Auctor incertus: Issues of authorship and anonymity around Missa Inviolata (ca. 1520s)

A six-part polyphonic setting of the ordinary of the Mass survives as a unicum in manuscript 1967 of the Biblioteca Central de Barcelona, Spain. Although it is clearly the most significant piece in the manuscript, it has received considerably less attention from specialized ensembles than the rest of the repertoire contained therein. This may be due to several factors, chief among them being that the manuscript provides no indication of the composer’s identity. Such anonymity is quite common when dealing with early repertoires. This research aims to address this situation critically and offer several practical, performer-oriented strategies to overcome it.