Expression is led by text in Stella celi

Stella celi. Just as the richer harmonies fall towards the middle of the phrases, unlike later music which is directed towards ends of phrases, so the shapes of the melodies follow the emphases of the words, and the metre seems to become more expansive at phrase centres. The musical world flows according to the text. This is what is handed on to later instrumental writers as they take the polyphonic vocal world and transfer it to an instrumental one. The voice is never far away.