Needless to say, this homely domestic psalm is not an example of ars perfecta but a contrast or
alternative to it. It can serve here as a preliminary reminder that the ars perfecta, despite Zarlino’s claims
and the undeniable quality of the music he espoused, was never truly a universal style. And more, it
shows that even as the ars perfecta was being perfected, there were forces at work that would
compromise and eventually supplant it. The popularization of religious art in the name of reform was only
one of these forces.
WILLAERT AND THE ART OF TRANSITION
And yet the perfection of the ars perfecta shows up all the more clearly against its rough-hewn rival. Of
course the rough-hewn metrical psalm was just as deliberately rough-hewn as the perfected style was
deliberately perfected. We have just seen examples of both from a single composer, who chose his styles
according to his purposes. The difference shows up particularly well at the “joints”—the line ends and