Medieval Ritual And Early Modern Music: The Devotional Practice of Lauda Singing in Late-renaissance Italy

�strem and Petersen (U. of Copenhagen) explore the history of lauda singing, a polyphonic method that was widely practiced in Italy during the later years of the Renaissance. Performed in the context of a devotional practice, lauda is examined against secular counterparts such as madrigals and opera, and distinctions and similarities between these two initially disparate forms of musical expression are made. Written for advanced music students and historians, this volume contains plenty of musical notation to illustrate the author's points. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation 穢2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)