Karol Berger, “Tonality and Atonality in the Prologue to Orlando di Lasso’s Prophetiae Sibyllarum: Some Methodological Problems in Analysis of Sixteenth-Century Music,” Musical Quarterly 66/4 (1980): 484-504.

Karol Berger’s provocatively-titled article responds to Edward Lowinsky’s seminal book, Tonality and Atonality in Sixteenth-Century Music, and problematizes Lowinsky’s assessment of the Prophetiae Sibyllarum prologue as an example of “triadic atonality.”  Through his consideration of Lowinsky’s analysis and William J. Mitchell’s response to it, as well as his own analysis of Orlando di Lasso’s Prologue, Berger considers potential benefits and conflicts that arise when applying Schenkerian analytical techniques to contrapuntal pre-tonal music.  He concludes that Schenkerian analysis of sixteenth-century music helps to illuminate certain elements of early music generally overlooked in the scholarly literature, such as structure levels and long-range voice leading.  He also uses sixteenth-century music as a doorway into the critique of the Schenkerian method overall, suggesting that this repertoire illuminates certain problems within the method.

Cristle Collins Judd, “Some Problems of Pre-Baroque Analysis: An Examination of Josquin’s Ave Maria … virgo serena,” Music Analysis 4/3 (1985): 201-39.

Cristle Collins Judd’s article “Some Problems of Pre-Baroque Analysis” centers around a detailed analysis of Josquin’s motet Ave maria . . . virgo serena that is primarily, but not exclusively, Schenkerian.  The article culminates in a ten-page analytical appendix that includes detailed foreground and middleground graphs, as well as a cadential reduction and a background graph.  Judd emphasizes the importance of combining a thorough understanding of Renaissance music theory, knowledge of text setting procedures, and modern analytical procedures to produce a well-rounded analysis of a piece.  Her article includes a critical consideration of other current scholarly work attempting to apply Schenkerian principles to the analysis of early music, ultimately criticizing the work of several scholars (Salzer, Novack, Bergquist, and Bashour in particular) for focusing more on demonstrating the universal applicability of Schenker’s ideas than on producing a coherent and compelling analysis of pre-tonal music.  Ultimately, Judd’s graphic analyses of Ave maria illuminate elements of balance and motivic unity that govern the motet’s structure and allow her to formulate suggestions for a systematic approach to the graphic analysis of early music.

Stern, David. "Schenkerian theory and the analysis of Renaissance music." In Schenker Studies, edited by Hedi Siegel, 45-59. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

David Stern’s article in Schenker Studies provides a general overview of the problems and scholarly discourse surrounding the applicability of Schenkerian analysis to early music.  He discusses analysis of early music broadly, emphasizing the absence of a systematic scholarly approach that has been widely adopted for this repertoire.  Citing examples from Josquin, Byrd, and Isaac, Stern illustrates ways in which Schenkerian methods can help to clarify both surface-level and large-scale compositional practices in modal counterpoint.  After positing various modifications to Schenkerian practices required for coherent analyses of early music, Stern ultimately defends Schenkerian analysis as a viable method for the analysis of Medieval and Renaissance music, though he emphasizes the importance of retaining a thorough grounding in contemporaneous music theories.

The section "Analysis of Early Music" was prepared by Megan Kaes