CHAPTER 15 A Perfected Art

Sixteenth-Century Church Music; New Instrumental Genres

Chapter:

CHAPTER 15 A Perfected Art

Source:

MUSIC FROM THE EARLIEST NOTATIONS TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

Author(s):

Richard Taruskin

Richard Taruskin

• In this splendid, noble art
• So many have been famous in our age
• They make any other time seem poor.¹

The lines quoted as epigraph were penned in 1490 by Giovanni Santi, court painter to the Duke of Urbino, when his son Raffaello Santi, known to us as Raphael, was seven years old. That boy, of course, whose gifts were recognized early and stimulated with papal patronage, would soon make his father’s time seem poor. The art of Raphael is now a standard of perfection in painting, “the clearest expression,” according to one modern authority, “of the exquisite harmony and balance of High Renaissance composition.”² That standard of perfection has remained in force, so to speak, whenever and wherever “perfection,” as a standard, has been valued (see Fig. 15-1)

Citation (MLA):

Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 15 A Perfected Art." The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press. New York, USA. n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2025. <https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume1/actrade-9780195384819-chapter-015.xml>.

Citation (APA):

Taruskin, R. (n.d.). Chapter 15 A Perfected Art. In Oxford University Press, Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century. New York, USA. Retrieved 27 Apr. 2025, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume1/actrade-9780195384819-chapter-015.xml

Citation (Chicago):

Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 15 A Perfected Art." In Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century, Oxford University Press. (New York, USA, n.d.). Retrieved 27 Apr. 2025, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume1/actrade-9780195384819-chapter-015.xml