Musical Offerings ⦁ 2025 ⦁ Volume 16 ⦁ Number 1 15 taking too long and showing off their skills during the church service. This distracted from worship and did not meet liturgical goals.8 Over the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, church music strayed from its original purpose of pointing people to God and instead evolved into something more secular. The Council of Trent recognized the corruptions and during their twenty-second session agreed upon certain reforms that needed to take place. Their ruling was: In the case of those Masses which are celebrated with singing and with organ, let nothing profane be intermingled, but only hymns and divine praises. The whole plan of singing in musical modes should be constituted not to give empty pleasure to the ear, but in such a way that the words be clearly understood by all, and thus the hearts of the listeners be drawn to desire of heavenly harmonies, in the contemplation of the joys of the blessed….They shall also banish from church all music that contains, whether in the singing or in the organ playing, things that are lascivious or impure.9 The Council set into motion ridding the Catholic church of secular music in their services and requiring the intelligibility of the text.10 Although removing polyphony from the church was discussed, it was decided that if the words were able to be understood, polyphony would continue to be permitted.11 Palestrina along with other composers showed that polyphony with intelligible words was possible. Sometime between 156212 and 1564 Palestrina composed his famous Missa Papae Marcelli which beautifully accommodated every musical reform of the Council of Trent.13 Across the movements of this Mass, Palestrina treated text intelligibility with different approaches. Of the six sections, the Gloria and Credo have the most text and therefore require the greatest care in the delivery.14 In the Gloria, Palestrina relies heavily on a note against note compositional 8 Fellerer, 577, 579. 9 Palestrina, 19. 10 Fellerer, 576. 11 Schaefer, 21–22. 12 Palestrina, 130. 13 Pyne, 55. 14 Jeppesen, Style and Dissonance, 41.
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