An Examination, Reinterpretation and Application of Selected Performance Practices in Four Motets of Luca Marenzio (1553-1599): Implications for a Modern Choral Performance Context

Abstract

This study is based on the premise that modern day performances of late Renaissance sacred music are informed more by biases and assumptions concerning performance practice rather than on information gleaned from the primary sources. The result is homogeneity in performance practice within this body of literature which is in direct contradiction to the primary sources. Four controversial areas of performance practice, vibrato, text expression techniques, ornamentation and doubling instrumentation, are investigated in this document in the context of four motets by Luca Marenzio (1553-1599). Findings from primary sources contemporary to Marenzio's time that relate to these four performance practice areas are closely examined and reinterpreted, and suggestions are given for historically informed application of these findings to contemporary choral performance settings. This examination of primary sources indicates that each of Marenzio's motets constitutes its own "soundscape" with a unique set of attendant performance practices, which has great implications for performances of late Renaissance sacred music as a whole.