Guillaume Machaut's Notre Dame Mass

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Guillaume Machaut’s Notre Dame Mass is important to music history because it is the first known setting of an entire mass to polyphony music. In “Agnus Dei,” the two lower voices sing a theme based upon a rhythmically altered Gregorian chant, known as cantus firmus. Its ternary form and polyphonic texture is common in sacred music and is also seen in the “Kyrie” in Palestrina’s Pope Marcellus Mass. The harmonies of the “Agnus Dei” include stark dissonances, hollow-sounding chords, and full triads. Both “Agnus Dei” and “Kyrie” have three sections, thought to symbolize the holy trinity.

Palestrina’s Pope Marcellus Mass is dedicated to Pope Marcellus II. Studying his compositions in conjunction with the Counter-Reformation movement, there is

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