Ludwig Senfl's Psalm Motets and Their Influence, Use, and Musical Value in Politics and Religious Reformation
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Abstract
Within a culture of rapidly shifting religious ideas, music of the German-speaking lands began to slip into obscurity in the sixteenth century. It took the work of a few key players in an often dangerous climate of reformation to transform music from archaism to successful high art. Ludwig Senfl (c. 1486-1543) was one of those players, and as Kapellmeister for Wilhelm IV in Munich, he achieved such musical success that the sounds emanating from his chapel choir became what Martin Luther would describe as the best music in all of Germany. Senfl accomplished this through his expansive oeuvre, connections to the highest nobility and the most famous reformers, skill in text setting and florid polyphonic writing, and most of all his contribution to the crystallization of new genres, namely the psalm motet.The psalm motet grew out of Josquin Desprez’s (1450-1521) “experiments” at setting complete psalm texts as Latin motets at the turn of the sixteenth century. The psalm motet, at the pen of Josquin, was a subgenre, not widely-enough known by composer, printer, or patron to be considered a stand-alone. However, Senfl chose to set several full psalms and several psalm verses as motets, often for major religious or political events such as the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, noble weddings, or personal favors and gifts. His eleven full psalm motets all followed a general sectional formula and musical language, creating an observable continuity across the pieces.This thesis explores how Senfl’s career alludes to new ideas of his religious loyalty, punctuated by his psalm motets, personal and business connections, his whereabouts, and other details of his life. I analyze his psalm motets in their divided contexts of Catholic and Protestant reception, revealing how this unique genre, amidst the largest Christian schism of history, forms a bridge between the two warring sides. Lastly, I investigate Senfl’s influence in both later successors at the Munich Hofkapelle and equally leading composers across the English Channel through the lens of psalm motets’ place in politics and musical development. The genre, through Senfl’s pen, achieved remarkably quick formation in just a few decades and became a symbol of religious reformation.
Table of Contents
Introduction and literature review: establishing Ludwig Senfl's psalm motets amidst religious divides -- Chameleon composing: Senfl's psalm motets as a method of cross-confessional diplomacy -- Senfl's psalm motets' place in art, practice, and religious détente in sixteenth century Bavaria -- The influence and legacy of Senfl's psalm motets on Orlando di Lasso and William Byrd: two case studies of the penitential psalms -- Epilogue
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M.M. (Master of Music)