THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE LITURGY OF THE ROMAN RITE AND THE ITALIAN ORGAN LITERATURE OF THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES (RENAISSANCE, BAROQUE, LITURGICAL)

The history of the organ and its music is one that, with perhaps a few exceptions, has always closely paralleled the history of the liturgy. Indeed, the liturgical organ music of any given period appears to be the result of a process which combines the musical taste of the time with current liturgical norms. Thus, studies which have looked beyond the music itself to various ecclesiastical and secular sources to document the role of this music in the liturgy have offered a considerably enhanced perspective for viewing this literature. This dissertation offers such a vantage point with respect to the organ literature of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italy.;Part III is focused upon answering these questions and also exploring the conformity between the musical requirements of liturgical practice and the music composed for liturgical use. This focus is achieved by means of a comparison of selected organ compositions with the information gleaned from Parts I and II. This comparison of musical sources with the non-musical sources gathered into the earlier part of the study does indeed offer several insights concerning both the nature of the liturgical organ literature of the period and also its conformity with liturgical norms. There are several patterns, some of consistency and some of change, which emerge in the music that are reflective not only of the musical taste of the period, but also of the norms and changes in liturgical practice.;In Parts I and II of this study is gathered a compendium of materials that pertain to the liturgical use of the organ in Italy during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Most of the sources examined are ecclesiastical in nature, but a few are secular. Comparisons of these various materials gathered into Parts I and II render a fairly comprehensive picture of what was expected of the organist in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italy. These comparisons also raise several questions about the nature of the music used by the organist to fulfill these expectations placed upon him.