Encyclopedia of the Renaissance and the Reformation

(Bozica Vekic) #1

more use of Marian texts. Continental composers used
English pieces as models, experimenting with fauxbour-
don and improvised counterpoint, and in France com-
posers adopted the style of secular songs in three-part
writing. In the second half of the 15th century a composi-
tional tradition of motet writing became established in
which parts were evenly balanced in polyphonic texture,
and the tenor cantus firmus part, though retained, became
less distinguishable from the others. Cantus firmi contin-
ued in motets throughout the 16th century, though com-
posers also composed freely with no reference to chant;
Johannes OCKEGHEM’s Ave Maria, gratia plena is an exam-
ple of free composition with equal use of counterpoint in
each voice. Josquin DES PRÉSdeveloped the motet in many
ways: the canonic doubling of the tenor cantus firmus; the
quotation of secular melodies; homophonic declamation;
free counterpoint; variation in texture as duos and trios
are used in alternation with the full choir; and a change of
meter from binary to ternary. These compositional proce-
dures were continued by Josquin’s successors. PALESTRINA
accepted chant as an important element, and in his motets
imitative polyphony alternates with homophony. LASSUS’s
style of motet writing is more rhetorical with more depic-
tion of the text and more homophony; this style was dis-
seminated throughout Europe. Giovanni GABRIELIsowed
the seeds of a new style in which choirs of voices or voices
and instruments interchange in short homophonic
phrases, paving the way for the baroque motet.


Mudo, El See FERNÁNDEZ DE NAVARRETE, JUAN


Mühlberg, battle of (1547) A victory gained at the Ger-
man town of Mühlberg, on the bank of the River Elbe, by
forces under the personal command of Emperor CHARLES
Vover a Lutheran alliance led by John Frederick, Elector
of Saxony. By this triumph Charles hoped he was in a po-
sition to achieve religious harmony in his German realms
and at Augsburg the following year he attempted to draw
up the necessary settlement (see AUGSBURG, INTERIM OF).


Müller, Johann See REGIOMONTANUS


Mundy, John (c. 1555–1630) English composer
The son of William MUNDY, he received his bachelor of
music degree at Oxford in 1586 and a doctorate in 1624.
Mundy was an organist at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.
His extant works include a collection of English anthems,
many of which are incomplete. Five of his instrumental
works are included in the FITZWILLIAM VIRGINAL BOOK.


Mundy, William (c. 1529–c. 1591) English composer
Little is known of Mundy’s life. From 1543 he was a singer
in the choir of Westminster Abbey and he was a Gentle-
man of the Chapel Royal during the reign of Elizabeth I.
He is best known as a composer of sacred vocal music and


worked in a range of styles from the old Latin antiphon
tradition to the new English verse anthem. Mundy also
wrote Masses and Latin psalm settings. His Vox patris cae-
lestis is a votive antiphon which is perhaps the greatest
achievement in that tradition. His verse anthems with
organ accompaniment are early examples of what was to
become the principal style of English cathedral music. Ac-
cording to a contemporary, Robert Dow, Mundy’s music
was second only to that of William BYRD. He is represented
in the Mulliner Book (British Museum), a manuscript col-
lection of mid-16th-century English keyboard music.

Munich (German München) A city on River Isar in
Bavaria, southern Germany. Founded by Henry the Lion,
Duke of Bavaria, in 1157, the city passed to the Wittels-
bach family in the late 12th century, and from 1255 it was
the Wittelsbach home and capital city. In the early 14th
century Emperor Louis (IV) the Bavarian greatly extended
Munich. Under the leadership of the dukes of Bavaria and
influenced by the Jesuits, Munich remained loyal to the
Catholic faith in the 16th century and was an important
center of COUNTER-REFORMATIONactivity. Notable build-
ings which have survived from the period of the Renais-
sance include the cathedral (1468–88), the town hall
(1470–80), and the Renaissance style Michaelkirche
(1583–97).

Münster, Sebastian (1489–1552) German theologian
and geographer
Münster was born at Ingelheim and educated at the
universities of Tübingen and Heidelberg. He became a
Franciscan monk in 1505, but after converting to Protes-
tantism in 1529 he moved to Switzerland. There he taught
Hebrew at Basle university (he had been a pupil of Elias
LEVITA) and was appointed to the chair of mathemat-
ics (1536). A formidable linguist, he produced Hebrew
(1520) and Chaldean (1527) grammars as well as an edi-
tion of the Hebrew Bible (1534–35). He was also the first
person to make a Hebrew version of any part of the New
Testament: St. Matthew’s Gospel (1537). He is best known
for his Cosmographia universalis (1544), a comprehensive
survey, rich in woodcuts and maps, of the known world.
Although weak on the New World and Asia it contained
much impressive detail on Germany and western Europe.
Münster also published Horologiographia (1531), on the
art of constructing sundials, and an edition of Ptolemy’s
Geography (1540). He died of the plague.

Müntzer or Münzer, Thomas See PEASANTS REVOLT

Muret, Marc-Antoine (Muretus) (1526–1585) French
humanist scholar
Born at Muret, near Limoges, Muret attracted the atten-
tion of Julius Caesar SCALIGERand soon made a reputation
for himself as a teacher of Latin. He was also friendly with

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