Brunelleschi`s Dome and Dufay`s Motet
Transcription
Brunelleschi`s Dome and Dufay`s Motet
Brunelleschi's Dome and Dufay's Motet Author(s): Charles W. Warren Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 59, No. 1 (Jan., 1973), pp. 92-105 Published by: Oxford University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/741461 . Accessed: 02/11/2014 16:32 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Oxford University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Musical Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions BRUNELLESCHI'S DOME AND DUFAY'S MOTET O By CHARLES W. WARREN N March 25, 1436, Pope Eugenius IV dedicated the cathedral at Florence with its great dome designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, and the Papal choir performeda motet that Guillaume Dufay had composed for the event. Both dome and motet occupy special places in the historyof their respective disciplines, the formeras the most important achievement of "the fatherof Renaissance architecture," and the latter as one of the most impressive occasional pieces ever written.A great deal has been said about the motet, but there is one aspect of the music that has been overlooked - its fundamental relationship to the architectureof Brunelleschi. In fact,there are a number of interestingcorrespondencesbetween the structureof the dome and that of the motet, correspondences involving extraordinaryprocedures on the part of both architectand composer. The relationship is strikingenough to suggestthat the unique and compelling features of Nuper rosarum flores- its use of two tenorswith the same cantus firmus,its isorhythmicand isomelic symmetries,its impressivesonorities, even its overall design - are not purely musical after all, but the results of a deliberate attempt on the part of Dufay to create a sounding model of Brunelleschi's architecture. The significanceof the correspondences between the dome and the motet can best be appreciated in the context of Brunelleschi's achievement as an architect.In the eyes of his contemporarieshe was the firstbuilder of his age to think in terms of the "proporzioni musicali" of the ancients.' Recent studies have tended to vindicate this view, finding evidence in nothing that Brunelleschi himself 1 Antonio di Tuccio Manetti, The Life of Brunelleschi, ed. Howard Saalman, trans. Catherine Engass (UniversityPark, Pa., 1970), p. 51. 92 This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Brunelleschi's Dome and Dufay's Motet 93 wrote or was reputed to have said, but in the buildings themselves. According to Wittkower, "the principal formal characteristics of Brunelleschi's new Renaissance architecture may be summarized under the terms of homogeneity of wall, space, light and articulation. These homogeneities are the necessary conditions not only to guarantee coherent metrical development in plan and elevation, but also to ascertain continued ratios in perspectiveview."2 Leon Battista Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci may have been the firstclearly to articulate a metrical and harmonic concept of space based on musical consonances, but Brunelleschi was the earliest of the Renaissance masters to emphasize these simple arithmetic ratios in the overall design of his buildings and to understand the laws of perspective that are based on them.3 It is easy enough to perceive these "musical consonances" in churches such as San Lorenzo and Santo Spirito in Florence. They were designed by Brunelleschi according to a modular scheme that presupposes a harmonic organization of space.4 In the case of the dome that he raised over Santa Maria del Fiore, however, the matter is not so simple. The cathedral was built in the Trecento according to a gothic systemin which the measurements and dimensions are derived from a set of simple geometrical proportions based on the square. In the terminologyof the workshop and the building site, a due quadri was the same as a two to one proportion and a uno quadro e mezzo the same as a one to one and a half proportion. Other proportions were taken from the diagonals of these squares, however, and are incommensurable in termsof harmonic ratios. That is, a uno quadro il diamitro can only be expressed as V2: 1, while a due quadri il diamitro is equivalent to V5:1.5 This harmonic incommensurability became exaggerated in actual practice, when in a procedure called "quadrature" a series of expanding or contractingsquares was taken from the diagonal, as in the cross of Santa Maria del Fiore (Fig. 1). Here most of the basic coordinates appear to be related to the large crossing square that is 2 Rudolf Wittkower,"Brunelleschi and 'Proportion in Perspective,'" Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes,XVI (1953), 288. 3 On the use of musical proportions in medieval church architecture see Otto von Simson, The Gothic Cathedral (New York, 1956), pp. 37-38 et passim. 4 Wittkower,op. cit., pp. 288-89. 5Howard Saalman, "Early Renaissance Architectural Theory and Practice in Antonio Filarete's Trattato di architettura,"The Art Bulletin, XLI (1959), This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The MusicalQuarterly 94 circumscribed bythecentraloctagon.Bydrawinglargersquareswith sides equal to the diagonal of the smallerand smallersquares with sides equal to one halfthe diagonal of the larger,the dimensionsof the entirecruciform structuremaybe derivedfroma singlequadratureseries.What is interesting about thisseriesis thatit maybe reduced to a set of ratiosthatcontainthe proporzioni musicali.Multiplyingthe sides of the squares consecutivelyby the numerical equivalentof -V2:1 (= 0.707) and roundingoffthe reducedseries to the nearestwhole numbers,one obtainsthe proportions6:4:3:2.0 Accordingto Howard Saalman, the ratios of "simplified"quadraturewerenot unknownto Brunelleschi'spredecessors and mayhave been used in determiningthe pier-to-foundation relationshipsof Santa Maria del Fiore.7 Measurementsof the dome suggestthat Brunelleschialso used but on a muchlargerarchitectural theseproportions, scale,and that he conceivedof themin termsof a modularsystemimposedon the existingdimensionsof the cathedral.Indeed, if we take the square insidethe octagon (Fig. 1) as a basic module,thesedimensionsmay - ? "-~ ~aj~ ~ , ? ? Fig. 1. 6The complete series of figuresobtained by this calculation is: 101.8, 72.0, 50.8 (crossing square), 35.9, 25.4, 17.9, 12.6, 8.9, 6.3, 4.4, 3.1, 2.2. Dimensions are given in terms of Florentine braccia (the braccia is about two feet), and are based on measurements and reports taken from the scale drawings of Bernardo Sgrilli, Descrizione e studi dell'insigne fabbrica di S. Maria del Fiore (Florence, 1733), Figs. II, III, and IV, and Giuseppe Molini, La metropolitana fiore7rtina(Florence, 1820), Figs. II, III, and IV. 7 Saalman, op. cit., p. 98, note 28. This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Brunelleschi'sDome and Dufay'sMotet 95 be expressedpreciselyin termsof the ratio 6:4:2:3. Three of these squaresare containedin thenave,twoin the transept(one on either side of the crossingsquare), one in the apse, and one and one half in theelevationof the dome proper,measuringfromthe base of the tambourto the close of the vault (Figs. 2 and 3, dotted lines). -- Jim--"lpU I VY~I~Y I I I| - -. ,__ Fig. 2. IF -----------,ii- I t~ This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 96 The MusicalQuarterly These same proportionsmayalso be derivedfroma different modular schemebased on thetwenty-eight bracciasquaresof thenave bays and solid Six of these 2 3, (Figs. lines). squares are contained in the nave, four in the transept(two on eitherside of the crossing square), two in the apse, and three in the elevationof the dome, measuringfromthepeaksof thearchesto theclose of thevault (one module to the base of thecupola and two fromthe base to the top). In effect,Brunelleschireduced the interiordimensionsof the cathedralto a setof proportions based on a whole numberratio,and it is preciselytheseproportions thatare used in themotetthatDufay wrotefortheconsecrationof thecathedral.Not onlydo the mensurationsin its foursectionshave a proportionalrelationshipof 6:4:2:3, but the numberof tactusin each of the sectionsis the same as the number of braccia contained in the modular scheme based on braccia squares: one hundredsixty-eight in the nave, twenty-eight one hundredtwelvein the transept,fifty-six in theapse, and eightyfourin the dome of Brunelleschi.What is more,thereare twentyeightbrevesin each of the two-voiceand four-voicesubsectionsof the motet,whichmeansthatthe "module" of the motetis the same as thatof the cathedral: O 168 t. 'C 112 t. Triplum 56 t. 0 84 t. . Motetus TenorII TenorI 6 4 2 3 It mustbe emphasized,however,thatthe lengthof the last sectionof the motetis expressedherein termsof a uniformtactusand notthesloweror fasterbeat thatwas apparentlyrequiredfortemrnpus perfectumdiminutumin actual practice.Ornithoparchusreports thatin the opinion of the "veteres,"referring to the generationof the diminution of took Dufay, perfectsigns away a thirdpart and not a half.8Coussemaker'sAnonymousXII also writes:"If at the 8 "Diminutio: ut veteres sensere: est tertia partis ab ipsa mensura abstractio." Musice active Micrologus Andree Ornithoparchi (Leipzig, 1519), Bk. I, chap. viii. This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Brunelleschi'sDome and Dufay'sMotet 97 beginninga line is placed in the middleof a circlenot havinga dot inside,as here: 0; in thissortofsonghalfis not takenawaybut only a thirdpart; thatis to say,it is sung fasterthan if the line were not placed in the middle."9In practicalterms,the onlyway one could take away exactlya thirdpart of the speed of the last section of Nuper rosarumfloreswould be by keeping the speed of the semibreveconstantwiththatof the thirdsection.With a constantsemibreve two breves of tempus perfectum diminutum will be used up for every three of tempus imperfectumdiminutum: Ex. 1 ( 3:2 This resultsin a breve that loses a thirdpart of its speed, as the theoristssuggest.Thus the fifty-six brevesin the last sectionof the will in a lengthby thirdcomparedto the fifty-six expand motet brevesin the previoussectionand take up the time of eighty-four tactus.On the otherhand, givena constantsemibrevebetweenthe two last sections, two breves of tempus perfectum diminutum will be taken up for every one of tempus perfectum non diminutum, makingthe finalsectionof themotethalfas long as the first: Ex. 2 O 1:2 In its overalldimension,then,Nuper rosarumfloreshas exactlythe same proportionsas the interiorof the cross and dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. The mensurations producingtheseproportionsoccur in only one othermotetof Dufay,Magnanimaegentes,written some two yearslater thanNuper rosarumflores,but in thispiece a canon doubles the lengthof the firstsection,makinga proportion of 12:4:2:3. An examinationof Brunelleschi'sspecifications forthe dome indicates thatthe correspondencein overall dimensionsbetweenthe 9 Scriptorum de musica medii aevi (Paris, 1864-76), III, 484. This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The MusicalQuarterly 98 architecture of thecathedraland thatof the motetwas not accidental. The specifications, dated 1420,are preservedas a notarialrecord of the FlorentineWoolen Guild and describein summaryfashion the formand measureof the componentpartsof the dome: formin the corners.Its thicknessat . .. the inner cupola is vaulted in five-part the bottompoint fromwhich it springsis 33/4braccia. It tapersso that the end theupperoculusis only21/2bracciathick.A second,outer portionsurrounding and to vaultit in a it fromtheweather cupolais placedoverthisone to preserve and swellingform.It is 11/4braccia thickat the bottompoint more magnificent and tapersto theupperoculus,whereit is only2/3braccia fromwhichit springs, thick.10 In this passage Brunelleschidescribeshis dome as having two shells- an innerone and an outerone separatedby a space (Plate I). The idea of a double cupola was a startlinginnovation,a tour de forceof engineeringwhose chief functionwas apparentlyan estheticone. In fact,it is onlyhere thatBrunelleschiallows himself to lapse into anythingapproachingextravagantlanguage.An outer cupola is to be placed over an innerone in order"to vault it in a and swellingform" ("piu magnificae gonfiata"). more magnificent This double cupola has a close musicalcounterpartin the double tenorof Nuper rosarumflores (Plate II). Breakingwith tradition, Dufayhas two tenorssound thesamecantusfirmusa fifth apart,and the effect is primarilyaesthetic the amplification of sonority.One tenoris placed a fifthbelow anotherin orderto harmonizeit in a and swellingform." "more magnificent The mensurationsof the tenorsalso correspondto the thicknessesof the two cupolas. Brunelleschigivesthesemeasurements as braccia for the inner thickness of the at the and shell tambour 33/4 21/2braccia forits thicknessat the lantern.The inner shell is 11/4 bracciathickat the tambourand 2/ bracciaat the lantern.The first threemeasurements have exactlythe same proportionsas the nave, and of transept, apse the cathedraland the firstthreemensurations of Dufay'stenors.It maybe no morethana curiouscoincidence,but the one incommensurate dimensionin Brunelleschi'sseriesof measurements,the fraction2/sbracciaforthe thicknessof theoutershell at thetop,does suggesta proportionalrelationshipof 2:3. toFrank D. Prager and Gustina Scaglia, Brunelleschi: Studies of his Technology and Inventions(Cambridge, Mass.,1970),text,pp. 139-40;trans.,pp. 32ff. This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions --i~ii-~ ;~-ii ----------:_s~ i:sii~ ............i~~ii ~i::::--ii--.iiiii:i,::iii::i..':ii--,i-i i:::i:-:.~:i:i~iiii~iii-i': -.:-_-ii:i~i:-l---i ~iiiinii?. -ii:ii ii~ii -:l: iii:l~-:--i ....................ii ;''~''' ; l::' ...............:--ii:-i :_::................/ql/" JB 21;,"'a 77, Plate I. Santa Maria del Fiore as shown in Bernardo Sgrilli's Descrizione e stud Maria del Fiore (1733), Figure IV. This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions IS flog (i ' 44 "t , i Oft,I ? Ita 'vir':4-1 Al :bijtv -uttoft"; S:? Al::~:: :~' v~ni CUM 40 loi lowB" e Modena, Biblioteca Estense, MS a. X. 1, 11, folios 6 This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Brunelleschi'sDome and Dufay'sMotet 101 is of One otherpassagein the initialsectionof the specifications da la interestto us. He statesat thebeginning:"Imprima cupola lato dentroe volta a misuradel quinto acuto neglangoli."The sentence has been variouslyinterpreted, but a drawingof the dome by Giovanni Gherardoda Prato, one of the artistsassociatedwith Brunelleschi,indicatesthat the base line of the cupola was divided into fiveequal partsand that the turnof the vault was determinedby radii emanatingfromthis line."1Perhaps coincidentally,thereare fivepointsof imitationin the canon of Dufay'stenors. relates to the reinforceThe next sectionof the specifications to be used. "There materials kinds of and the the mentsof cupola are twenty-four ribs, eight in the cornersand sixteenin the sides. Each cornerrib has a thicknessof seven bracciaat the outside.... The ribs tie the two vaults together.They convergeproportionally to the top, where the oculus is." In this passage Brunelleschidescribeswhat is visuallythe mostdistinctivefeatureof the dometheeightcornerribsthatprojectfromtheoutersurfaceofthecupola and tie the twoshellstogether.Each of theseeightribsis sevenbraccia thick,whichmayrelateto the factthateach of the foursections of Nuper rosarumfloresconsistsof 8 X 7 breves.More intriguing, sectionsof themotetDufay however,is thefactthatin thefour-voice employsan unusualvariationtechniquein whichthe motivesin the upper two parts are compressedand elided to accommodatethe In effect, themelodiesconvergeproportionally smallermensurations. in thesesectionsas do theribsof thecupola: Ex. 3 rA of the dome Next to the ribs,the mostimportantreinforcement consistsof circlesof strongsandstoneblocks thatgirdle the cupola. "These blocksare long, and are well linkedby tin-platediron... 11Howard Saalman, "Giovanni di Ghirardo da Prato's Designs concerning the Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, XVIII, No. 1 (1959), 15-16. This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 102 The MusicalQuarterly The firstand second circles are two braccia high, the thirdand fourthcirclesare 11/sbraccia high,and the fifthand sixth circles one bracciahigh." These stoneringsgirdlethe cupola at threedifferentlevels, the firstand second side by side at the bottom,the thirdand fourthat an intermediatelevel, and the fifthand sixth near the top of the dome. Dufay may have had these reinforcing blocksin mind when he added extratonesto the textureat the beginning,the middle,and the end of the four-voicesectionsof the motet (see motetusin black notation). In fact,these extra tones and are as numerousin roughly serve as harmonicreinforcement stone the same proportionas the ringsare thick.Justas the thicknesses of the stone rings decrease at the intermediateand upper tonesin themiddleand at the levelsso do thenumberofreinforcing tones end of the four-voice sectionsof the motet.Such reinforcing are not uncommonin the music of the period,but I know of no otherworkin whichso manyof themare used so systematically. suggestedby BrunelApartfromthe structuralcorrespondences leschi'sspecifications, thereis one otheraspectof Dufay'smusicthat seemsrelatedto Santa Maria del Fiore- its extraordinary reliance on the numberseven. There are 8 x 7 brevesin each of the four main sectionsof the motet,4 X 7 brevesin each two-voiceand fourvoice subsection,2 x 7 tonesin the cantusfirmus, sevenlines of text in each strophe,and sevensyllablesin each line. Furthermore, the mostextensiveduos (those in the O and C sectionsof the motet) are organizedinto phrasesof 4+3 and 3+4 longs.Accordingto the chiefauthoritieson ecclesiasticalsymbolismin the late Middle Ages and earlyRenaissance,sevenwas the numberof the Church:12"Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars" (Prov. 9:1). In fact,one of the documentshaving to do with the constructionof Santa Maria del Fiore recordsa paymentof six barrelsof wineand a sum of moneyforthefundamentiof the seven columnscalled "ecclesia."13 Number symbolismalso played a crucial role in the consecration of a cathedral.In the ceremoniesprecedingthe Mass, accordof the crossare sprinkledthree ing to Sicardus,the fourextremities times,as are the seven altars, while twelve priestscarrycrosses 12Vincent Foster Hopper, Medieval Number Symbolism (New York, 1938), p. 111. 18Cesare Guasti, Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence, 1887), pp. 165-66. This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Brunelleschi'sDome and Dufay'sMotet 103 In thiscontext,it is not imthroughthe fourpartsof the church.14 probablethatNuper rosarumfloreswas conceivedas a musicalanalogy of the ceremonyof consecration,one in whichthe introitTerribilisest locus isteis used as the basic emblemin a musicalrepresentationof the cathedralas a whole. As we have seen, the first sectionof the motetrelatesproportionallyto the nave, the second to the transept,the thirdto the apse, and the fourthto the dome. of the Justas thedome servesas a centralspace thatthe extremities crosssharein common,so the four-voicesectionsof the motetwith and isomelicstructuremay be regardedas a kind theirisorhythmic of "same musical space" that the four partsof the motetshare in common.The flattenedcontoursof the upper voices,the sonorities of the double tenor,and the reinforcingtones in these sections createan audible shiftfromthe linear to the vertical,as if to symbolize a physicalmovementfromone dimensioninto the other, fromthe extremitiesof the church,that is, into the crossingunder the vault. The acoustical effectsof these sonorities,it may be recalled,wereby no meanslost on the ears of Dufay'scontemporaries. of Santa Maria del Fiore,Gianozzo In hisaccountof theconsecration Manettirelatesthatas the altar was being preparedforthe Office of Dedication a piece was performed"by so many varied and melodious voices,and was sung fromtime to time with so many symphoniesexaltedtowardheaventhatindeed theyappearedto the listenersas angelicand divinesongs."15 There can be littledoubt thatthese"exaltedsymphonies,"preand sumablythoseof Nuper rosarumflores,bear a more interesting more intimaterelationshipto the architecture of Brunelleschithan has been previouslysuspected.If thecorrespondences describedhere involvedordinarydevices in the makingof domes or motets,one could easilydiscountthemas coincidence.But in everyinstancethe unusual featuresof the dome may be related directlyto unusual aspectsof the motet.It seemsimprobablethatthesecorrespondences were accidental,and I doubt that Dufay could have writtenthe motetas he did withoutsome special knowledgeof the architecture of the cathedral.Could he have gotten this informationdirectly 14 Mitrale seu de oficiis ecclesiasticussumma, chap. vi, "De consecratione Ecclesiae" (Migne, Patrologia Latina, CXIII, cols. 23ff.). 15Oratio de secularibus et pontificalibus pompis in consecratione basilice florentine, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Lat., 2919, 22'. This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 104 The MusicalQuarterly fromBrunelleschi?Certainlythey were both in Florence at the same time,Dufay as an already highlyregardedmusician in the papal retinue,and Brunelleschias the masterbuilder chargedwith closingthe dome and designingthe choir of thecathedral.One has to weigh the probabilities,but the most logical conclusionis that theydid meet,and thattheyleftbehindas a recordof theirmeeting a unique example of "architecturepainting" in the music of the Renaissance. The implicationsof thisapparentcollaborationare intriguing, particularlyin view of the factthatNuper rosarumfloresis one of the earliestof Dufay'sworks,if not the earliest,to clearlyanticipate the formand styleof his late Masses. Nearly all of the most imand formalelementsthatcharacterizethe individual portantstylistic movementsof the Missa Caput or the Missa Se la face ay pale are here: the presenceof a fourthvoice acting as a bass, the division into two or more metricallycontrastedsectionswith introductory duos,thechantlikecontoursof theuppervoicesand theiroccasional imitations,the "disparityin the figurationof the upper and lower voices,which formtwo distinctarchitectural groups,"'6and, above the balanced of linear texture in the introductory all, juxtaposition duos witha verticalemphasisin the four-voicetutti.'7 One can pointto variousinfluencesin the late Massesof Dufay, but the real "missinglink" in theirevolutionmay verywell have been the late motetsof Dufay himself,beginningwith Nuper rosarumflores.It is no mere coincidencethat the motetdisappears fromhis repertory just as the tenorMass is introduced.It mayeven be an illusion; the stylisticand formalapparatusof the motetmay simplyhave been applied on a largerscale to the textsof the Mass, so thatthe motet,ratherthan disappearing,was transformed into a motetcyclewitha commoncantusfirmus. In this context,the architecturalallegoryof Nuper rosarum floresought to be regardedas somethingmore than a unique or curiousextramusicalexercise,forit is the extramusicalaspectof the motetthat appears to anticipatethe styleof the tenor Mass. I am notsuggesting thattheelementsof styleand formin Nuper rosarum that are flores typicalof Dufay'slaterMassesdo not appear in music 16Dufay, Opera Omnia, ed. Guillaume de Van (Rome, 1949), III, p. ii. 17See, for example, the opening of the Gloria of the Missa Caput (Dufay, Opera Omnia, ed. Heinrich Besseler [Rome, 1960],II, 81). This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Brunelleschi'sDome and Dufay'sMotet 105 writtenbefore1436, or that theydid not originallyservea purely musical function.It does seem to me, however,that these componentsare combinedforthe firsttime in Nuper rosarumfloresin an overallpatternthatis characteristic of some of his more mature works.What confrontsus is the very interestingpossibilitythat certainaspectsof this patternmay have been catalyzedin part by the architectural conceptsof Brunelleschiand the acousticalproperties of his awesomedome. In a real and demonstrablesense,both and dome and motetreducegothicdimensionsto classicalsymmetry both extricate themselves from the incomharmonic proportion, selfmensurabilityof older systemsand emergeas self-contained, sustainingforms- the verymodelsof Renaissancesensibility.'8 18A version of this paper was read at the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society in Chapel Hill, N. C., November 12, 1971. This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions