Background
The cantus firmus on which the mass is based, which was long of mysterious origin, was discovered by Manfred Bukofzer to be from the Sarum Rite: the melisma on the last word, "caput", from the antiphon Venit ad Petrum, which was used at the Mandatum ceremony (the Washing of the Feet) on Maundy Thursday during Holy Week. The melisma on the single word is long and dramatic, containing over 100 notes, and spanning the interval of an octave. Within the melisma the melodic interval of the fourth is prominent and is repeated several times, and several modes, including Phrygian, Dorian and Mixolydian, are implied, giving it an extraordinary melodic diversity.
While originally the Caput mass was thought to have been by Dufay – since it is attributed to him in its most complete source, the Trent Codices – recent research has established that it originated in England. The cyclic mass has been shown to be a development of English origin, enthusiastically taken up by composers of the Burgundian School, and eventually becoming the primary vehicle for long-span musical expression in the High Renaissance.
Two other masses, one by Johannes Ockeghem and one by Jacob Obrecht, as well as a Marian Antiphon (Salve Regina) by Richard Hygons, are known to be based on the same cantus firmus.
Read more about this topic: Missa Caput
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