Exegesis and the structure of the thematic sermon in Du Fay's Florentine motets.

Abstract

This study compares two widely diffused genres from the fifteenth century, the motet and the thematic sermon. The analysis of the text, the musical structure, and the mode of Du Fay's three Florentine motets, Mirandas parit, Salve flos, and Nuper rosarum, will reveal connections between the structure of the sermon model and that of the motets. As well, analysis of the motets will reveal the use of certain musical gestures which enhance the meaning of the text and establish thematic connections essential to the effective presentation of a message in the music. The comparison of the motet genre and the sermon model supports the underlying hypothesis of the study, that the intent of the composer was in fact to deliver a message in both the text and the music.