You may come up with your own topic, but please discuss it with me. Research topics must be chosen by the end of the second week of classes.

1. Choose a parody mass from the 16th century and its polyphonic model. Do NOT use any pieces we discuss in class (feel free to consult with me). Find out everything there is to be known about the history of the two pieces and their relationship to each other (for instance, why would the composer of the mass choose that particular piece as a model). Analyze in close detail how the mass makes use of the musical material of its polyphonic model.
   
   
2. The Parisian program chanson. Compile as complete a list as you can of programmatic Parisian chansons and categorize them according to subject. Provide information about the composers and as much about the history of each piece as is available. Discuss relationships between the works and their categories in terms of music and text. Choose one piece to analyze in detail.
   
   
3. The motetti missales. Research and discuss the use of motets as replacements for the Ordinary of the mass in 15th-century Milan. Discuss the history of the practice, the composers involved, and the known cycles of motets. Choose one cycle to analyze and discuss in detail.
   
   
4. The sixteenth-century keyboard toccata. Discuss the development of the genre and its typical stylistic characteristics. Discuss the most important composers and their principal works in the genre. Choose one or two pieces to analyze in detail.
   
   
5. Choose a Renaissance instrumental genre and discuss its development and typical stylistic characteristics. Discuss the most important composers and their principal works in the genre. Choose one or two pieces to analyze in detail.
   
   
6. Musica reservata. Discuss the origins of the term and its possible meanings. Identify musical characteristics of the genre as understood by scholars. Discuss composers and works that were associated with the term. Choose a piece that is representative of musica reservata and analyze it in detail, explaining how its musical characteristics represent the genre.
   
   
7. Orlando di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro. Research and discuss the historical background of this piece, as well as relevant biographical information about the composer. Discuss the poem used as text. Describe the general structure and style of the works, and choose one or two to analyze in detail.
   
   
8. Lasso Penitential Psalms. [see No. 8]
   
   
9. Heinrich Isaac’s Choralis Constantinus. This monumental collection represents polyphonic settings of the Proper texts of the Catholic church mass for the year. Research and discuss its history of composition and its significance. Include relevant biographical information on the composer. Choose a few pieces to analyze and discuss in detail. How are these pieces similar to or different from Isaac’s motets to other sacred texts?
   
   
10. William Byrd’s Gradualia. [see No. 10]
    
    
11. Sixteenth-century music in the New World. Research and discuss how polyphonic music was brought to and performed in the Spanish colonies in the Americas. When and why was European polyphony brought to the New World? Which cathedrals were the primary centers of polyphonic music? Music by which composers was performed? Research and discuss composers who actually lived and wrote in the New World. Choose a piece by a New World composer, or a piece that was known to have been performed in the New World and analyze it in detail.
    
    
12. The Florentine canti carnaschialeschi—Florentine carnival songs during the time of Lorenzo de’ Medici, “the Magnificent.” Discuss the Florentine carnival season and the carnival songs performed during it. Provide information about the customs involved, the composers of the songs, and the style of music, and performance practices, using specific songs as examples. Choose 1 or 2 songs to analyze in detail.