committee in the summer of 1562. The observations of
StanislausHosius, bishop of Ermland,sometime nuncio to the Holy Roman
Emperor, and one of the less effective papal legates who governed the
Council, survivedin Beccadelli'spersonalpapers:
Abusesregardingthe sacrificeof the Massnotedby the MostReverendBishop
of Ermlandandpresentedto the council.... Abuses,withregardto ceremonies
and solemnrites.... Aroundthe momentof the elevationof the most holy
sacrament,
when,as it were,a loftysilenceoughtto be observedby everyone,
anda focusedcommemoration
of the Lord'sdeath,organsmakea greatnoise
andmusicianssing, andsome otherthingsintrudewhich,apartfromthe fact
thattheyareuntimely,alsofrequently
appearto recallsomethinglicentiousand
to distractsoulsfromspiritual
inclinations.
In the singingat the timeof the sacrament,
therehasbegunto be muchlicentiousness,againstthe custom of the ancientchurch.For propheticand
apostolicwordsin the Epistlesare sometimesomitted and mutilated.The
Creedis not recitedcomplete,nor the Preface,whichis alsoan expressionof
for the sakeof musicmade
thanks,and the Lord'sprayer,too, is suppressed,
12. "SaremointornoagliabusidellaMessa,che e un campopienodi lapole."Beccadelli's
comment appearsin GiambattistaMorandi,ed., Monumentidi varia letteraturatratti dai manoscritti di MonsignorLodovicoBeccadelliarcivescovodi Ragusa, vol. 2 (Bologna: Stampe di S.
Tommasod'Aquino,1804), 355.
13. Fora detailedandmeticulously
documented
of Paleotti'sroleatTrent,seeProdi,
analysis
II CardinaleGabrielePaleotti,esp. 1:121-92.
14. "Quodabususmissaespectat,cummultaquaea variispatribus

nonviderproponebantur
enturdignaessemaiestatetanticonsessus,placuitea potiusgeneraliquadamfacultatecomplecti,
ut ordinarii
iisex prudentia
suaproviderent"
(CT3,pt. 1, p. 429).
togetherby singers,musicians,and instruments.By a novel and remarkable

contrivance,careis takenin some churchesthat this greatmysteryshallbe
completed without much labor of singing, praying,meditating, and they rush
to the end, as if concern in the church were with the belly, not with piety, and
with the world, not with Christ.15
Otto Braunsberger claimed that Hosius's compendium must reflect the input
of Saint Peter Canisius, who had sent a list of abuses of the Mass, now lost, to
Hosius on 3 August 1562. This intriguing possibility seems unlikely, however,
since the saint's lost compendium arrived on 8 August, the day of the committee's final meeting, too late to receive much attention.16
The collection of abuses from 1562 surviving in the Nachlass of Bartolomaei a Martyribus probably represents a general summary of various submissions rather than a list he had presented directly to Beccadelli:
Concerning various abuses, which were furtivelyintroduced in the Mass; they
were brought up by severalfathersat the Council of Trent in 1562.... 10. Let
not only profanesongs be removed from the churchor sanctuaries,but likewise
singing that conceals the text, such as there is in polyphony.17
These materials consistently deplored music that interrupted or obscured the
sacred words of the Mass, went on too long, was inappropriate to the solemnity of particular occasions, or was overtly secular if not downright lascivious.
Bartolomeo's note summarized what would remain the two most important
issues at the Council regarding music.
15. "Abusus circa Sacrificium Missae ab Rtmo Wormiensi [recte: Warmiensi] notati ac
Concilio exhibiti.... Abusus ex parte Caeremoniarum,et Rituum solemnium.... Circa elevationem SacrosanctaeEucharistiaecum altum quoddam silentium, et intenta Dominicae mortis
commemoratio ab omnibus adhiberi deberet, perstrepunt organa, cantillant et Musici, et alia
quaedaminteriiciuntur,quae praeterquamquodintempestivasunt, etiam saepe lascivumquiddam
referre,et a spiritualibusstudiisanimos avocarevidentur.
"In cantionibus sub sacro magna caepit esse licentia contra veteris Ecclesiae morem.
Omittuntur enim, et decurtanturinterdum verba Prophetica, et Apostolica in Epistolis. Non
recitaturintegre Symbolum Fidei, non Praefatio,quae et gratiarumactio:supprimituret praecatio
Dominica propter Cantorum, Musicorum, et Organorum concentum. Nova, et mirabili arte
curaturin quibusdam Ecclesiis, ut sine magno labore cantandi, orandi, meditandi hoc tantum
mysterium peragatur,et ad finem curritur,veluti major ventris, quam pietatis, mundi, quam
Christiin templo curaesset" (Morandi,ed., Monumenti2:258).
16. Peter Canisius,Epistulaeet acta, ed. Otto Braunsberger,vol. 3 (Freiburg:Herder, 1901),
473-75. Canisius'sletter appearson p. 474. Stephen Ehses accepted Braunsberger'sproposalin
CT 8:916 n. 1. For Hubert Jedin's suggestion that Canisius's list arrived too late, see his
Geschichte
desKonzilsvon Trient(Freiburg:Herder, 1950-75), vol. 4, pt. 2, p. 340 n. 22.
17. "Circavariosabusus,qui in missa subintroductisunt, fuerunt haec postulataa nonnullus
patribusin Conc. Tridentino anno 1562.... 10. Tollanturde Ecclesia, seu templis non solum
cantus prophani, sed etiam cantus occultans literam, qualis est in figurata modulatione"
(Bartholomaei a Martyribus, Opera omnia, ed. Malachia d'Inguimbert, vol. 2 [Rome: Typis
Hieronymi Mainardi,1735], 408).
The following note on music appearedamong the first suggestions finally

presentedby Beccadelli'scommittee to the papallegates on 8 August:
It mustalsobe consideredwhetherthe kindof musicthathasnow becomeestablishedin polyphony,whichrefreshesthe earmorethanthe mindandwhich
seemsto incitelasciviousness
ratherthanreligion,shouldbe abolishedfromthe
Masses,in which things are often sung, such as della cacciaand la battaglia.18
It is important to recognize that this was not a decree, but only a proposed
subjectfor discussion,as the word "animadvertendum"makesclear.This version was neitherpresentedfor considerationin the generalcongregationsnor
publishedamong the decreesof the Council. The specificmention of la caccia
and la battagliapresumablyrefersto Janequin's"La chasse:Gentilz veneurs"
and "La guerre: Escoutez tous gentilz," to the various imitations they
spawned, and to Janequin's own Missa super "La bataille," published in
Moderne's Liberdecemmissarum(Lyons, 1532). The document recallsin interestingways the remarkson lasciviouslyindecorous church music, having as
much to do with secularimproprietyas with outright lewdness, from Nicola
Vincentino's L'antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica, published in
1555:
Somecomposersset theseworks[theMass]in a waythatupsetsthe entiresubjectof the Mass,whichrequiresa meansof movementthatis graveandmore
filledwithdevotionthanwithworldlypleasure.Somecomposea Massupona
andwhen such
madrigalor upon a Frenchchanson,or upon "LaBattaglia";
piecesareheardin churchtheycauseeveryoneto laugh,forit almostseemsasif
the templeof the Lordhad becomea placefor the utteranceof bawdyand
ridiculoustexts-as if it hadbecomea theater,in whichit is permissible
to performallsortsof musicof buffoons,howeverridiculousandlascivious.19
On 19 August the legates referredthis summaryback to Beccadelli'scommittee for furtherrevision.The legates' goal was to present proposalsto the
generalcongregationsin a form that would be readilyaccepted and not provoke the inordinatediscussionlikelyto occur if individualbishops outlined in
detail the abuses in their own dioceses. In a new, revisedversion resubmitted
to the papal legates around 25 August, the reference to music had been
substantiallyattenuated:
Also let the mannerof musicin divineservicesbe restoredto the standard
whichJohnXXIIprescribed
in the Extravagantes
[communes,lib. 3, tit. 1, cap.
18. "Item animadvertendum,an speciesmusicae,quae nunc invaluitin figuratismodulationibus, quae magis auresquam mentem recreatet ad lasciviampotius quam ad religionem excitandam comparatavidetur,tollenda sit in missis,in quibus etiam profanasaepe cantantur,ut ilia della
cacciaet la bataglia"(CT8:918).
19. Lockwood, ed. Palestrina: Pope MarcellusMass, 17. Janequin's "La guerre" and "La
chasse"are published in Clement Janequin, Chansonspolyphoniques,
ed. A. Tillman Merritt and
Fran;oisLesure,vol. 1 (Monaco: Editionsde L'Oiseau-Lyre,1965), 23-98.
unicum] on the lifestyle and decency of clerics, or else let the singing be such
that the words are understood ratherthan the music.20
Here the earlier preoccupation with creeping secularism has given way to the
other favorite theme regarding music: intelligibility. The reference to Pope
John XXII's bull of 1324-25 is particularly intriguing, since it suggests that the
prelates at Trent recognized a connection between their own reforming efforts
and a tradition of Catholic musical reform extending back two centuries.
This compendium of 25 August had to be revised yet a third time in the
busy days of early September. According to Gabriele Paleotti's secretary,
Ludovico Nucci, Paleotti and his colleagues "right now are earning their living
... and the legates are making them hustle."21 The legates were finally prepared to propose a draft on Mass reforms for discussion in the general congregations on 10 September 1562. It included a lengthier pronouncement on
music:
Canon 8. Since the sacred mysteriesshould be celebratedwith utmost reverence, with both deepest feeling toward God alone, and with externalworship
that is truly suitable and becoming, so that others may be filled with devotion
and called to religion: ... Everything should indeed be regulated so that the
Masses,whether they be celebratedwith the plain voice or in song, with everything clearlyand quicklyexecuted, may reachthe earsof the hearersand quietly
penetrate their hearts. In those Masses where measured music and organ are
customary,nothing profane should be intermingled, but only hymns and divine praises.If something from the divine service is sung with the organ while
the service proceeds, let it first be recited in a simple, clearvoice, lest the reading of the sacredwords be imperceptible.But the entire manner of singing in
musicalmodes should be calculated,not to affordvain delight to the ear, but so
that the words may be comprehensibleto all;and thus may the heartsof the listeners be caught up into the desire for celestialharmonies and contemplation
of the joys of the blessed.22
20. "Species quoque musicae in divinis officiis reducatur ad normam, quam praescripsit
Ioannes XXII. in Extrav.de vita et honestate clericorum,vel ita canatur,ut verba magis quam
modulationesintelligantur"(CT8:922).
21. "Hora s'aguadagnanoil vivere ... et gli legati gli fanno trottare"(Prodi, II Cardinale
GabrielePaleotti 1:141 n. 52). Paleotti'ssecretaryalso indicatesin the same note that the abuses
of the Mass were "almost entirely the fabricationof our Monsignor [Paleotti], of Castagna,
Buoncompagni,and the organizer,but mostly of Monsignor [Paleotti], as I said"("tessituraquasi
tutta di Monsignore nostro, del Castagna,Buoncompagno et promotore, ma piu di Monsignore,
com'ho detto").
22. "Canon octavus. Cum sacramysteriasumma venerationesint peragenda,intimo quidem
affectu in solum Deum, externo vero cultu adeo composito et decoro, ut alios devotione repleat
et ad religionem excitet: ... Verum ita cuncta moderentur,ut, missae sive planavoce sive cantu
celebrentur,omnia dare matureque prolata in audientium aures et corda placide descendant.
Quae vero rhythmismusicis atque organis agi solent, in iis nihil profanum,sed hymni tantum et
divinae laudes intermisceantur,ita tamen, ut quae organis erunt psallenda,si ex contextu divini
sint officii, quod tunc peragetur, eadem antea simplici claraque voce recitentur, ne perpetua
10
Although severalmodern musicologistshave quoted this proposed eighth

canon from the abuses of the Mass in their discussionsof Trent and music,
few of them recognized or mentioned the fact that it was never actuallyaccepted in this form. The survivingminutes of the discussionof these proposals
in the generalcongregationssuggest that no one spoke directlyto the issue of
music.23GabrielePaleotti'sdiaryindicatesthat the Spanishremainedparticular advocatesfor the retention of music, because it had been employed since
ancient times to draw the faithfulto God. Preciselythese sentimentshad also
been echoed by Cristoforus of Padua, father general of the Augustinian
Hermits, in his remarksduring discussionsof the sacrificeof the Mass in late
August:
Whether ceremonies, vestments, and external signs, which the church uses in
celebration,ought to be removed-it seems not, for they began in the time of
the apostles, as witnessed by Dionysius, on ecclesiasticalhierarchy,speakingof
the Mass;Clement also speaksof it in the homily concerningvestments and the
rite of ministers;Jerome, volume I, folio 25A, says to preserve ceremonies.
Outward signs arouse the people to devotion, just as song and sound incite to
devotion in church.24
In the general congregations, the bishops of Granada, Coimbra, and

Segoviaurged the attenuationof the long list of canons on abusesinto a single
generaldecree,with three subsections:covetousness,irreverence,and superstition.25This idea won the support of many other prelates,including the president of the collegium of papal legates, Ercole Gonzaga, bishop of Mantua.
After the debates, only some fifteen words remainedregardingmusic as part
sacrorum lectio quemquam effugiat. Tota autem haec modis musicis psallendi ratio non ad
inanem aurium oblectationem erit componenda, sed ita, ut verba ab omnibus percipi possint,
utque audientiumcorda ad coelestis harmoniaedesideriumbeatorumque gaudia contemplanda
rapiantur"(CT8:927).
23. See CT 8:928-39.
24. "The Most ReverendFather Generalof the Augustinians,CristoferoPatavini'sexplanation and decision about the articlesconcerningthe sacrificeof the mass"-Cristoforo Pataviniwas
responding to a different set of articlesregardingthe sacrificeof the Mass when he made this
statement. "Rev.miP. generalisAugustin[ensium]Mag. ChristophoriPatavinisuper articulis[de
missaesacrificio]explicatioet decisio [26 August 1562].... An ceremoniae,vestes et signa exteriora, quibus ecclesiain celebrationeutitur,sint tollendae,videtur,quod non, quia a tempore apostolorum coeperunt teste Dionysio, de eccl. hierarch.de missa loquens, Clemens quoque [in]
homilia de vestibus et ritu ministrorumloquitur, Hieronymus tom. I fol. 25A dicit ceremonias
esse servandas.Excitantpopulum ad devotionem signa exteriora,sicut cantus et sonus ad devotionem in ecclesiafaciunt"(CT13:714).
25. "Granatensis.... Quoad abususfiat unus canon generalis,in quo hortentur ordinarii,ut
abusibuscircamissamprovideant.... Segobiensi... Circaabususin missadeberet providericirca
tria:cupiditatem,irreverentiamet supersititionem.Et nonullos alios abusus reformandosretulit"
(CT 8:928-32).
11
of that single decree "concerning the things to be observed and avoided in

the celebrationof the Mass." They translate:"Let them keep away from the
churches compositions in which there is an intermingling of the lascivious
or impure,whether by instrumentor voice."26These few words representthe
finaland onlymusicalpronouncement actuallyapprovedin little more than an
hour's time during the finalvote, afterweeks of preliminarywork and discussion.27When it came to music and other abuses,then, delegatestried to say as
little as possible; thus, two lines on music were actually published in the
canons and decreesof the twenty-secondsession of the Council celebratedon
17 September1562.
Eight months previous,in an earliermemorandumof 18 February1562,
the papallegates had admonishedthe delegates at Trent not to circulatepreliminaryversions of the Council's decrees, which had not actuallybeen officially approved by the congregations and signed in the relevantsession, lest
scandalresult.28Some later musicologists' ignorance of this prohibition has
provoked, if not scandal, at least confusion. Deliberations regarding Mass
abuses had involved a process of attenuation until very little remained. But
Gustave Reese, in his Music in the Renaissance,created a misleadingimpression of the Council'slegislationon music by stringingtogether the preliminary
eighth canon, which had not been approved,and the few lines that supplanted
it and were finallypublished.The ellipsisin Reese's extensivequotation in fact
coversa week's debate at Trent:
All thingsshouldindeedbe so orderedthatthe Masses,whethertheybe celebratedwithor withoutsinging,mayreachtranquilly
into the earsandheartsof
those who hearthem, when everythingis executedclearlyand at the right
speed.In the caseof thoseMasseswhicharecelebratedwith singingandwith
but onlyhymnsanddivinepraises.
organ,let nothingprofanebe intermingled,
The wholeplanof singingin musicalmodesshouldbe constitutednot to give
emptypleasureto the ear,but in sucha waythatthe wordsmaybe clearlyunderstoodby all, and thus the heartsof the listenersbe drawnto the desireof
of the joysof the blessed.... They
heavenlyharmonies,in the contemplation
shallalsobanishfromchurchallmusicthatcontains,whetherin the singingor
in the organplaying,thingsthatarelasciviousor impure.29
26. "Ab ecdesiis vero musicas eas, ubi sive organo sive cantu lascivumaut impurum aliquid
miscetur"(CT 8:963).
27. The brevity of the final vote is mentioned in a letter of 14 September from the papal
legates to Carlo Borromeo. See Josef Susta, Die RomischeKurie und das Konzil von Trientunter
Pius Ig, vol. 2 (Vienna:Holder, 1909), 362.
28. "Ad obviandum scandalis,quae oriri possunt." The admonition is printed in Judocus
[Jusso] Le Plat, Monumentorumad historiamConcilii tridentini:Potissimumillustrandamspectantium amplissima collectio,vol. 5 (Lovain: Typographia Academica, 1785), 36. A similar,
though not identical,versiondated 17 Februaryappearsin CT 8:329.
29. Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance(New York:Norton, 1954), 449. The translation differsin a few detailsfrom the alternativeoffered above.
12
For the last forty-fiveyears, the preliminaryand the approvedpassageshave

commonly been strung together by music historians,following Reese, who
first combined them to make up a single Tridentine pronouncement on
music. The quotation continued to appearin this misleadingform in Claude
Palisca'sinfluentialfifth edition of Donald J. Grout's Historyof WesternMusic
(1996) and in AllanW. Atlas'sRenaissanceMusic(1998). In Piero Weiss and
Richard Taruskin's Music in the WesternWorld:A History in Documents
(1984), even Reese'sweek-long ellipsiswas suppressed,furthercompounding
the problem.30
New Reforms in the Twenty-fourth Session (1563)

The officialwording from the twenty-secondsession, in placing very little restrictionon music, implicitlypermitted the continued use of polyphony and
the organ, specificallyprohibitedsecularelements, but made no mention at all
of the intelligibilityissue, which has commonly been incorporatedinto discussions of the Council's decrees. No immediate reactionsto this final wording
on music have come to light. But the complete reformpackagethat the committee on abuseshad finallyproduced, and what had been promulgatedin the
twenty-secondsession on 17 September1562, provokedconsiderabledismay.
Giovanni Strozzi, writing to Cosimo I de' Medici on 14 September 1562,
afterthe examinationin congregation of the canons and before final approval
three days later,aptlysummarizedthe generalattitude:"And to many people
they seemed minor matters and of little importance.And many have boldly
stated that majorissueswere promised and that this is not the reformthat the
world expectsof this council."M31
Many, including Gabriele Paleotti, recognized that the substitution of a
single canon on Mass reform would prove far too general to be effective.32
Clearly,this could not end the matter. In May 1563 two new papal legates,
GiovanniMorone and BernardoNavagero, appointedto replacethe recently
deceasedErcole Gonzaga and GirolamoSeripando,thereforeinstituteda new,
far-reachingprogramof reform.Music-especially polyphony,which has been
30. Donald J. Grout and Claude V. Palisca,A Historyof WesternMusic, 5th ed. (New York:
Norton, 1996), 250; the Council's pronouncementsare presented more accuratelyin the recent
sixth edition (New York:Norton, 2001), 234. See also Allan W. Atlas, RenaissanceMusic (New
York:Norton, 1998), 581; Piero Weiss and RichardTaruskin,Music in the WesternWorld:A
Historyin Documents(New York:SchirmerBooks, 1984), 137; and Lockwood, ed., Palestrina:
PopeMarcellusMass,19.
31. "Et a buona parte sono parse cose deboli et di poca importanza.Et molti hanno detto
arditamenteche si promettavano cose maggiori et che questa non e la riforma che il mondo
aspetta da questo concilio" (Niccolo Rodolico and Arnaldo D'Addario, Osservatoritoscani al
Conciliodi Trento[Florence:Leo S. Olschki, 1964], 186-87).
32. Jedin, Geschichte,
vol. 4, pt. 1, p. 192.
13
the aspectof music at the Council most discussedby latermusicologists-was

not forgotten in this new reformof 1563. KarlWeinmannseems to have been
the firstmodern musicologist to make the new legates the prime movers in a
crackdown on "musica troppo molle." Lewis Lockwood, having observed
that Morone had actuallybanned polyphony at Modena in 1537-38, went on
to suggest that the two new legates headed a faction that may have opposed
the retention of polyphonyin church.33
This second attempt at musicalreform, and the key playersin it, deserve a
second look. Morone had an important colleague, overlooked by musicologists, in the great reform during the later months at Trent: GabrielePaleotti.
According to Paleotti'smodern biographer,Paolo Prodi, "in fact, the reform
decreesfrom the last two sessionswere almost entirelythe work of Paleotti."M34
Paleotti had cherishedan abidinginterestin music since his youth and during
Trent still maintained a close association with his former music teacher,
Domenico MariaFerrabosco.Paleotti even plied Ferraboscofor information
about the French ecclesiasticalhierarchyand its views on reform before the
arrivalof the cardinalof Lorraineat Trent in November 1562. According to
GabrielePaleotti'sbrother,the prelatecontinued in adulthood to sing and improvise on the lute, in the best Renaissancetradition, as a means of private
recreation.35One can be quite certain that Paleotti, whose pronouncements
on post-Tridentinevisual art are well known, would also have favored more
clearlyarticulatedrulingson the use of music in church.36
On the other hand, Giovanni Morone's brief ban on polyphony at the
Duomo of Modena in the 1530s turns out not to have been unique. As
mentioned earlier,Morone's predecessoras papal legate at Trent, Girolamo
Seripando,had attempteda similarban on polyphony among the Augustinian
nuns of Santa Monica in Rome in the 1540s. One wonders uneasilyif those
earlierattempts might have taught both Seripandoand Morone something
about the difficultiesof enforcing such bans. It seems unlikelythat Morone,
33. KarlWeinmann, Das Konzil von Trient und die Kirchenmusik(Leipzig: Breitkopfund
Hartel, 1919; reprint,Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1980), esp. 4-7; Lockwood, "Vmcenzo Ruffo
and MusicalReform,"esp. 343 and n. 5; idem, "Some Observations,"esp. 41-44; and idem, The
Counter-Reformation,
esp. 44-45 and 74-79.
34. "In realta,i decretidi riformadelle due ultime sessionifurono quasicompletamenteopera
del Paleotti" (Prodi, II Cardinale GabrielePaleotti 1:183). Hubert Jedin comments, "Der unermudliche, ausserstgewandte Gehilfe Morones bei diesem Geschaft war Gabriel Paleotti. Man
uibertriebtnicht, wenn man diese beiden Manner die Architekten der tridentinischenReform
nennt" (Geschichte,
vol. 4, pt. 1, p. 123).
35. For a discussionof Paleotti'smusicaltrainingand his exchangewith Ferraboscoregarding
French views, see Craig Monson, "The Composer as 'Spy': The Ferraboscos,GabrielePaleotti,
and the Inquisition,"Musicand Letters(inpress). Prodi touches brieflyon Paleotti'smusicalinterests in II CardinaleGabrielePaleotti 1:45.
36. Paleotti's Discorsointorno alle imagini sacre e profane appearsin volume 2 of Trattate
d'arte del Cinquecento,fra manierismo e Controriforma, ed. Paola Barocchi (Bari: Laterza,
1960-62), 117-509.
14
Paleotti, or other committed reformersfrom Paul III's pre-Tridentinereform

movement, such as Lodovico Beccadelli,would realisticallyhave envisioned a
total ban on polyphony in the last stages of the Council-except, interestingly
enough, as we shallsee, when it concerned femalemonasteries.37
In the last months of the Council, Morone worked assiduouslyto conclude
it quickly,in part by preventing prolix discussionsin the general congregations. Any outright ban on polyphony might have provoked delays, judging
by the revisionsregardingrestrictionson music necessaryduring the preliminariesto the twenty-second session the previousyear. This circumspectattitude and the spirit of compromise become clear from a letter by the papal
legates to Carlo Borromeo, dated 22 July 1563, at the very beginning of the
new reform work for the twenty-forth session: "We still have not given out
these chapterson reform,becauseit does not seem like a good idea to do so if
we do not sort them out well firstand decide upon them with the cardinalof
Lorraine."38
The preparationof the new reformpackageonce againinvolveda
stringof meetings, informalconsultations,and the incorporationof numerous
changes. The quasi-"democratic"nature of this process is revealedby a letter
from the harriedlegates to Borromeo, dated 11-13 September,in the most
hectic stage of the draftingof reforms:
We would not omit sayingthat one cannotalwayssend off a copy of everything,becausethereisn't a word thatdoesn'tget changedfromone hourto
the next.Whenwe wantto proposean article,we firstagreeuponit amongst
ourselves,togetherwiththoseappointedeitherby the synodor by us on its order.Thenwe giveit out to the ambassadors
forconsideration,
who don'tallrespondat one time,but somein two or threedays,othersin ten or twelve-and
everybodywith additionsor changes.Then it gets examinedby the ranksof
fathers,who wantto havetheirsayaboutit, apartfromeachpriest'smentioning sometimesone thing,sometimesanotherthing,accordingto his church's
needs,in sucha waythatthere'snevera fixedversion.... Wewantedto saythis
to justifyandexcuseourselves,withallthat,we sendYourMostIllustrious
and
ReverendLordshipa newcopyof the entirereform,whichhasbeengiven,and
is now beinggiven,to the fathers.39
37. Lodovico Beccadelli had not even participatedin the whole first reform program, in
which he had playeda significantpart, becausehe had faintedin the midst of a generalcongregation on 22 August 1562 and spent most of the next three months recuperatingin Bologna.
Having returned to Trent on 7 November 1562, he left again, this time for good, on 20 May
1563 (Jedin, Geschichte,
vol. 4, pt. 2, pp. 202 and 266 n. 4). During his absenceshe was kept informed about goings-on at Trent by the bishop of Zara. For Zara's awisi, see Morandi, ed.,
Monumenti2:69-155.
38. "Non havemo ancoradati quei capi di riforma,perche non ci par bene di farlo se prima
non lie concertamo bene et non gli stabilimo col cardinaledi Loreno." The legates' letter to
Borromeo is printedin gusta, Die RomischeKurie 4:136.
39. "Non lascieremodi dir che non si puo cosi sempremandarcopia d'ogni cosa, poiche non
c'e parolache non ricevamutatione da un'horaa l'altra.noi quando volemo proponerun articolo,
l'accommodamo prima fra noi insieme con quelli che sono deputati o dalla sinodo o da noi
15
On 31 May, Morone had shown forty-two preliminarychapterson reform

to the cardinalof Lorraine.The chaptershad been assembled at Morone's
behest by anothercommittee of prelates,who once againdrew on a wide variety of sources, including petitions from the EmperorFerdinand,the Spanish,
the French, and representativesof other nations, as is clear from Morone's
letter of 4 June 1563 to Carlo Borromeo, which accompanieda preliminary
draftof the chapters.40
Unfortunately,we have little concrete idea of what musicalreformsmight
have been contemplated in these earliermeetings between May and August
1563. A jumble of disordered, now extremely fragmentary,charred pages
from the chapterson reformfrom the Paleottiarchivein Bologna, bearingthe
diversesuggested emendationsof variousparticipants,can do little more than
attest to the freneticactivityof those months.41But any putativeabsolute ban
on polyphony seems to have been dropped by the time the preliminarydecrees were distributedand a copy dispatchedto the EmperorFerdinandI on
13 August. The possible wording of the chapter on music in that version
seems thus farto have come to light only in the emperor'sresponseto it dated
23 August, which in itself does not suggest an outright ban on polyphony:
"That the looser sorts of music should be cast out, and that sober music
should be retained, which is most suitable to ecclesiasticalsimplicity."42It
d'ordine suo, poi lo damo da considerara gli ambasciatori,li quali non rispondeno tutti ad un
tratto ma altrifra due o tre giorni, altrifra diece o dodici, et tutti con aggiunte o mutationi;poi
vien essaminatodalle classidelli padri,che anch'essivi vogliono farintorno la parte loro, oltra che
ciascunprelatosecondo il bisogno della chiesasua ricordaquando una cosa et quando un'altra,di
modo che mai non c'e formastabile ... questo havemo voluto dirper nostragiustificationeet discolpa, con tutto che mandiamoa V. Illma et Revma Sriauna nuova copia di tutta la riformanella
forma che s'e data et si da alii padri"(Susta,Die RomischeKurie 4:238-39). This approachis also
confirmed in the awisi of Muzio Calini, bishop of Zara,to Ludovico Beccadelli,especiallythose
of 16 August and 23 August. See Morandi,ed., Monumenti2:108 and 111. Calinireaffirmsthis
once again in a letter of 19 August 1563 to Luigi Cornaro. See Muzio Calini, Lettereconciliari
(1561-1563), ed. Alberto Marani(Brescia:Tipo-Lito FratelliGeroldi, 1963), 514-15.
40. Morone's claim that the document had papal origins is mentioned in a letter from
SebastianoGaulterio,bishop of Viterbo, to Borromeo, transcribedin Hubert Jedin, Krisisund
des TrienterKonzils(1562/3) (Wurzburg:Rita-Verlagund DruckereiderAugustiner,
Wendepunkt
1941), 247-49. Morone's own letter to Borromeo is transcribedin Susta, Die RomischeKurie
4:41-43.
41. The Palazzo Isolani-Lupari,which houses the Paleotti archive,was severelydamaged by
fire duringAllied bombing towardthe end of WorldWarII, reducingthese particulardocuments
to charredfragments,now consolidatedin a new carton numbered 67. Fortunately,some other
portions of the archive survived the devastation. I should like to thank CavaliereFrancesco
Cavazza-Isolanifor kindlygrantingme accessto the familyarchivesin the summersof 1991 and
1992. Prodi points out that other relevantmaterialssurvivein Archivio Segreto Vaticano,Sacra
Congregazione del Concilio, MS 97, fols. 12-80 (11Cardinale GabrielePaleotti 1:184 n. 35).
42. "Reiiciendosesse molliores musicorum cantus, et in ecclesiis retinendam esse modulationum gravitatem,quae ecclesiasticamsimplicitatemmaxime deceat." Quoted in a letter from
Ferdinand I, dated 23 August 1563, to his emissariesat Trent, responding to their letter of
16
recallsthe sentiments of the very first reform offered to Morone's predecessors, Seripando and Gonzaga, and the other papal legates a year earlieron
8 August 1562, focusing on the elimination of irreverentelements with no
mention of textualintelligibility.
An avvisoby the bishop of Zarato Ludovico Beccadelli,dated 30 August,
indicates that further discussionson all articlesof reform-notably the contentious matter of the reform of princes,which concerned conflicts between
ecclesiasticaland secularauthority,and particularlythe imposition of taxes on
members of the clergy-were more or less in abeyance, awaiting the emperor's response to them. The papal legates acknowledgedthe arrivalof the
emperor's response in a letter to Carlo Borromeo dated 28 August, which
concentratedon the reformof princesand made no mention of the emperor's
views on music.43
The discussionof music in the emperor'sresponseto the draftof 13 August
suggests that an alarmistFerdinandmay have been the one to read in the possibilityof a total ban:
Thereforeif the objectiveis that polyphonyforthwithbe removedfrom
churchesaltogether,We arenot going to approveit, forWe considerthatsuch
a divinegiftasmusic,whichoftenkindlesthe soulsof men-especiallyof those
skilledor zealousin thatart-to heighteneddevotion,ought in no wayto be
drivenout of church.44
The emperor'sdefense of music earnedFerdinandI in some quartersthe title
of "savior of church music," which in turn provoked Karl Weinmann's
strongly worded attackon this "Geschichtsfabel."Weinmannsuggested that
in musical matters FerdinandI's views had no more direct impact than his
opinions or suggestions on other issues of reform.45Weinmannwas writing
without the benefit of Hubert Jedin'ssubsequentvoluminous and meticulous
publicationson the Council and before all the currentvolumes of Concilium
Tridentinumhad been published. There would be little point in detailinghis
apparentmisunderstandingof some detailsin the sequence of historicalevents
and the complicated processes by which the chapters on reform were collected, drafted,modified, and broken down into groups for discussionin the
13 August containingproposed articleson abusesfor his consideration.See CT 9:755 n. 1, where

it is printed slightlyinaccuratelyfrom Ludwig Pastor, TheHistoryof the Popes,vol. 15, ed. Ralph
FrancisKerr(St. Louis, Mo.: Herder, 1951), 476.
43. For the bishop of Zara's awiso, see Morandi, ed., Monumenti 2:113; for the papal
legates'letter to Borromeo, see gusta, Die RdmischeKurie 4:200-205,213.
44. "Quo quidem si id agitur,ut cantus figuratusprotinus ex ecclesiisin universumtollatur:
nos id probaturi non sumus, quia censemus, tam divinum Musices donum, quo etiam animi
hominum, maxime eius artis peritorumvel studiosorum, non raro ad maiorem devotionem accenduntur,ex ecclesianequaquamexplodendumesse" (CT 9:755 n. 1).
45. "Auch mit den uibrigen Reformsvorschlagen hatte der Kaiser, wie wir aus den
Konzilsaktenwissen, wenig Gliick"(Weinmann,DasKonzil von Trient,esp. 11-16).
17
months leading up to the general congregations at both the twenty-second

and twenty-forth sessions of the Council. The bishop of Zara's avviso of
30 August mentioned above is but one of many documents that suggest
Weinmannunderestimatedthe extent of the emperor'scontinued influence,
whether or not he ultimately got his way concerning major matters.46
Nevertheless,it should alreadybe apparentthat, although Ferdinandmay well
have been the most powerful individualto come to music's defense, it would
have been difficultfor one single figure to loom quite so large in the process,
particularlywhen music had already found several advocates before the
twenty-secondsession the previousyear.
Sforza Pallavicino's seventeenth-century history of the Council, where
Ferdinand'smusical mission was first mentioned, plausiblysuggests that the
emperor's demands regarding music may have agreed with the views of
others. Or they may alreadyhave been introducedbefore the arrivalof his letter. Pallavicinocertainlydid not see the emperoras "the saviorof churchmusic." An obscure eighteenth-century "Vater Grancola," whom Weinmann
identifiesas the creatorof the full-blown"Geschichtsfabel,"
had indeed dressed
up and romanticizedPallavicino'saccount to include a proposed absolute ban
on music, brought down by Ferdinand's counterproposal.47But Emperor
FerdinandI in factwas only elevatedto the rankof "Retterder Kirchenmusik"
der Musik,
by August Wilhelm Ambros in the fourth volume of his Geschichte
firstpublished (posthumously)in 1878. It is perhapsnot surprisingthat this
Austriancivil servantand musicologist,who sometimes served as privatetutor
to ArchdukeRudolph, should have been drawnto the patrioticnotion of another Austrian"great man" in music history, in the best nineteenth-century
tradition.More puzzling is why KarlWeinmannmade no mention of Ambros,
whose exact expression,"Retterder Kirchenmusik,"he borrows.48
By now, of course, Ferdinand'ssentimentsabout music have a familiarring.
Paleotti attributedthem in his diaryto the Spanishin the negotiations about
music preceding the twenty-secondsession the previousyear.Thus, no single
"savior"was needed to provoke the modification regarding music in the
reform proposal finallypresented to the prelates for examinationon 5 September and discussed in the general congregations between 11 September
and 2 October:
46. Many primarysourcesand detailsof the preparationand presentationof the chapterscan
be gleaned from CT8:909-63 and 9:1-1040.
47. For Vater Grancola,see Weinmann, Das Konzil von Trient, 11-12; for Pallavicino'sdescription from Istoria del Conciliodi Trento,vol. 3 (Rome: Biagio Diversin e Felice Cesaretti,
1664), lib. 22, cap. 5, n. 14, see ibid., 16. Weinmannmay not have recognized that Pallavicino's
account is based on GabrielePaleotti's "Acts"of the Council, unpublisheduntil the nineteenth
century (see below), which Pallavicinohad seen in manuscript.See Prodi, II Cardinale Gabriele
Paleotti2:389.
48. August Wilhelm Ambros, Geschichteder Musik, 3d ed., vol. 4, ed. H. Leichtentritt
(Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hartel, 1909; reprint, Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1968), 19; and
Weinmann,Das Konzil von Trient,11, where "Retterder Kirchenmusik"appears.
18

13. Becauseworthy offices in churches,particularlycathedrals,were established
to preserve and strengthen ecclesiasticaldiscipline, so that those who hold
them might distinguishthemselvesfor piety, set an example for others, and assist bishops by their works and service: it is fitting that those called to them
ought to be the sort who could meet their obligation.... Let them all be required to attend divine services, and let them be admonished to praise the
name of God reverently,clearly,and devoutly in hymns and canticles in the
choir establishedfor psalmody.They shall,furthermore,alwaysadopt appropriate attire, both in and out of church, shall abstainfrom unlawfiulhunting, bird
catching, dancing, taverns,and play,and they shall be so rich in purityof moral
characteras to be justly called the senate of the church. With regard to the
proper direction of the various offices, concerning the proper manner of
singing or playing therein, the precise regulationfor assemblingand remaining
in choir, together with everythingnecessaryfor the ministersof the church, and
suchlike:the provincialsynod shallprescribean establishedform for the benefit
of, and in-accordancewith the customs of, each province. In the interim, the
bishop, with two chosen by the chapter,may provide in these mattersas seems
expedient.49
The weeks and months of careful drafting paid off. The reforms where music
appears were accepted virtually unchanged and published in almost identical
form at the twenty-fourth session on 11 November 1563 (only the altered
passages are given here, with specific differences highlighted):
Canon 12.... Let them all be requiredto attend divine servicesand not bysubstitutes;and to assistand servethe bishopwhen celebratingor carrying out other
pontificalfunctions, and to praise the name of God reverently,clearlyand devoutly in hymns and canticlesin a choir establishedfor psalmody.... With regard to the proper direction of the divine offices, concerning the proper
mannerof singing or playing therein.... In the interim,the bishop, with no less
than two canons,one chosenby himself,the otherby the chapter,may provide in
these mattersas seems expedient.50
49. "13. Cum dignitatesin ecclesiis,praesertimcathedralibus,
ad conservandam
augenfuerintinstitutae,ut qui eas obtinerent,pietatepraecellerent
disciplinam
damqueecclesiasticam
tales
merito,quiadeasvocantur,
aliisqueexemploessentatqueepiscoposoperaet officioiuvarent:
essedebent,qui suo munerirespondere
obireoffipossint.... Omnesverodivinacompellantur
cia,atquein choro,ad psallendum
distincte
instituto,hymniset canticisDei nomenreverenter,
Vestituinsuperdecentitamin ecclesiaquamextraassiduoutantur,
devotequelaudaremoneantur.
ab illicitisque
venationibus,
aucupiis,choreis,tabernislusibusque
abstineant,
atqueea morumintegritatepolleant,ut meritoecclesiaesenatusdicipossit.Cetera,quaead debitumin diversisofficiisregimenspectant,dequecongruain iiscanendiseumodulandi
ratione,de certalegein choro
conveniendi
et permanendi,
erunt,et si
simulquede omnibusecclesiaeministris,
quaenecessaria
utilitateet moribuscertamcuique
quahuiusmodi:synodusprovincialis
pro cuiusqueprovinciae
formulam
Intereaveroepiscopuscumduobusa capitulodeputandis
in his,quaeexpepraescribet.
direvidebuntur,
potentprovidere"
(CT9:754-55).
50. "Canonduodecimus.
Cumdignitates
in ecclesiis,praesertim
adconservancathedralibus,
dam augendamque
ecclesiasticam
disciplinam
fuerintinstitutae,ut, qui eas obtinerent,pietate
praecellerent
merito,quiad eas
aliisqueexemploessentatqueepiscoposoperaet officioiuvarent:
19
This pronouncement treated music even more generallythan the one that
had come out of the twenty-secondsession. In it prelatesonce againpassedup
the opportunityto articulatethe issue of textualintelligibility,which had fallen
by the wayside in the deliberationsof August and September the previous
year. But the decree's significant stipulation that specific details be implemented at the local level would have as decisivean impact on church music as
any other officialTridentinepronouncement. It ensured that post-Tridentine
Catholic church music would be anything but uniform and monolithic. As
we shall see, it also opened the way in the immediate post-Tridentineperiod
for an expansion of the originalpronouncement on music from the twentysecond session into what has come to be understood as essential conciliar
musicalreform.
Attempts to Reform Convent Musical Practices in the

Twenty-fifth Session (1563)
Ironically,by ending their discussionsof Tridentinemusicalreformswith the
twenty-fourth session, music historianshave overlooked the single instance
in which polyphony was threatenedas drasticallyas suggested in the old tales
of Tridentineattackson music and its last-minute"salvation."This also represents the only case where severe musical restrictionsactuallysurvivedall the
way to the debatesof the generalcongregations.It is not surprisingthat earlier
musicologistscommonly ignored this attemptedban on music, and often continued to misunderstandit even when they recognized it, for it occurred as
part of Tridentinedeliberationsthat long held no interest for musicologists:
the reformof femalereligiousorders.51
vocantur,tales esse debent, qui suo muneri responderepossint.... Omnes vero divinaper se et
non per substitutoscompellanturobire officia,et episcopo celebrantiaut aliapontificaliaexercenti
adsistereet inservire,atque in choro, ad psallenduminstituto, hymniset canticisDei nomen reverenter, distincte devoteque laudare.Vestitu insuper decenti, tam in ecclesia, quam extra, assiduo
utantur, ab illicitisquevenationibus, aucupiis, choreis, tabernis lusibusque abstineant, atque ea
morum integritatepolleant, ut merito ecclesiaesenatusdici possit. Cetera,quae ad debitum in divinis officiisregimen spectant,deque congrua in his canendiseu modulandiratione,de certalege
in choro conveniendi et permanendi, simulque de omnibus ecclesiae ministris,quae necessaria
erunt, et si qua huiusmodi:synodus provincialispro cuiusque provinciaeutilitateet moribus certam cuique formulampraescribet.Intereavero episcopus,non minus quam cum duobus canonicis, quorum unus ap episcopo, alter a capitulo eligatur,in his, quae expedirevidebuntur,poterit
providere"(CT 9:983-84).
51. The most familiarof the few modern accounts to discuss this last Tridentineattempt at
musical reform misunderstood or misinterpretedit through lack of familiaritywith the original
documents. Hayburnmisconstruedthe historicalchain of events and overlookedsome documentaryevidence (Papal Legislation,29). Weberoverlookedthe finaloutcome of the deliberationson
monastic reform (Le Concilede Trente,95). Hayburn, in turn, apparentlymisled Jane Bowers
("The Emergence of Women Composers in Italy, 1566-1700," in WomenMaking Music:The
20
An impression of haste predominates in the reform of religious orders

during the last days of the Council. As Hubert Jedin points out, by contrast
with earlierreforms,which had gone through months of preparationand were
debated for weeks, this last reformwas largelypreparedin a few weeks and debated in a few days. Ludovico Nucci, secretaryto GabrielePaleotti, captures
the generalspiritat Trent in a letter to Astorgio Paleotti,written during the final days of the debate: "There are few prelateswho haven't alreadyhad their
bags packed,and many have alreadysent them home."52
As earlyas the autumnof 1562, the legateshad instructedEgidio Foscarari,
bishop of Modena, and GabrielePaleotti to begin working on the reform of
religiousorders;during October of that year Paleotti had drafteda decree on
the cloisteringof nuns. The matterthen seems to have been put asideuntil the
busy days of August 1563, when the issues for the twenty-fourthsession still
remainedthe dominantpreoccupation.A letter of 18 November from Muzio
Calini, archbishopof Zara, suggests that a committee had been formed to
draft the decrees only several days earlier.53As passed to the delegates on
20 November, less than ten days after the celebrationof the twenty-fourth
session, the reform decrees regarding female monasteries included specific
musicalrestrictions:
Chapter7.... Let the divineservicesbe accomplishedby them with voices
hiredfor thatpurpose;andin the sacrificeof
raised,and not by professionals
the Masslet them makethe responsesthat the choirusuallymakes;but let
themnot usurpthe roleof the deaconandsubdeaconof recitingthe Lessons,
Epistles,and Gospels.Let them abstainfrom modulatingand inflectingthe
voiceor fromotherartificeof singing,whichis called"figured"
or "instrumental,"asmuchin choiraselsewhere.54
WesternArt Tradition, 1150-1950, ed. Jane Bowers and Judith Tick [Urbana and Chicago:
Universityof IllinoisPress, 1986], 141-45). The attemptedban on convent music is likewisepresented inaccuratelyas recently as the second edition of The New GroveDictionary of Music and
Musicians(2001). See Judith Tick, "Womenin Music," sec. 11/3, "WesternClassicalTraditions,
1500-1800," 27:525.
vol. 4, pt. 2, p. 174. For Nucci's letter ("ci sono puochi prelatiche non
habbino sin adesso fatto incassarele lor robbe, e molti di gia l'hanno inviate"),see CT3, pt. 1, p.
756 n. 1.
vol. 4, pt. 2, p. 173; Hubert Jedin, "ZurVorgeschichteder Regularenreform Trid., sess. xxv," in his Kirche des Glaubens,Kirche der Geschichte(Freiburg: Herder,
1966), 2:394. See also Reymond Creytens, "La riformadei monasterifemminilidopo i decreti
tridentini,"II Conciliodi Trentoe la riformatridentina:Atti del Convegnostoricointernazionale,
Trento,2-6 settembre1963 (Rome: Herder, 1965), 1:45-84. Calini's letter appearsin Muzio
Calini,Lettereconciliari(1561-1563), 568-69.
54. "Caputseptimum.... Divina autem officiaab eis altavoce peragantur,non a mercenariis
ad id conductis, et in missae sacrificiochorus quidem responderesolet, respondeant;partesvero
diaconivel hypodiaconiin sacriEvangeliivel canonicaeEpistolaeaut alteriussacraelectionisrecitatione non usurpent.Vocis modulatione atque inflexionealiovecantusartificio,quod figuratumvel
organicumappellatur,tam in choro quam alibiabstineant"(CT 9:1043).
21
Here was a ban on music about as severeas the one that subsequentlyfound a
place in the Palestrinalegend. Not only had outside professionalmusicians
been excluded from nuns' churches, but polyphony ("cantus artificio,quod
figuratum... appellatur")had also been banishedfrom chapeland monastery
alike.
The key figure in the whole enterpriseof monastic reformwas the by now
familiarGabrielePaleotti,who in the days afterthe twenty-fourthsession was
too occupied in the preparationand revisionof these new decrees concerning
monastic reform even to attend the concurrent general congregations. The
charredremains of various autographdraftswith changes in Paleotti's hand
attest once again to his primaryrole.55During his subsequent years as archbishop of Bologna-a position to which he was nominatedin the very dayshe
was drafting these chapters on monastic reform-Paleotti remained deeply
suspiciousof nuns' music. It is not unreasonableto suggest, therefore,that in
the autumn of 1563, as many prelates' attention turned increasinglyaway
from Trent and toward their own concerns at home, the extremelyrestrictive
musicaldecree presentedto the generalcongregationson 20 November may
have been primarilythe work of one man, GabrielePaleotti.
Paleotti's secretary,writing in anticipationof the discussion of monastic
reforms,commented:
I hearthatthe reformof friarsis not muchlikedby the fathers,buttheywillreduceit to a muchabbreviated
in orderto
form,andwill speakin generalities
finishup quickly.I believethe samethingwill be done in the reformof the
nuns;but becausethey have no advocateshere, the mattercould go more
severelyforthem.56
But it turnsout that nuns' music did find a few supporters.In the generalcongregations, Giovanni Battista Orsini, archbishop of Santa Severina, and
Francesco Piccolomini, bishop of Pienza, specificallystated that "musical
songs" should not be prohibited,while the delegate from Venice saidthe matter should be left to the nuns' superiors.Severaldelegatesvoted that all conventual reforms should be left to the nuns' superiors,while others opted for
the cardinalof Lorraine'sview that such mattersshould be left to provincial
councils.57
55. On the last-minutecommittee, see Jedin, "Zur Vorgeschichte,"394; on Paleotti's role,
see Prodi, II Cardinale GabrielePaleotti 1:188-89.
56. "La riformade' fratiintendo che non e molto approvatada' padri, pero la ridurannoa
forma assaipitubreve, et si parlerain generaleper finirlapresto. I1simile credo si faranella riforma
delle monache, pur per non havereesse qui procuratorealcuno, la cosa per loro potriaandarepitu
stretta"(CT3, pt. 1, p. 756 n. 1).
57. "Lotharingus.... Quoad moniales ... si qua aliareformandasunt circamoniales, id fiat
in concilio provinciali.... Venetiarum.... Quaod moniales, etiam remittaturearum reformatio
earum superioribus. Si autem canones remanent: ... 7. relinquatur arbitrio superiorum....
S. Severinae.... Quoad moniales:... In 7. non prohibeanturcantusmusici.... Pientinus.Quoad
moniales ... 7. De Eucharistiaserveturloci consuetudo, neque prohibeaturcantusmusicus"(CT
9:1044-67, esp. 1045, 1047, and 1050).
22
The summaryof criticismsof the preliminarydecrees, drawn up after the

general congregations of 23-27 November, specificallycame out in favor of
music: "As for nuns. Let the entire matter be referredback to the heads of
their orders;or let these canons be combined with those above.... In 7....
Musicalsongs are not to be prohibited."58In the discussionof this summary
on 28-30 November, "non prohibeanturcantus musici" must have carried,
for all referencesto nuns' musicwere droppedfrom the decreesof the twentyfifth session, celebrated on 3-4 December 1563, which also brought the
Council to a close.59Convent polyphony apparentlyhad been "saved."
Post-Tridentine Revision of the Original Meaning of

"Iuxta Formam Concilii"
In the immediate aftermath of the Council, the most direct, official pronouncement on music-originating in the twenty-second session and hastily
publishedamidstall the canons and decreesby Paolo Manuzio in March 1564
-was limited solely to the prohibition of "lasciviousor impure" elements.
The same wording likewisefound its way into the new Codexiuris canonici,
book 3, part 3, canon 1264.60Yet the issue of textual intelligibilityin church
music, which had figured in the preliminarydeliberations for the twentysecond session but had been dropped from the canons finally approved in
congregation, clearlywould not have been forgotten. Although these initial
reformproposalsand their discussionswere not made public, they were widely
known to direct participantsand observersat Trent, as the papallegates' description to Borromeo of the drafting of reforms, cited earlier,makes clear.
Textual clarityremained a live issue, despite its removal from the final, publishedwording.
Significantly, Gabriele Paleotti's manuscript "Acts" of the Council for
1562-63 actually restored the requirement regarding textual intelligibility.
Sketched during the Council and redraftedseveraltimes in subsequentyears,
they were intended for publicationshortly afterthe canons and decrees were
printed,but only publishedin the nineteenth century.61The second redaction
58. "Quo vero ad moniales. Remittaturtotum negotium earum generalibus;vel coniungantur canones isti cum superioribus.... In 7.... Non prohibeanturcantusmusici"(CT9:1068).
59. The full "Summa censurarum," summarizing criticisms of the preliminary reforms,
appearsin CT9:1067-69.
60. "Musicalcompositions in which there is intermingledaught lasciviousor impure, either
by the organ or other instrumentsor by singing, should be kept awayfrom churchesaltogether;
liturgicallaws must be observedwith referenceto sacredmusic" (Fellerer,"ChurchMusic and the
Council of Trent," 581n).
61. On Paleotti's "ActaConcilii tridentini,"their history,and their eventualpublication,see
Prodi, II Cardinale GabrielePaleotti 2:389-424; and Hubert Jedin, Das Konzil von Trient,ein
Ueberblick
uberdie ErforschungseinerGeschichte
(Rome: Edizioni di "Storiae Letteratura,"1948),
37-39.
23
includes this illuminatingdescriptionand explanationof deliberationsabout

music before the twenty-secondsession:
So, too, earliermany things had been provided regardingmusic in divine services in the eighth canon of these abuses, which thereafterhad not been repeated in this, not because they were unacceptable,but because they did not
seem appropriatefor individualpresentationin this way. As, for example, that
one [of the stipulations requiring] that it [music] be composed so that its
words may be perceived by everyone, and nothing of the text of the service
then being performed shall be displaced by the organ or singing, but it shall
firstbe recited in a clearvoice.62
Having thus articulated early on that the issue of textual intelligibility had
been omitted from the final version of the canons and decrees, and having explained the reasons behind that decision, Paleotti subsequently rewrote the
reference to music in the final redaction of the "Acts":
In the deliberationsregarding music in divine service, although some rather
condemned [than approved] it in churches, the rest, however, and especially
the Spanish, gave their vote that it should by all means be retained in accordance with the most ancient usage of the Catholic Church to arouse the faithful to love of God, provided that it should be free of lasciviousness and
wantonness, and provided that, so far as possible, the words of the singers
should be comprehensibleto the hearers.63
In Paleotti's final, more general reference to music, the issue of intelligibility,
ignored in the published Council decrees, here rejoins the single musical
stipulation specifically articulated there. Ironically, Paleotti thus provides a
62. "Sicquoque anteain 8. canone horum abusuumcircamusicamin divinisagendammulta
erant provisa,quae deinde non fuerunt in hoc repetita,non quia non probarentur,sed quoniam
non ita singulavisa sunt exprimenda.Velutiillud, ut ita componatur,ut eius verbaab omnibus accipi possint, et ne organo aut cantu occupeturaliquidex contextu eius officiiquod tunc agitur,sed
illud plana voce recitetur prius." This version, surviving in Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Sacra
Congregazione del Concilio, MS 88, is printed in CT3, pt. 1, pp. 429-30. Comparisonof this
passagewith the text of canon 8 (see n. 22 above) suggests that "planavoce" implieseitherplainchant or speech.
63. "De musica in divinis agenda, tametsi aliqui eam potius in ecclesiis damnarent,reliqui
tamen, et praesertimHispani eam omnino ex antiquissimocatholicaeecclesiaeinstituto ad excitandum fideliumin Deum affectumretinendamcensuerunt,modo lasciviapetulantiaquevacaret,
et quoad eius fieri posset verba canentium ab audientibus intelligerentur."This version, from
ArchivioSegreto Vaticano,SacraCongregatione del Concilio, MS 105, is publishedin CT3, pt.
1, p. 429n. It had previouslyappearedin Augustin Theiner, ed., Acta genuina ss. oecumenici
Concilii tridentini:Sub Paulo III. Julio III. et Pio IV ab Angelo Massarelloepiscopothelesinoejusdem concilliisecretarioconscripta.Nunc primum integra edita ab Augustino Theiner... accedunt
acta ejusdemConciliiSubPio IV a cardinaleGabrielePaleotto... digesta,secundiscurisexpolitiora
(Zagreb:Typiset sumptibusSocietatisbibliophilae,1874), 590. It was quoted from Theiner,with
slight differences,in Weinmann,Das Konzil von Trient,16; and is also printed,without source citation, in Mischiati,"IIConcilio di Trento," 20.
24
venerable precedent, unknown to Gustave Reese, for the later historian's

reframingof Tridentinepronouncementson music to include both issues.
PerhapsPaleotti's revisionsin the years after the Council were also influenced by what happened in Rome shortly after the Council adjourned.
Paleotti's retention of the issue of textual comprehensibility,a concern to
prelatespreoccupiedwith music long beforeTrent and, of course,to sixteenthcenturymusicalhumanistsgenerally,must have reflectedthe abidingmind-set
of other reform-mindedchurchmen returningfrom Trent. This is most evident and familiarfrom the oft-cited experimentswith textual intelligibilityin
polyphony pursued in 1565 by CardinalsCarlo Borromeo and Vitellozzo
Vitelli as membersof the Commission of Cardinals,establishedby Pius IV the
previous year to carry out Tridentine reform in Rome in accordancewith
the stipulations of the twenty-fourth session that reforms be implemented
at the local level. In April 1565, papal singersconvened at Vitelli's residence
"to sing some masses and test whether the words could be understood, as
their Eminencesdesire."64
This may best explainthe interestingcircumstanceof GiovanniAnimuccia,
who in 1566 receivedpaymentfor "fivemasses [written] accordingto the requirementsof the Council"to be used in the CappellaGiulia.At theirpublication the following year, the composer indicated that the masses had been
composed so that "the music may disturb the hearing of the text as little as
possible,"suggesting that this had been his understandingof "secundumformam concilii,"and the understandingof administratorsof the CappellaGiulia
as well.65But it is also interesting to note that in 1568 the CappellaGiulia
continued to perform "a mass by Pipelareon L'hommearme"; "an old mass
by Robert Fevin in the old book," which could be the MissaLe villain jaloux,
preserved in a Sistine Chapel manuscript;"a mass by Compere ... in the
fourth mode," very probably his MissaL'hommearme, likewise survivingin
the Sistinecollection;and "another[mass] called La Castagnia."These works
form part of a retrospectivecollection that, as RichardSherr has observed,
seems "strange... because the music for the chapel at this time should have
been selected accordingto the standardslaid down by the Council of Trent,
standardspresumablynot met by these pre-Tridentinepieces." In addition,
CapellaSistinaMS 22, apparentlycopied circa 1565, contained not only the
quintessentialTridentinereformwork of the subsequentPalestrinalegend, the
della vita e delle operedi Giovanni Pierluigi da

64. Giuseppe Baini, Memoriestorico-critiche
Palestrina (Rome: Societa tipografica,1828); Franz XavierHaberle, "Die Cardinalskommision
7 (1892): 82-97;
von 1564 und PalestrinasMissaPapaeMarcelli,"KirchenmusikalischesJahrbuch
and numerous studies by Lewis Lockwood, particularlyThe Counter-Reformation,where the
quotation from the chapeldiaryappearson p. 87.
65. Lewis Lockwood and Noel O'Regan, "Animuccia, Giovanni," in The New Grove
Dictionaryof Musicand Musicians,2d ed. (2001), 1:687.
25
MissaPapaeMarcelli,but also a MissaEn doleuret tristesseand a Missa Ultimi

mei sospiri.66
The persistencein the CappellaGiulia of these masses based on
secularmodels patentlyviolatesTrent'smost dearly articulatedmusicalprohibition, usefullyillustratingthe ad hoc, inconsistent nature of post-Tridentine
reform,even at the very center of the CaputMundi.
More significantly,even before the Commission of Cardinals'meetings on
music, CarloBorromeo had begun work on musicalreformalong similarlines
for his own diocese of Milan. On 20 January1565 he had written to Nicolo
Ormaneto, his vicar,"I would like you to speakwith the chapel masterthere
[Vincenzo Ruffo] and tell him to reformthe singing so that the words may be
as intelligible as possible, as you know is orderedby the Council" (emphasis
added).67As Gabriele Paleotti had done in his "Acts," Borromeo thus afforded the issue of textual comprehensibilitya kind of quasi-officialconciliar
sanction that, while not quite in accord with historicalevents, subsequently
caught on.
Rome was the model for the Catholic world, which must quickly have
gotten wind of changes being explored and affected by the Commission of
Cardinals,and by Borromeo in particular,including this amplificationof what
the Council had commanded on music. A fascinatingletter from Giovanni
Animuccia'sbrother,Paolo Animuccia,writing from Pesaroin January1566,
clearlywitnesses to the apparent spread of this expanded interpretationof
officialTridentinedoctrineon music. Paolo Animucciaboldly offersto reform
the music of Paul Vs chapel "so that the words can be understood and be
accompaniedby the devout music necessaryfor ecclesiasticalfunctions."68
One example of reform at the local level appearsto draw a distinctionbetween what Trent had actuallydecreedregardingmusic and the broadenedinterpretation.The Constitutionesalmae domusfor the Holy House of Loreto,
promulgatedby CardinalGiulio della Rovere in 1576, included the following
stipulationsregardingthe maestrodi cappella:
A chapelmastershouldbe appointed,moreover,who wouldobeythe lawslaid
downby the Councilof Trentforchurchmusicians,
namely,not to mixin anythingindecentor impurein theirsongs;but let him rememberhis presencein
the church,whereangelicharmoniesechothe praisesof Christthe Lordandof
hisVirginMother.Therefore,wheneverit canbe done smoothly,he shouldbe
a manmost skillfulin the artof music,andhe shouldadornthe divinepraises
66. RichardSherr, "From the Diary of a Sixteenth-CenturyPapal Singer," Current Musicology25 (1978): 83-98; the quotation appearson p. 94; the masseson secularmodels appearin
entriesfrom CapellaSistina,MS 651, translatedon pp. 91-93. My thanksto ProfessorSherrfor
providingthe informationabout the contents of CapellaSistina,MS 22.
67. Lockwood, TheCounter-Reformation,
92.
68. RichardSherr,"A Letterfrom Paolo Animuccia:A Composer'sResponse to the Council
of Trent,"EarlyMusic12 (1984): 75-78.
26
withrhythmandvocalharmonyin sucha waythatthewordsdo not get entanso thattheymaybe clearly

gledor confused,but let thembe uttereddistinctly,
understoodby everyone.69
Here the Council's edict on music is quite clearlyseparatedfrom the additional issue of comprehension, so commonly reintroduced by ecclesiastical
authoritiesin the post-Tridentineperiod.
One suspects that few musiciansactuallyread the official Tridentinepronouncements. Their perception of the Council's decrees on music was more
likely influenced by orders from ecclesiastical patrons (as in the case of
GiovanniAnimucciain Rome or Vmcenzo Ruffo in Milan), by publishedreforms of provincialsynods that interpretedthe Tridentine decrees (as happened relativelyquicklyin Milan and Bologna), by what they may have heard
informally (as in the case of Paolo Animuccia in Pesaro, presumably kept
abreastof papalgoings-on by his brotherGiovanniin Rome), or by what they
read on title pages or in dedicationsof musicalpublicationsclaimingto have
been composed "according to the form of the Council of Trent" or "in
compliancewith the decree of the Most Holy Council of Trent"(as is the case
with Ruffo's mass collections).Within a few yearsof the Council's conclusion,
the issue of textualintelligibilityin sacredmusic had thus come to be takenfor
grantedas part of its reforms.Ironically,it appearsthat Carlo Borromeo, who
in 1562-63 worked energeticallybehind the scenes, from Rome, to control
the course of the Council on behalf of Pius IV, may thus have continued to
control its outcome in the small matter of music even after the Council had
adjourned.
Thus, when it came to music, the Council of Trent chose ultimatelyto say
as little as possible-indeed, less than commonly suggested by some prominent Catholicreformerssuch as Paleottiand Borromeo, not to mention many
modem music historians.And afterthe Council, those involvedwith its implementation seem rarelyto have been askedto say more. It is significantthat the
index for the first sixty years' deliberationsof the Sacra Congregazione del
Concilio, established shortly after the Council to arbitrateand enforce the
Council'sdecrees,contains onlyonerequestfor adviceon a musicalmatter(see
Appendix2 below). The Congregation'sresponsewas thoroughly characteristic: citing the twenty-fourthsession, canon 12, the cardinalsin Rome referred
the matterright backto the local bishop in Barcelona.
69. "Sia nominato inoltre un maestro di cappellail quale non solo ottemperi alle leggi prescrittedal concilio tridentinoa i musici di chiesa,cioe di non mischiarealcunch6di lascivoo d'impuro nei loro canti, ma pensi di trovarsinella chiesa dove le angeliche armonie risuonaronodelle
lodi di Cristo Signore, e della sua Vergine Madre. Pero, qualoralo si possa agevolmente, sia egli
uomo valentissimonell'artemusicale,e col ritmo e colla Modulazione delle voci adomi le divine
laudiin guisa che le parolenon s'intreccinone si confondino, ma nettamentesianprofferite,accio
possano da tutti esser chiaramentecomprese." See Floriano Grimaldi,La CappellaMusicaledi
Loretonel Cinquecento(Loreto: Ente Rassegne Musicali, 1981), 106. I wish to thank Richard
Sherrfor bringingthis referenceto my attention.
27
This Tridentine decision from the twenty-fourth session-to leave such

issues to be settled at the local level-proved just as importantfor the subsequent development of Catholic church music. The history of post-Tridentine
sacredmusic is thereforelocal history,characterizednot by uniformitybut by
fascinating diversity,and sometimes involving restrictivepractices that had
been rejected at Trent. This may be brieflyillustratedby the varied attitudes
toward the implementationof Tridentinelegislationregardingfemale monasteries. In Milan, for example, Carlo Borromeo actuallydisseminatedcopies of
the preliminary,rejectedproposalson monasticreformfrom Trent and graduallymoved from a less restrictiveattitudetowardnuns' music to a more severe
position in the 1570s, revoking the privilegefor outside music teachersand
attempting to remove polyphony from the external churches of convents
governed by regularreligious orders. In Bologna, on the other hand, one of
GabrielePaleotti's first episcopal decrees regardingconvent music, issued in
March 1569, returned to the rigors of the initial, rejected draft from Trent
that forbadeallvocal music but plainchantand any singing to the organ, a ban
that proved very difficultto enforce. Significantly,when the cardinal'scoadjutor, Alfonso Paleotti,wrote to Rome twenty-fiveyearslater,requesting a ban
on "musiche solenni" similar to one recently issued against the nuns of
Naples, CardinalAlessandrino,Michele Bonelli, responded, "as to the reform
in Naples, it was local, [issued] for particularreasons,whereforeit should not
be extended into universal circumstances."Alessandrino thus clearly reaffirmed the important principle of local variation laid down in the twentyfourth session of the Council. His remarkalso aptlycharacterizeswhat would
become the wider realityof convent music generally,where the severitiesof
Bologna and Milan contrast frequentlywith much less contested and more
encouragingattitudestowardconvent music in "open" cities such as Siena.70
It is equally characteristicof the history of early modern Catholic church
music that, although convent music had been "saved"by the removal of all
musical referencesfrom the monastic reform of the twenty-fifthsession, the
recordsof the SacraCongregazione dei Vescovie Regolari,establishedto deal
with monastic disciplinein the aftermathof Trent, by contrastwith records
of the SacraCongregazione del Concilio, are filled with literallyhundredsof
70. On the Milanese reform of female monasteriesunder Carlo Borromeo, see Kendrick,
CelestialSirens,58-71. On Bologna, see Craig Monson, DisembodiedVoices:Music and Culture
in an Early ModernItalian Convent(Berkeleyand Los Angeles: Universityof CaliforniaPress,
1995), esp. 36-48; and idem, "DisembodiedVoices: Music in the Nunneries of Bologna in the
Midst of the Counter-Reformation,"in The Crannied Wall: Women,Religion, and the Arts in
EarlyModernEurope,ed. CraigMonson (Ann Arbor:Universityof Michigan Press, 1992), 191209. Cardinal Alessandrino's remark, "quanto alla riforma di Napoli fu locale p[er] ragioni
part[icola]rionde non deve tirarsiin conseguenza generale,"appearsin ArchivioSegretoVaticano,
SacraCongregazione dei Vescovi e Regolari,Reg. Episcoporum24 (1592-93), fol. 107. For the
contrastinghistory of nuns' music in Siena, see Colleen Reardon, Holy ConcordWithin Sacred
Walls:Nuns and Musicin Siena, 1575-1700 (New York:Oxford UniversityPress,2001).
28
rulings on convent music. These myriad, often inconsistent efforts to control

this apparently dangerous art reflect just one side of the richly varied practice
that would characterize post-Tridentine music in the Catholic world.
Appendix 1 EarlierPronouncementson Musical Reform, from Before the Work
for the Twenty-secondSession of the Council of Trent7l
A. FriedrichNausea von Waischenfeld,Episcopus Viennensis, De praecipuisquibusdam clericorumet laicorum abusibuspro ecclesiareformandatollendis,Liber quintus
(June 1543)
(Summary:Regardingsingers'abuses.... Somewhowouldholdsingers'placesknownothing of musicor onlyoneaspectof it, and becomelaughingstocks
byneedingto be taught by
their deputies.No care is taken concerningcorrector incorrectmusic books;missalsand
breviariesin particular oughtto be corrected.Singersgive no thoughtto singing loudlyor
amorously,and theyomit or shortenliturgical textsto accommodatemusic.Singersshow
little concernfor the moderate,reverentmanner of reading or singing appropriateto divine service.Theysometimesintroducemusicthat arouseswantonness,that includestexts
not derivedfrom Scripture,or that is in thevernacular.... Onlycorrectedbooksshouldbe
usedin thechoir,and onlysongstakenfrom Scriptureor in accordwith it. Thingsthat are
inappropriatelyorderedor inappropriately
placed shouldbe removed.... Let nothing be
sung exceptthat whichpertainsto theeucharistor Lord'spassion,suchas "Pangelingua,"
"LaudaSion,""0 sacrumconvivium,""Homoquidamfecit," "DiscubuitIesus,""Patris
sapientia."If a petitionfor peace,a fruitful harvest,etc. need besung, it is appropriateto
do so beforeor after Mass.... Let nothingberead or sung in churchthat is notfrom, or in
agreement with, Scripture. Whatever its language, it should be serious and not
laughable.)72
De cantorumabusibus.
... Inter quos quidem prelatos,diversisgradibusdistinctos, cuiusmodi sunt prepositi,
decani, archidiaconi,scholastici,de quibuspaulo ante diximus,sibi quoque locum vendicantin aliquibusecclesiiscantores,ita vocati, quod eorum sit, haberecuramde canticis ecclesiasticis, qui alibi chori episcopi nominantur. Quam recte sibi id nominis
usurpent,argumentosunt abususeorum.
Primusquidem eorum est abusus,quod pleriqueipsorum, ne unius quidem vel alterius note, quam vocant, scientiamhabeant, sileo, quod aliquammusices partem calleant, docendi demum per eorum succentoressubstitutosnon citraderisionemnec sine
magno apud omnes ludibrio.
Secundus abusus ex priore descendens est, quod nulla est ipsis cura, quam sint vel
emendate vel inemendate scripti libri, quorum est usus in templo, quum tamen vel
unicum iota, perperamexaratum,facerepossit perversumet hereticumsensum in ver71. Theseappendices
offereithersummaries
anditalics)of the longerdocu(in parentheses
ments, translatingonly their most importantpoints, or my own, full translationsof the less extensive documents.
72. A partial, alternativetranslation of some of the passages appears in Hayburn, Papal
25-27.
Legislation,
29
bis et orationibus,id quod in primisusuveniresolet in ipsis, que vocant, missalibuset

breviariis,que oportuit esse perquamemendatissimescriptaet excusa.
Tertius est eorum abusus, quod nil pensi habeant, an in cantando sit clamor vel
amor, quum permittantsepe non nullos in choro reboarepotius quam canere;nec animadvertunt, quod non recte sepenumero ob vel cantorum vel organorum concentuum omittanturaut decurtenturea, quae sunt in divinisofficiis precipua.Cuius sane
generissunt lectiones prophetarum,epistole apostolorum,symbolafidei, prefationeset
gratiarumactiones et precationeset id genus alia,quorum isti magnam debent habere
rationem.
Quartus est eorum cantorum abusus, quod minime advertunt, quomodo vel
legaturvel canaturin choro, quandoquidemcantusipse esse debet equalis,non precipitatus, sed clarus,distinctus,modicus, devotus, et ita quidem temperatusad omnia, ut
queque divinaoffitiareverenterperagantur.
Denique cantorumabususest, quod aliquotiesin cantibuset organisin templo permittunt, que magislasciviamquam devotionem excitant,sinantquealiquandocani, que
non modo non ex divinissunt desumptascripturis,sed que sunt ab eis omnino diversa
vel certe minus spiritualia,maxime cum in lingua non consueta, utpote vernacula,legi
soleant contracatholiceecclesiemorem et consuetudinem.73
Idem, de modotollendorumvel moderandorumabusuum,Liber sextus
Cantores.
Studeantquoscunquein choro libroshaberebene correctos,et non aliospermittant
cantus, quam qui vel ex scripturadesumpti sint vel illi non adversentur.Inde per viros
eruditos abiciendi,qui non fiant suo ordine et tempore, quos Deo decet esse dignos et
devotionisincensivos.74
Idem, de tollendiscirca apiceschristianereliqionisabusibuset moderandisrebusabsolute
pietatis haud existentibus,Liber septimus
... Ac tum nihil canatur,quam quod ad venerabilesacramentumaltarisvel passionem
dominicam attinet, ut est "Pange lingua," "Lauda Sion," "O sacrum convivium,"
"Homo quidam fecit," "Discubuit lesus, Patrissapientia,"aut si quid hoc est genus
aliud. Si quid vel pro pace vel pro fecunditateterre vel pro hoc genus re alia cantari
debet, commodius cantaripotest vel ante vel post missam....
Circalectiones et cantus in templo.
Nihil nec legatur nec canaturin templo, nisi quod ex sacrissit literisdepromptum
vel cum illis consonet aut certe non discrepet, sed gravitate quadam sine ridiculo
poleat;in quocunque tandem idiomate hoc ipsum legi caniquesoleat.75
B. Council of Poissy,October 1561
(Summary: The Council of Basel'sdecree,How divine service should be celebrated,
should be observedin everydetail. Servicesshould not be performedhastily,but slowly,
73. CT 12:403.
74. CT 12:416.
75. CT 12:421.
30
distinguishingbetweenfestal and commondays.Theyshouldnot beperformedtoo loudly

or too effeminately.Polyphonyknown as discant, which obscuresthe words,should be
removedor improved.During publicservicesno oneshouldsavetime in recitingthecanonical hourswhileMassis beingcelebrated.Singingshouldincite thefaithful topiety.Organs
shouldplay onlysacredmusic, and lasciviousor impiousmusicshouldbe removed.They
shall be silent during the Creed,whicheveryonemust hear,and not obstructthe Epistle,
Gospel,thePreface,and theLord'sPrayer.Anythingsung to theorganor otherinstruments
shouldbe comprehensible.
The variousservicebooksshouldbe examinedand reformedas
necessary.[Roman annotation:Any referenceto the Council of Baselshouldbe omitted.
Anything in the Gallican reformthat bearsno annotation is left to be considered
freelyby
theHoly See,accordingto the ruling of thepapal legatesand the wholeCouncil.])
De cultu.
... ut in omnibus observeturdecretum concilii Basiliensis:Quomodocelebrandumsit
officiumdivinum....
Omnes et singuli clericiconvenienti modulatione et consona debitum Deo cultum
exhibeantet extrinsecusetiam ostendant cor et carnem exultarein Deum vivum et in
horis canonicisdent operam, ut quae dicunt attendentesillud propheticumde se non
merito audiant:Labiis quidem me honorant,cor autem eorum longe est a me, cum sit
maledictus,qui opusDei facit negligenter.Laudes itaque divinae non festinanter,sed
tractimservatisintervallis,dierum tamen festorum a profestisdistinguendorumhabita
ratione,nec in altum sublatavoce decantentur,quin etiam molles omnes fractiquecantus, quos discantusvocant, quorum tumultuset strepituspotius auditurquam pronunciatio, tollantur vel emendentur aut in melius reformentur. Sed nec interea, dum
canonicaepreces in templo publice cantanturaut leguntur, quisquamin ecclesiaextra
chorum deambulandoprivatimaliquid legat nec horas canonicas absolvat,sed simul
cum fratribuscanens Deum honoret. Porro autem clericiet sacerdotescantum suum
ita instituant,ut ad pietatem et ad Deum populi animum excitent, et organa quidem,
quorum usus est in templis, nihil praeterhymnos divinos et spiritualiacanticarepraesentent, impudicas autem cantilenaset christianisauribus indignas modulando non
referant.Dum autem et symbolum, quod est ab omnibus audiendum, recitatur,conticescant, neque evangelii et verborum propheticorum aut apostolicorum, quam
vocamus epistolam, et praefationem, quae gratiarum actio dicitur, et precationem
dominicam, quominus a populo audiantur, impediant, ut episcopus cum consilio
seniorum capituli poterit decernere. Quae autem de organis dicta [sunt], eadem de
campanisaut aliisinstrumentis,quae ad sacraofficiaadhibentur,intelligivolumus.
Visitenturbreviaria,missalia,manualia,antiphonaliaet legenda sanctorum,et quae
fuerintdeprehensain illissuperfluaaut non satispro ecclesiaedignitateconvenientia,ea
continuo tollanturet resecentur,et quae visafuerintnecessaria,adiicianturcum consilio
seniorumcapituli.
[AdnotatioRomana:De cultu divino: Ubicumquefit mentioconciliiBasiliensis,deleatur
mentioillius conciliiet denuofiat, quicquidexpeditfieri.... Ceteraveroomnia in summario reformationisGallicanaecontenta,superquibusnihil estannotatum,S.taeS. relinquit liberrimetractanda et decernendaiuxta Ill.morumDD. legatorumet totiusconcilii
placitum et sententiam,quibusomninose remittit.]76
76. CT 13:515 and n. 1. CT 13 takesthe AdnotatioRomanafrom ArchivioSegreto
ConcilioTridentino,
MS 103, fol. lOOr.
Vaticano,
31
C. Religiouswarsin France:requestspresentedto Pius IV before 12 December 1562

It remainsto speak of the way to serve God. In this regardit has been observed that
even as in the earlychurchthe singing of psalmsand public prayerin a languageunderstood by everyone encouragedChristiansto fearGod and in their devotion frequently
to invoke him in fraternalbrotherhood, so it likewiseprovoked their enemies to want
to hear what there might be about this religion that made men live better and made
them more devout toward God. So we see in our time that those who are separated
from us drawinto their companyall those who hear them singing the psalmsand praying. And seeing that this is a good thing and praiseworthy,and something the church
has employed for such a long time, it would be a good thing to accept by the same
stratagem into our church the singing of psalms in the vernacularwith the public
prayers;and every bishop could orderjust this in his diocese.
Resta a parlaredella manieradi servirea Dio. Sopradi questo vengono a notare ch'ancora che nella primitivachiesail canto de i salmi et preghierepubliche in lingua intesa
da ciascunocontenevali christianinel timor di Dio et nella devotione d'invocarlospesso in fraternaleamicitia,tiravali nimici a voler intendere quel che fusse di questa religione, che facevagli huomini di miglior vita et piu devoti inverso Dio, cosi noi vediamo al nostro tempo che coloro che sono separatida noi tiranoin compagnialoro tutti
quelli, che li odono cantarede i salmiet farepreghiere.Et atteso che questa e una cosa
buona et laudabile et la quale la chiesa ha si lungamente usata, saria buono col
medesmo artificiodi riceverenella nostra chiesa due volte il giorno il canto de i salmi
in lingua volgare con le preghiere publiche, et tali, quali ciascun vescovo potesse
ordinarenella sua diocesi.77
D. FranciscoCordoba, Order of ObservantFriarsMinor, "Considerationesde ecclesia
reformandaet de concilio" (1562)
On feast days let the clergy and the people give their attention to the doctrine of the
faith.
... For they supposehim to be adequatelysuited to the church'sministrywho can sing
and somehow or other read, although learning should alwaysbe preferredto those
qualities(which neverthelessare not discountenanced).Whence, whereas for this reason there is no lack of singers, there would assuredlybe no lack of theologians, if on
them, too, beneficeswere conferred;for honor nourishes the arts.... Therefore it is
proper that the pope and other prelatesof the church, who distributethe beneficesof
the church, first teach them and make them capable of preaching, for singing is the
meanest office; indeed, it is not even the propertyof ministersof the church, but of all
Christians.
In diebus festis cleruspopulusque fidei doctrinaedet operam.
... Nam ad ministeriumecclesiaeputant hi satis idoneum esse eum, qui novit cantare
et utcunque scit legere, cum istis (quae tamen non sunt reprobanda)doctrinasemper
sit praeferenda.Unde cum hac de causanon desint cantores,non deessent certe theologi, si et illis beneficiaconferrent;honor enim alit artes.... Oportet ergo, ut papa et
77. CT13:524.
32
ceteriecclesiaepraelati,qui ecclesiaebeneficiadistribuunt,priusdoceant eos faciantque

idoneos ad praedicandum,quoniam cantareinfimummunus est, imo nec est proprium
ministrorumecclesiae,sed omnium christianorum.78
E. Petitionspresentedby the counselorsand deputiesof the Holy Roman Emperorfor
considerationat the Council of Trent (20 May 1562)
(Summary:Servicesare currentlyperformed,prayersaresaid, and psalmsare sung laughably,negligently,irreverently,and sofast as to beunintelligibleevento theperformers.The
churchhierarchyoughtthereforeto considerhowto correctthis,so that what is said or sung
will be pronouncedcorrectly,distinctly,slowly,and with respectfulgravity. Since many
songsand prayers,servicebooksshouldbe reviewedand
faults have creptinto the churche's
correctedsothat nothingis read,sung, offeredin prayer,orpresentedto thepeoplethat does
not appearin scriptureor is notproperaccordingto the ChurchFathersor acceptedchurch
histories.If lengthyprayersand songsprovokeinconsideratehastein performingtheservice,
that tediouslongwindednessshouldbe cut back.Betterfive psalmssung in peace and joy
than the entirepsalterin sadnessand anxiety.Since many lessknowledgeable
peopleurge
the useof the vernacularin divine serviceand theadministrationof thesacraments,and
sinceit is establishedout of ancient and moderndoctorsand writersof the churchthat the
same customwasfollowedin the churchat one time, and even now is the customin some
placessuchas Granada and Croatia, the Councilshouldtake up the questionwhether,in
thepresentcircumstances,
thechurchshouldnot considerpermittingvernacularversesto be
withLatin song,providedit encouragesdevotionand doesnotprofanetheholy
interspersed
scriptures.)
11. Gravisvidetur abusus omnem divinum cultum ridiculeet negligenter sine devotione et reverentiaperagi, tantaque praecipitationepreces effimdi, ut orantes seu
psallentes ne seipsos quidem intelligere queant, nedum quam pie et devote psallant
canantveexpendere,quando id curantunice, ut quam ocius absolvant,quidvispotius
libentiusqueacturi,quam hisce divinisofficiisstudiose animum adiicere.Qui abususet
Deo ingratusest et multis praebetoccasionem, ut minus libentersacriscantionibusintersint, confestim ex tali contemptu facti ab omnibus ritibus ecclesiae alieniores.
Cogitent ergo Rev.mi patres modum quendam eiuscemodi, quo haec vitia corrigi
possint, ne videlicet, quae divina sunt, tam leviter praecipitentur.Adsit devotio, adsit
animus divinis rebus vacans, et quae cantanturaut leguntur, pronuntienturapte, distincte, tractim,quo serveturpia gravitas,ne plus ore quam corde Deus coli intelligatur
neque illud propheticum nobis exprobrariqueat: Hic populuslabiis me honorat, cor
autem eorumlonge est a me. Quid enim prodest strepitusverborum, ubi cor mutum
esse apparet?
12. Cum negari nequeat temporum vitio multa inepta, apocrypha,parumque ad
sincerum cultum pertinentiain cantiones et preces ecclesiae irrepsisse,sacro concilio
enitendum erit, ut libri missales,graduales,antiphonarii,agendae et breviariareligiose
et diligenterrecognoscanturet repurgentur,utque nihil in ecclesialegendum, canendum, orandum seu populo proponendum premittatur,quod non sit ex divinislitteris
desumptum, aut hisce omnino consentaneum,prout vel ex sanctispatribusvel probatis
historiisecclesiasticisdemonstraripossit, prout antiquisconciliiscautum esse cognoscitur? Et cum isthaec praecipitatiomaxime per preces et cantus plus aequo prolixiores
78. CT13:619-20.
33
causetur,quibus ad fastidiumusque clerus gravatur,expediretutique hanc taediosam

prolixitatemhabito delectu resecari,cum melior sit quinque Psalmorum decantatio
cum cordisserenitateet hilaritatespirituali,quam totius modulatio Psalteriicum cordis
anxietateatque tristitia.
13. Denique cum imperita utriusque sexus populi multitudo in cultus divini ac
sacramentorumadministrationelinguae vernaculaeusum magnopere urgeat, cumque
e multorum tam recentiorumquam veterum ecclesiaedoctorum et scriptorummonumentis utique constet, eundem aliquandomorem in usu ecclesiaefuisse, et etiamnum
alicubi,utpote in regno Granataeet in Croatiaesse, posset hic articulusquoque in concilio proponi atque deliberari,an non ecclesia tanquam piissimamater pro praesentis
temporisconditione permittendumexistimaret,ut liceretalicubilatiniscanticisvernaculas pure omnino et fideliterversasintermiscere,suo tamen loco et tempore, et eas
saltem,quae populi devotioni conveniantnec prophanentdivinailiaet arcanasacrorum
bibliorummysteria.79
Appendix 2
SacraCongregatione del Concilio, Deliberationsof 1564-1626
A. "Veryshort communications to the Most Holy Supreme Pontiff and our Lord,
SixtusV [1587-88]" (with the note, "To CardinalCarafa,that he may considereverything well and then reportto our Lord")
15. Concerningsounds and organs, and other musicalinstruments
It seems agreeableto reason and to the matterthen in hand and the time: that in Holy
Week no musicalinstrumentshould be heard during the celebrationof the servicesin
churches,or on anotheroccasion;but a single voice, not responding,not uncontrolled,
but devout, modest, tearful;and would that organ music then might cease. Then it
does not seem proper that anythingprofane be played on either the organ or another
instrumentin church, especiallywhile divine servicesare performed;and wind players
should not play in churches,in chasteand devout places,or in front of the buildingsof
the churches.
"Brevissimae insinuationes ad SS.mum Sixtum V Pontificem Maximum, et
D[omi]num nostru[m]. Al Car[dina]leCarafache veda bene il tutto, et poi referiscaa
N S.r"
15. De sonis et organis,alijsq[ue]musicisinst[rument]is
Rationi quidem, et rei de qua tunc agituret tempori videturconsentaneum:ut in hebdomada sanctanullum audireturin templis in officioru[m] celebrationeaut alias,musicum instrume[n]tum; sed sola vox non rispons, non afferata [efferata?], sed pia
humilis, lachrimosaatq[ue] utinam organicusomnis tunc cessaretcantus. Deinde non
videtur decens: ut in templo, maxime dum aguntur divinaofficia, vel organo, vel alio
instrumento sonet quid prophanum neque deberent sonare tibicines in ecclesijs,in
locis saniset pijs,vel ante templorum aedes.80
79. CT13:671.
80. ArchivioSegretoVaticano,SacraCongregazione
del Concilio,posiz.5 (1587-88), fols.
who offerseighteenpointsconcerninggood Christian
178r-181v,fromthe bishopof Barcelona,
lifein hisdiocese.TheSacredCongregation
respondspointbypoint.
34
B. SacredCongregation'sresponse
As to [number] 15, to be takencareof by the bishop in consultationwith two from the
chapter,as requiredby the decree of the council, session24, canon 12.
Ad. 15 Ab Ep'o providen'adhibitus[adhibitis]duobus de cap. iux. decr.conc.i sess. 24
c. 12.81
Works Cited
Primary Sources
Archivio Segreto Vaticano. Sacra Congregazione dei Vescovi e Regolari. Registri
Episcoporum24 (1592-93).
ArchivioSegreto Vaticano.SacraCongregazionedel Concilio. Posiz. 5 (1587-88).
Bologna. Palazzo Isolani-Lupari.Fondo Paleotti.
Secondary Sources
derMusik.3d ed. Vol. 4. Edited by Hugo LeichAmbros, August Wilhelm. Geschichte
tentritt. Leipzig: Breitkopfund Hartel, 1909. Reprint, Hildesheim: Georg Olms,
1968.
Atlas,AllanW. RenaissanceMusic.New York:Norton, 1998.
della vita e delleoperedi GiovanniPierluigi da
Baini,Giuseppe.Memoriestorico-critiche
Palestrina.Rome: Societa tipografica,1828.
Barocchi,Paola,ed. Trattated'arte del Cinquecento,framanierismoe Controriforma.3
vols. Bari:Laterza,1960-62.
Borromeo, Agostino. "La storia delle cappelle musicali vista nella prospettiva della
storiadella chiesa."In La CappellaMusicalenell'Italia della Controriforma,edited
by Oscar Mischiatiand Paolo Russo, 229-37. Cento: Centro studi G. Baruffaldi,
1993.
Bowers, Jane. "The Emergence of Women Composers in Italy, 1566-1700." In
WomenMaking Music: The WesternArt Tradition, 1150-1950, edited by Jane
Bowers and JudithTick, 116-67. Urbanaand Chicago:Universityof IllinoisPress,
1986.
Calini, Muzio. Lettereconciliari (1561-1563). Edited by Alberto Marani. Brescia:
Tipo-Lito FratelliGeroldi, 1963.
Canisius, Peter. Epistulae et acta. Edited by Otto Braunsberger.8 vols. Freiburg:
Herder, 1896-1923.
Creytens,Reymond. "Lariformadei monasterifemminilidopo i decretitridentini."In
II Concilio di Trento e la riforma tridentina: Atti del Convegno storico internazionale, Trento,2-6 settembre1963, 1:45-84. Rome: Herder, 1965.
Delumeau, Jean. CatholicismBetweenLutherand Voltaire:A New Viewof the CounterReformation.London: Burnsand Oates, 1977.
. Lepecheet la peur:La culpabilisationen Occident,XIIIe-XVIIIe siecles.Paris:
Fayard,1983.
81. Archivio Segreto Vaticano, SacraCongregazione del Concilio, posiz. 5 (1587-88), fol.
184v.
35
Fellerer,KarlGustav."ChurchMusic and the Council of Trent." MusicalQuarterly39

(1953): 576-94.
Grimaldi, Floriano. La Cappella Musicale di Loretonel Cinquecento.Loreto: Ente
RassegneMusicali,1981.
Grout, Donald J., and Claude V. Palisca.A History of WesternMusic. 5th ed. New
York:Norton, 1996.
. A Historyof WesternMusic.6th ed. New York:Norton, 2001.
Haberle, Franz Xavier. "Die Cardinalskommisionvon 1564 und PalestrinasMissa
7 (1892): 82-97.
PapaeMarcelli."KirchenmusikalischesJahrbuch
Hayburn, Robert. Papal Legislationon SacredMusic, 95 A.D.to 1977 A.D.Collegeville,
Minn.: LiturgicalPress, 1979.
Edited by A. TillmanMerrittand Francois
Janequin,Clement. Chansonspolyphoniques.
Lesure.8 vols. Monaco: Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre,1965-71.
desKonzilsvon Trient.4 vols. Freiburg:Herder, 1950-75.
Jedin,Hubert. Geschichte
. KatholischeReformationoderGegenreformation?
Ein Versuch
zur Klarung der
uber das TrienterKonzil. Lucerne:Josef
BegriffenebsteinerJubildumsbetrachtung
Stocker,1946.
. Das Konzil von Trient, ein Ueberblickiber die Erforschungseiner Geschichte.
Rome: Edizioni di "Storiae Letteratura,"1948.
. Krisisund Wendepunktdes TrienterKonzils (1562/3). W'urzburg:Rita-Verlag
und Druckereider Augustiner,1941.
. Papal Legate at the Council of Trent, Cardinal Seripando. Translated by
FredericE. Eckhoff.St. Louis and London: Herder, 1947.
. "ZurVorgeschichteder RegularenreformTrid., sess. xxv."In KirchedesGlaubens,Kircheder Geschichte,
by Hubert Jedin,2:360-97. Freiburg:Herder, 1966.
Kendrick, Robert. Celestial Sirens:Nuns and Their Music in Early Modern Milan.
Oxford:Oxford UniversityPress, 1996.
Le Plat,Judocus [Jusso]. Monumentorumad historiamConciliitridentini:Potissimum,
illustrandam spectantiumamplissimacollectio.7 vols. Lovain: TypographiaAcademica, 1781-87.
Lockwood, Lewis H. The Counter-Reformationand the Massesof VincenzoRuffo.
Vienna:UniversalEdition, 1969.
. "Some Observations on the Commission of Cardinalsand the Reform of
SacredMusic (1565)." Quadrivium 7 (1966): 39-55.
. "Vincenzo Ruffo and Musical Reform After the Council of Trent." Musical
Quarterly43 (1957): 342-71.
, ed. Palestrina:PopeMarcellusMass.New York:Norton, 1975.
Lockwood, Lewis H., and Noel O'Regan. "Animuccia,Giovanni."In TheNew Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2d ed., edited by Stanley Sadie and John
Tyrrell,1:686-88. London: MacMillan,2001.
Martyribus,Bartholomaeia. Operaomnia. Edited by Malachiad'Inguimbert. 2 vols.
Rome: Typis Hieronymi Mainardi,1735.
Mischiati,Oscar."IIConcilio di Trento e la polifonia:Una diversapropostadi letterae
di prospettivabibliografica."In Musicae liturgia nella riformatridentina,edited by
Danilo Curti and Marco Gozzi, 19-29. Trent: Provincia autonoma di Trento,
Serviziobeni librarie archivistici,1995.
Monson, Craig. "AnotherLook at MusicalReform at the Council of Trent." In Atti
del III. Convegnodi Studi Palestriniani in occasionedel Quarto Centenariodella
36
morte di Giovanni Pierluigi, 1994, edited by Giancarlo Rostirolla. Palestrina:

Fondazione GiovanniPierluigida Palestrina,in press.
. "Catholic Reform, Renewal, and Reaction." In The New OxfordHistory of
Music,rev. ed., edited by James Haar, vol. 4. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress, in
press.
. "The Composer as 'Spy':The Ferraboscos,GabrielePaleotti, and the Inquisition." Musicand Letters(in press).
. DisembodiedVoices:Music and Culture in an EarlyModernItalian Convent.
Berkeleyand Los Angeles:Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1995.
. "DisembodiedVoices:Music in the Nunneries of Bologna in the Midst of the
Counter-Reformation."In The Crannied Wall: Women,Religion, and theArts in
EarlyModernEurope,edited by CraigMonson, 191-209. Ann Arbor:Universityof
MichiganPress, 1992.
Morandi, Giambattista,ed. Monumenti di varia letteraturatratti dai manoscrittidi
di Ragusa. 2 vols. Bologna: Stampe di S.
MonsignorLodovicoBeccadelliarcivescovo
Tommaso d'Aquino, 1797-1804.
O'Malley, John W. Trent and All That:Renaming Catholicismin the Early Modern
Era. Cambridgeand London: HarvardUniversityPress,2000.
. "WasIgnatius Loyola a Church Reformer?How to Look at EarlyModern
Catholicism."TheCatholicHistoricalReview77 (1991): 177-93.
Owens, JessieAnn. "WasPalestrinaa Reformer?Rethinking the Myths of Reform."
Paperpresented at the Yale Universitycolloquium series "ReligiousReformations:
Liturgy,Theology and the Arts in the EarlyModern Period,"November 1998.
Pallavicino,Sforza.Istoriadel Conciliodi Trento.Vol. 3. Rome: Biagio Diversine Felice
Cesaretti,1664.
Pastor, Ludwig. TheHistory of the Popes.Vol. 15. Edited by Ralph FrancisKerr.St.
Louis, Mo.: Herder, 1951.
Prodi, Paolo. "fI binomio jediniano 'Riforma cattolica e Controriforma'e la storiografia italiana."Annuali dell'Istitutostoricoitalo-germanicoin Trento6 (1980):
85-98.
. Il Cardinale GabrielePaleotti (1522-1597). 2 vols. Rome: Edizioni di storiae
letteratura,1959-67.
. "Controriformae/o Riforma cattolica:Superamento di vecchi dilemmi nei
nuovi panorami storiografici." Romische historischeMitteilungen 31 (1989):
227-37.
Prodi, Paolo, and WolfgangReinhard,eds. Il Conciliodi Trentoe il moderno.Bologna:
Il Mulino, 1996.
Reardon,Colleen. Holy ConcordWithinSacredWalls:Nuns and Musicin Siena, 15751700. New York:Oxford UniversityPress,2001.
Reese, Gustave.Musicin theRenaissance.New York:Norton, 1954.
Rodolico, Niccolo, and Arnaldo D'Addario. Osservatoritoscanial Conciliodi Trento.
Florence:Leo S. Olschki, 1964.
Romita, Fiorenzo. lus musicaeliturgicae:Dissertatiohistorico-iuridica.Taurini:M. E.
Marietti,1936.
Sherr, Richard. "From the Diary of a Sixteenth-Century Papal Singer." Current
Musicology25(1978): 83-98.
. "A Letter from Paolo Animuccia:A Composer's Response to the Council of
Trent."EarlyMusic12 (1984): 75-78.
37
Societas Goerresiana,ed. Concilium Tridentinum:Diariorum, actorum, epistularum,

tractatuum. Nova collectio.13 vols. Freiburg:Herder, 1901- .
Susta, Josef. Die RomischeKurie und das Konzil von Trient unter Pius IV. 4 vols.
Vienna:Holder, 1900-1914.
TacchiVenturi,Pietro. Storiadella Compagniadi Gesuin Italia. 2 vols. Rome: Civilta
cattolica,1950-51.
Theiner,Augustin, ed. Actagenuina ss. oecumeniciConcilii tridentini: Sub Paulo III.
Julio III. et Pio IV ab Angelo Massarelloepiscopothelesinoejusdemconcilliisecretario
conscripta.Nunc primum integra edita ab Augustino Theiner ... accedunt acta
ejusdemConciliisub Pio IV. a cardinale GabrielePaleotto... digesta,secundiscuris
expolitiora.Zagreb:Typis et sumptibusSocietatisbibliophilae,1874.
Tick, Judith. "Women in Music," sec. II/3, "Western ClassicalTraditions, 15001800." In The New GroveDictionary of Music and Musicians,2d ed., edited by
StanleySadie and John Tyrell,27:534-27. London: MacMillan,2001.
Weber, Edith. Le Concilede Trenteet la musique:De la Reformea la Contre-Reforme.
Paris:Honore Champion, 1982.
Weinmann,Karl.Das Konzil von Trientund die Kirchenmusik.Leipzig:Breitkopfund
Hartel, 1919. Reprint,Hildesheim:Georg Olms, 1980.
Weiss, Piero, and RichardTaruskin.Music in the WesternWorld:A History in Documents.New York:SchirmerBooks, 1984.
Abstract
Reexaminationof a wide range of documents surroundingthe twenty-second,
twenty-fourth, and twenty-fifthsessions of the Council of Trent revealsthat
delegatesstrivedofficiallyto say as little as possible about music:only that secular or impure elements should be eliminatedand that specificissues should
be settled locally,by individualbishops and provincialsynods. But, beginning
with GustaveReese, severalscholarshave misleadinglystrung together a preliminarycanon, stressingtextual intelligibility,which was never approvedin
the general congregations, and the few lines that actuallysupplantedit, concerned only with the elimination of lasciviousness. On the other hand, a
largely unrecognized or misunderstood attack on church polyphony did occur
at the less familiartwenty-fifthsession, when GabrielePaleotti may have attempted to suppress elaborate music in female monasteries. Although this
attemptwas rejectedin the generalcongregations,its restrictionswere subsequently revived by local authoritiessuch as Paleotti and Carlo Borromeo in
their own dioceses. In the Council's immediate aftermath,reformerssuch as
Paleotti and Borromeo once again focused on the issue of intelligibility,
affording it a quasi-officialstatus that seems to have quickly become widely
acceptedas "iuxtaformamconcilii."

Monson, Concilio Di Trento

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Monson, Concilio Di Trento

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

The Council of Trent Revisited

Author(s): Craig A. Monson

The Council of Trent Revisited

This paperis respectfullydedicated to Lewis Lockwood. Preliminaryversionswere presented at

University of California Press

Journal of the American Musicological Society

The familiarold legend of Palestrinaand his MissaPapae Marcellisaving

The Council of Trent Revisited

PreliminaryDeliberations and Official Pronouncements

Journal of the American Musicological Society

the twenty-secondand twenty-fourthsessionsof that period, as has frequently

The Council of Trent Revisited

More significant, Girolamo Seripando, sometime vicar general of the

Journalof the AmericanMusicologicalSociety

14. "Quodabususmissaespectat,cummultaquaea variispatribus

The Council of Trent Revisited

togetherby singers,musicians,and instruments.By a novel and remarkable

Journal of the American Musicological Society

The following note on music appearedamong the first suggestions finally

The Council of Trent Revisited

Journal of the American Musicological Society

Although severalmodern musicologistshave quoted this proposed eighth

In the general congregations, the bishops of Granada, Coimbra, and

The Council of Trent Revisited

of that single decree "concerning the things to be observed and avoided in

Journal of the American Musicological Society

For the last forty-fiveyears, the preliminaryand the approvedpassageshave

New Reforms in the Twenty-fourth Session (1563)

The Council of Trent Revisited

the aspectof music at the Council most discussedby latermusicologists-was

Journal of the American Musicological Society

Paleotti, or other committed reformersfrom Paul III's pre-Tridentinereform

The Council of Trent Revisited

On 31 May, Morone had shown forty-two preliminarychapterson reform

Journal of the American Musicological Society

13 August containingproposed articleson abusesfor his consideration.See CT 9:755 n. 1, where

The Council of Trent Revisited

months leading up to the general congregations at both the twenty-second

Journalof the AmericanMusicologicalSociety

The Council of Trent Revisited

Attempts to Reform Convent Musical Practices in the

Journal of the American Musicological Society

An impression of haste predominates in the reform of religious orders

The Council of Trent Revisited

Journal of the American Musicological Society

The summaryof criticismsof the preliminarydecrees, drawn up after the

Post-Tridentine Revision of the Original Meaning of

The Council of Trent Revisited

includes this illuminatingdescriptionand explanationof deliberationsabout

Journal of the American Musicological Society

venerable precedent, unknown to Gustave Reese, for the later historian's

della vita e delle operedi Giovanni Pierluigi da

The Council of Trent Revisited

MissaPapaeMarcelli,but also a MissaEn doleuret tristesseand a Missa Ultimi

Journalof the AmericanMusicologicalSociety

withrhythmandvocalharmonyin sucha waythatthewordsdo not get entanso thattheymaybe clearly

The Council of Trent Revisited

This Tridentine decision from the twenty-fourth session-to leave such

Journalof the AmericanMusicologicalSociety

rulings on convent music. These myriad, often inconsistent efforts to control

The Council of Trent Revisited

bis et orationibus,id quod in primisusuveniresolet in ipsis, que vocant, missalibuset

Journalof the AmericanMusicologicalSociety

distinguishingbetweenfestal and commondays.Theyshouldnot beperformedtoo loudly