DISSERTATION ABSTRACT

In Soon Chi
A Comparative Study of the Mid-Sixteenth-Century Motet in Southern France:
Pierre Cadéac and Guillaume le Heurteur
(1980)

The present study focuses on the music of Pierre Cadéac, active in Auch, and Guillaume Le Heurteur, active in Tours, two of the more prominent French composers outside Paris and Lyons. Its purpose is to compare the musical style of Cadéac’s motets to that of Le Heurteur, and to trace in this manner the major influences on both. The study will examine the two main streams of motet writing, French and Netherlandish, of the mid-sixteenth century, and determine how the compositional technique of a given composer was often determined by his direct contact to certain styles rather than by his nationality.

The investigation begins with biographical research on Cadéac and Le Heurteur themselves, and here biographical information must depend on a very limited number of primary sources, such as title pages of their work. Documented records of these two composers’ birth and death dates have not been located; these can only be inferred by the dates of their publications. Accordingly, both Cadéac and Le Heurteur were probablv born around 1510. Their musical activity might have flourished between the late 1530’s and mid-1550’s, since the majority of their works were published during this period.

Two motet books have been chosen for this study: PETRI CADEAC MUSICI / EXCELLENTISSIMI MOTETA. . . published by Adrian Le Roy & Robert Ballard (Paris, 1555) and Guillermi le heurteur, Ecclessiae divi / MARTINI TURONENSIS CANONICI. . . published by Pierre Attaingnant (Paris, 1545). The texts of each motet in these books have been examined to determine their sources and liturgical uses, and the music transcribed and finally analyzed for stylistic characteristics. The analyses focus on formal structure, texture, imitative styles, rhythmic and melodic styles, and the use of dissonances along with harmonic implications.

These analyses of the motets of Cadéac and Le Heurteur reveal, of course, similarities, all of which are the basic and common compositional techniques used for motet writing at the time of these two composers, such as use of series of successive points of imitation, overwhelming use of duple meter, the use of authentic or plagal cadence for the closing of the motet, and the like. Differences appearing in the works between these two composers seem to be minor, but are major factors which determine whether the style of one composer is close to that of the Netherlanders, or that of French.

All the transcriptions made for this study, except for those already appearing in modern editions, appear in the second volume of this dissertation. Also included is a source index listing all the libraries in which their works may be found along with information on all known printed and manuscript sources.