Missa Caput

It was influential both for its use of a tenor cantus firmus which unified all the movements and for being the first extended composition with a freely composed bass line, a feature with extraordinary ramifications in music history.

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.

[3] 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.

Following is the Latin from the end of the Sarum antiphon, Venit ad Petrum, with its English translation (KJV): In the fifteenth century, a common motif in religious iconography was the crushing of the head of the serpent, as seen in illustrations of Saint George and the Dragon.

In addition, numerous illustrations and documents show the Virgin crushing the head of the serpent herself: this could establish the connection with the other use of the Caput melisma, in the Marian Antiphon Salve Regina by Hygons.