ABSTRACT
Having explored the earliest English Mass cycles in the previous chapter, Chapter 3 examines the development of what is here termed the ‘mature’ English Mass cycle. The key liturgical, aesthetic, structural, and surface-level considerations of English Mass composers of this period are outlined, demonstrating that much in an English Mass cycle of this period concerns the attempt to recast similar structural models in as varied a manner as possible for each movement. This overriding concern may be linked to many aspects previously identified as curiously English such as the preponderance of duet writing (which may be used to form complex textural groundplans), the tendency to use mensural schemes, the troping of Kyries (though this is also a liturgical necessity), and the telescoping of Credos.
