jan 1, 1440 - Missa Caput (Anonymous)

Description:

The Missa Caput was a musical setting of the Roman Catholic mass, dating from the 1440s, by an anonymous English composer (possibly John Dunstable).

Used 4-part harmony, early example of SATB.

"Also noteworthy is how the bass voice in the Missa Caput has a pitch space all its own and behaves in a new harmony-defining way. It tends to make disjunct leaps and has a newly standardized role at cadences, often going from the fifth scale degree to the final." Functional bass! "...this approach and harmony were a part of virtually every final cadence from the midcentury on"

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