CANTUS FIRMUS MASS

Apolyphonicsetting of the Roman Catholicmass ordinaryprayers using the samecantus firmusas the compositional basis for each one, thus creating a unified fivemovement mass cycle. (An English setting may omit the Kyrie, leaving it to bechantedbecause its text had beentroped.) The cantus firmus may also refer to a particular feast or event for which the mass was composed; its source is usually given after the Latin word for mass,Missa, in the title of the work. The earliest examples, dating from the 1420s or early 1430s in England or northern France, are the {}Missa Alma Redemptoris Materattributed toLeonel Powerand the {}Missa Rex Seculorumattributed toJohn Dunstable. The technique dominated mass composition in the 15th century and gave way toparaphraseandparodytechniques, without disappearing entirely, in the 16th. In England, it remained vital until the Reformation. The entire cantus firmus might be distributed over the three text sections of the Kyrie or repeated several times for the longer texts. InGuillaume DuFay’sMissa Se La Face Ay Pale, one of the first to use a secular cantus firmus, both Gloria and Credo sound the melody three times in quickening durational proportions of 3:2:1, as in anisorhythmic motet. The melody might also be inverted, transposed, or sung in retrograde.