Table of Contents
Illustrations
Abbreviations

1. Western Choral Music-Medieval Foundations
a. The Liturgical Year and the Monastic Hours
b. The Mass
c. Modality
d. Modality in Polyphonic Music
e. The Origins of Polyphony
f. The Ars Nova
g. Isorhythm
h. Guillaume de Machaut (ca. 1300-1377)
i. Conclusion
j. End Notes

2. Sacred Choral Music of the Renaissance, I (1425-1525)
a. Early Fifteenth Century Motet
b. Origins of the Cyclic Mass
c. Masses of Guillaume DuFay
d. The Ockeghem Generation
e. Josquin des Prez: Masses
f. Josquin's Motets
g. Conclusion
h. End Notes

3. Secular Choral Music of the Renaissance (1440-1625)
a. French Chanson
b. The Psalter
c. The German Lied
d. Italian Secular Music
1. Verdelot and Arcadelt
2. Cypriano de Rore (1516-1565)
3. Marenzio, Wert and Gesualdo
4. Gastoldi and the Balletto
e. Musica Transalpina: The English "Madrigal"
f. Madrigal Comedy and Intermedium
g. Conclusion
h. End Notes

4. Sacred Choral Music of the Renaissance, II (1525-1600)
a. Josquin's Contemporaries
b. The post-Josquin Generation
c. Parody Mass
d. Palestrina, Lassus and Victoria
1. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (ca. 1525-1594)
2. Orlandus Lassus (1532-1594)
3. Tomas Luis da Victoria (ca. 1548-1611)
f. Other Choral Genres
g. Conclusion
h. End Notes

5. Sacred Choral Music in England (1450-1650)
a. The Choral Music of English Catholicism (1450-1530)
b. John Taverner (ca. 1495-1545)
c. Thomas Tallis (ca. 1505-1585)
d. William Byrd (1543-1623)
e. Other Composers of Latin Church Music
f. Music for the Anglican Church
g. Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)
h. Tompkins and Weelkes
i. Conclusion
j. End Notes
k. The English Reformation-A Time Line

6. Choral Music of the Italian Baroque (1600-1725)
a. Giovanni Gabrieli and the Polychoral Concerto
b. Monody
c. Oratorio: Giacomo Carissimi (1605-1674)
d. Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643): Sacred Music
e. Monteverdi and the Madrigal
f. Sacred Choral Music after Monteverdi
g. Conclusion
h. End Notes

7. Choral Music in Germany from Hassler to Buxtehude
a. Lassus: The Foundation of German Baroque Music
b. Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672)
c. Schütz's Contemporaries
d. Angst der Hellen und Friede der Seelen (1623)
e. From Schütz to Buxtehude
f. Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
g. Conclusion
h. End Notes

8. French Baroque Music (1650-1750)
a. Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)
b. Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1635-1704)
c. Michel-Richard de Lalande (1657-1726)
e. Jean-Phillippe Rameau (1683-1764)
g. Conclusion
h. End Notes

9. Choral Music in England from the Restoration (1660) to Handel
a. Pelham Humfrey (1647-1674)
b. John Blow (1649-1708)
c. Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
d. Purcell's Sacred Music
e. George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
f. Handel and the Oratorio
g. Conclusion
h. End Notes

10. The Choral Music of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
a. Motets
b. Cantatas
c. Oratorios
d. Masses
e. Mass in b minor (BWV 232)
f. Magnificat (BWV 243)
g. Johannespassion (BWV 245)
h. Matthäuspassion (BWV 244)
h. Conclusion
i. End Notes

11. Aspects of Classicism and Romanticism in Choral Music
a. Vocal Music
b. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736)
c. Romanticism
d. Conclusion
e. Appendix: Choral Composers in Eighteenth-Century Italy
f. End Notes

12. The Mass (1750-1900)
a. Johann Michael Haydn (1737-1806)
b. Franz-Josef Haydn (1732-1809)
c. Haydn's "Late Masses" (1796-1802)
d. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
e. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
f. Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
g. Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
h. Franz Liszt (1811-1887)
i. Other Romantic Mass Composers
j. Conclusion
k. End Notes

13. Romanticism and the Requiems of Mozart, Berlioz, Verdi and Brahms
a. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart-Requiem in d minor, K. 626
b. Hector Berlioz-Grande Messe des Morts, op. 5
c. Giuseppe Verdi-Manzoni Requiem
d. Summary of the Latin Requiems
e. Johannes Brahms-Ein deutsches Requiem, op. 45
f. End Notes

14. Sacred Choral Music from Mozart to Liszt
a. Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
b. Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
c. Max Reger (1873-1916)
d. Nineteenth-Century Catholic Music
e. Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
f. Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901): Quattro Pezzi sacri
g. Franz Liszt (1811-1887)
h. Joseph Rheinberger (1839-1901)
i. Victorian England
j. End Notes

About the Author

A native of Louisville, KY, Chester Alwes has served the music faculties of the College of Wooster, the University of Rochester/Eastman School of Music and, from 1982-2011, the University of Illinois as Urbana-Champaign. At Illinois, Alwes developed a national reputation as a specialist in the history and performance practice of choral literature. Alwes has authored numerous articles in a variety of journals and is a composer, editor, and arranger
with works published by Oxford University Press, Roger Dean Music, Mark Foster Music, et al. At Illinois, Alwes has overseen the successful completion of over thirty dissertations on the choral music of various periods
and styles.

Reviews

"A History of Western Choral Music, Volume 1 by Chester L. Alwes is a welcome addition to the literature on choral music. Choral directors of all levels will appreciate this book for its clear narrative and methods of analysis whether they use it as a textbook, a reference work, or a guide to programming." -- The Choral Scholar
"Alwes (emer., Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) is a respected teacher whose students lead choral programs worldwide. His personal, practical experience enriches his discussion... Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals." -- Source