'Cori spezzati' in Composition and Sound

This essay discusses the place of cori spezzati in compositional and performative practice in sixteenth-century Venice. Archival and other non-musical documents of various kinds – deliberations of governing bodies, payment records, liturgical and ceremonial rubrics, descriptions of occasional events etc. – are used to shed light on the functions and sounds of the written musical sources and, in so doing, review and partially reconsider the findings, interpretations and speculations contained in the more-or-less recent musicological literature.