Editing Musica reservata (section)

==Definition==
The exact meaning, which appears in scattered contemporary sources, is a matter of debate among [[musicology|musicologists]].  While some of the sources are contradictory, four aspects seem clear:

# ''musica reservata'' involved the use of [[Chromaticism|chromatic]] progressions and voice-leading, a manner of composing which became fashionable in the 1550s, both in [[madrigal (music)|madrigal]]s and [[motet]]s;
# it involved a style of performance, perhaps with extra [[Ornament (music)|ornamentation]] or other emotive methods;
# it used [[word-painting]], i.e. use of specific and recognizable musical figures to illuminate specific words in the text; and 
# the music was designed to be performed by, and appreciated by, small groups of connoisseurs.

Composers in the style of ''musica reservata'' included [[Nicola Vicentino]] (spelled as ''Musica riserbata''), who wrote about it in his ''L'antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica'' (1555);<ref>"...perche con effetto comprendono che (come li scrittori antichi dimostrano) era meritamente ad altro uso la Cromatica & Enarmonica Musica riserbata che 
la Diatonica, perche questa in feste publiche in luoghi communi a uso delle uulgari orecchie si cantaua: quelle fra li priuati sollazzi de Signori e Principi, ad uso delle purgate orecchie in lode di gran personaggi et Heroi s'adoperauano". Citation by [http://euromusicology.zoo.cs.uu.nl/dynaweb/tmiweb/v/vicant/@Generic__BookView;cs=default;ts=default;lang=ru?DwebQuery=riserbata Thesaurum Musicarum Italicarum].</ref> [[Philippe de Monte]], the prolific composer of madrigals who mainly worked in Vienna; and above all, [[Orlande de Lassus]], the renowned and versatile composer working in [[Munich]] whose ''[[Prophetiae Sibyllarum]]'', probably written in the 1560s, may represent the peak of development of the style.  The [[chord progression]] which begins the ''Prophetiae Sibyllarum'' is jarring even to ears accustomed to [[20th-century music]]: the opening chords are C major – G major – B major – C{{music|sharp}} minor – E major – F{{music|sharp}} minor, all in root position, sung to the text: "Carmina chromatico, quae audis modulata tenore" – literally "songs, which you hear rendered by a chromatic tenor" (maybe with reference to all-chromatic composition which 'technically' based on a chromatic tenor).

The style of ''musica reservata'', with its implication of a highly refined, perhaps [[mannerism|manneristic]] style of composition and performance along with a very small audience, is reminiscent both of the [[ars subtilior]] of the [[Avignon]] group of composers of the late 14th century, and also perhaps some of the contemporary [[avant-garde]] classical music of the late 20th century. The style can also be compared to the Italian composer [[Carlo Gesualdo]]'s chromatic madrigals and motets a few decades later.