Sacred Polyphony in Lyon c. 1450-c. 1550: Proscription, Composition, and Adaptation

This thesis re-evaluates the traditionally held view that Lyon in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was a city without a sacred polyphonic tradition. Chapter 1 explores the dichotomy between the powerful conservative archbishopric, staunchly against the use of sacred polyphony in the church, and the vibrant cultural life of the city. Lyon had a flourishing music publishing industry, frequently hosted the courts of the French kings, and was home to a large Italian community whose churches employed some prominent musicians. Chapters 2 and 3 present case studies of two manuscripts with links to Lyon: Copenhagen, Royal Library, Ny Kgl. Samling 1848 2°, and Lyon, Bibliotheque Municipale, MS 6632. The first case study focuses on segments of the sacred repertoire in the large composite manuscript Cop 1848. The possibility of a local sacred polyphonic practice in Lyon is traced through an examination of settings of Stabat mater, 0 salutaris, and Marian votive texts. Problematic terms such as 'provincial' and 'parochial' are reconsidered in an attempt to identify more accurate ways of categorizing and describing this music. The second case study looks at a set of little-known fragments removed from the binding of a book published in Lyon in 1542. Lyon 6632 was previously believed to contain Continental music from c. 1500, but one of these compositions is here identified as a three-voice English mass, composed in the mid-fifteenth century, with known concordances in four other manuscripts. The version in Lyon 6632 is unique, however, in that it includes a fourth voice below the original three-voice texture that appears to be the work of a later composer. Chapter 4 looks at the adaptation of existing works through the addition of a new voice. While this practice was widespread in secular repertoire in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it was unusual for large-scale sacred works to be adapted in this way. The mass from Lyon 6632 and a comparable example from Cop 1848 are considered as possible evidence of a Lyonnais practice of adaptation arising in response to the city's unusual approach to sacred polyphony.