The Tridentine Reform: Brief notes

From "The Concise Oxford History of Music" by Gerald Abraham (Publisher: Oxford University Press, copyright 1979 Gerald Abraham)

There had for some time been complaints about the secular elements in Catholic church music, the exhibitionism of organists, the use of tropes, the obscuring of the sacred texts by polyphony, and so on. They came to a head in 1562 at the Council of Trent, reconvened after a ten-year break. In September the Council forumulated the general directive quoted in the previous chapter (see p. 207: "the direction of the Council of Trent in 1562 that the words of the Mass 'should be uttered clearly and perfectly, and sink quietly into the ears and hearts of the hearers', not with music 'contrived for the empty delight of the ears'.") and the next year, just before it broke up, two new members actually advocated the suppression of polyphonic church music altogether. (p. 244)