The '''''Missa Tournai''''' or the Tournai Mass is the earliest surviving complete mass set to music. It comprises six movements, each of which are for three voices. There are wide disparities in style and notation between the movements, and there does not appear to be a systematic underlying musical structure such as a common [[cantus firmus]]. For this reason, the Mass is believed to have been composed independently by several musicians over a period of fifty or more years, only later being compiled by a scribe to be performed as a whole. The name derives from the fact that the manuscript is located at [[Tournai]] cathedral in [[France]]. | The '''''Missa Tournai''''' or the Tournai Mass is the earliest surviving complete mass set to music. It comprises six movements, each of which are for three voices. There are wide disparities in style and notation between the movements, and there does not appear to be a systematic underlying musical structure such as a common [[cantus firmus]]. For this reason, the Mass is believed to have been composed independently by several musicians over a period of fifty or more years, only later being compiled by a scribe to be performed as a whole. The name derives from the fact that the manuscript is located at [[Tournai]] cathedral in [[France]]. |