Elevation as Liturgical Climax in Gesture and Sound: Milanese Elevation Motets in Context

Abstract

In this paper I will focus on fifteenth-century century Elevation motets in order to contextualize the Milanese motet cycles in a wider liturgical and musical practice. After discussing the liturgical significance and function of the Elevation, with its rich gestural symbolism, I will explore the extant repertoire with particular regard to the texts and their circulation. The presence of settings of the same texts in different environments will raise the question about the possible existence of narrower ties between the Milanese corpus and other local traditions.