In the 17th century Iberian Peninsula, polychoral polyphony was the standard for major liturgical celebrations. Music divided into two, three and four choirs was a response to the Tridentine requirement for clarity of discourse, as well as a need to seduce and charm the listener. In reality, polychoral polyphony developed through the expansion of the application of polyphony to the monodic tradition and through the projection of techniques for alternating pairs of voices, used since the time of Josquin Desprez (1455-1521) and Jean Mouton (1459-1522), onto ensembles of eight, twelve, sixteen or even more voices. It was the most popular compositional and stylistic technique in the peninsula, disseminated in both Latin and vernacular genres, yet little studied and performed today.