“CAPUT” AND THE BEGINNINGS OF FOUR-PART HARMONY

Chapter:

CHAPTER 12 Emblems and Dynasties

Source:

MUSIC FROM THE EARLIEST NOTATIONS TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

Author(s):

Richard Taruskin

The direct adoption from the English of the cyclic Mass as the standard “high” genre, and the way the “Tinctoris generation” of continental musicians further developed all its compositional techniques, can be illustrated with a trio of Masses all based on the same cantus firmus melody: a grandiose neuma or supermelisma on caput (“head”), the concluding word of an antiphon, Venit ad Petrum (“He came to Peter”), that was sung at Salisbury Cathedral for the ceremony of “washing the feet” on Maundy Thursday during Holy Week preceding Easter. “Do not wash only my feet, but also my hands and my head,” said Peter to Jesus in the Gospel according to John, in a line that became the antiphon that begat the Masses.

Citation (MLA):

Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 12 Emblems and Dynasties." The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press. New York, USA. n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2024. <https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume1/actrade-9780195384819-div1-012005.xml>.

Citation (APA):

Taruskin, R. (n.d.). Chapter 12 Emblems and Dynasties. In Oxford University Press, Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century. New York, USA. Retrieved 8 Dec. 2024, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume1/actrade-9780195384819-div1-012005.xml

Citation (Chicago):

Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 12 Emblems and Dynasties." In Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century, Oxford University Press. (New York, USA, n.d.). Retrieved 8 Dec. 2024, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume1/actrade-9780195384819-div1-012005.xml