A Conversation and a skip later I found myself face to face with a rural to spot, sometimes extremely difficult, in various keys, once more. policemen, who looked perfectly ridiculous in a red with added rests…but the whole thing is always there, “Maurice, this is very good, you’ve done the work of an with Josquin and gold uniform and towering kepi. like in the superius of the Gloria and the “complaint honest artisan. You’ve written in the Franco-Flemish “Your music, please!” machines” in the bass of the Agnus 2.” style, and done the best you could with what you Those bright and beady eyes…why, yes, they were Josquin bent over the score, more and more interested: have.” In the church of Sainte Croix Vallée-Française, I was Josquin’s! He was actually there, and easily recognizable “This notation is wonderful, with the four voices one He winked and slipped away. about to give the starting pitch for the eleven singers in in his high green stockings. And he was obviously very above the other. In my day, we had to count the beats I opened my eyes. My scor es were before me, and there the Métamorphoses and Biscantor! ensembles. cross. and really pay attention. When it’s printed like this, were the singers, waiting patiently. The pitch pipe I closed my eyes for a second… “What’s this Chascun me crie ...même Hercule! mass? you can take it easy…even have a snooze from time sounded an “A” and the first notes of the Kyrie from …and when I opened them again…my binder was I never wrote such a thing!” to time!” Hercules could finally plunge me into a marvelous empty! My music had disappeared! My tools, my “Calm down, Josquin…You and a lot of other people And then with great enthusiasm: fountain of youth. conductor’s scores covered with annotations! They ’d have probably forgotten your Chascun me crie Credo, “Look here, the Chascun me crie theme segues into vanished at the very moment I was finally going to use which was in Cambrai’s collection of musical scores.” Hercules through your Christe machine! And here in them! After four years of putting the program together, “Hmmm…” your Qui tollis the Hercules theme is sung by two tenors Maurice Bourbon, 5 September 2012 a year of analyzing Hercules, a month of writing out the “It’s true, it’s not your most accomplished work, and a fifth apart…like church bells ringing! And the mirror Chascun me crie ...même Hercule! score. I have to admit that its title is what first caught my image Chascun me crie theme, followed by the real 1- An homage to Harold Lloyd (Monte là-dessus, Safety Last, 1923) I threw myself into the search for the Grail I simply eye. It must have been a song tune…can you sing it theme of the Cum Sancto Spiritu! And the same thing had to find. My mad rush to locate it brought to mind 2 - Institut National de Polyphonie Vocale, see Messes Bourbon to me?” in the Osanna, which you illustrated with the Chascun (Editions de l’Homme armé HA01, 2009) all the obstacles I’d overcome: the difficulty of finding “Beeee – C – D – E – Deeee – G!” me crie theme…and the symmetry of the In excelsis Deo. venues, the singers who didn’t answer their phones, “No, I know the melody, for that I can just listen to the Are there more?” who arrived late for rehearsals and left early, the piece. It’s the words I need!” “Yes, the fun is in hunting for them!” refused funding requests, the distributors who weren’t “???” I smiled at his excitement, and said, interested in the recording, the politician who told “In any case, the theme had a lot of potential. I literally “Another thing I enjoyed was paying homage to Bach me how to perform Josquin, my serious lumbago, my stuffed the rest of the mass with it, even the tiny motifs in Agnus I and to you in Agnus 2. When the two are terrible fatigue… hidden in the “machines” – the repeated themes - superimposed at the beginning of Agnus 3, I pay At the Pont Ravagers station, I caught a train…that you’re so fond of. homage to the two greatest polyphonists.” would be the quickest way! But no, it took off in the Josquin relaxed a bit. The sun shining from the garden “Yes, you’ve mentioned this Bach fellow to me wrong direction! I tried to get out while it was still into the INPV (2) cafeteria lit up his figure, and the before…” moving slowly, but the door was blocked…Luckily I students, watching from the windows, laughed and “And I even parodied my own work in the Sanctus, managed to open a window, only to began an exhausting elbowed each other. using the “couscous” and the main theme from my descent along a huge building, from balcony to balcony, “But why did you call it “…même Hercule?” Petits Z’oiseaux Mass.” from G clefs to F clefs… “I simply wanted to make the collection of your But Josquin was no longer listening. He had suddenly “Your papers, please!” 1 complete masses more coherent by including the noticed the laughing young faces at the windows. To my surprise, I’d almost reached the sidewalk . A hop principal theme from Hercules as well. It’s often difficult He drew himself up and became a true Maestro 14 15 Josquin Desprez . Bartolomeo del Cavalieri mentions that Josquin Josquin’s successor, , who had become Ferrariae, and bear witness to Josquin’s musical genius also sent another of his works through the singer Maestro di Capella in September 1504 for a salary of at the height of his maturity. in Verbonnet, who was employed at the chapelle royale in 100 ducats, and who also died in 1505. Antoine Brunel The evidence that has come down to us – sixteen France. This music has not been identified, but “certa replaced Obrecht; Josquin valued this ’s manuscript and nine printed sources, nine excerpts cosa nova che dice ha fatto Josquin” (was certainly a new work, and wrote a mass based on Brunel’s Mater included in sixteenth-century musical treatises, four 1 A letter dating from 14 August 1502 from Girolamo piece that Josquin says he wrote). Josquin was hired patris . tablature transcriptions for viheula, pieces inspired by da Sestola (known as “Coglia”) to Ercole (Hercules) some weeks later as Maestro di Capella, becoming the Ercole I’s reign, which lasted from 1471, when he the Hercules mass and examples of re-use with modified d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, recommended that the latter best-paid singer in the Ferrarese chapel. Jachet de succeeded Borso d’Este, until his death in 1505, stood texts – shows that Josquin’s mass was admired, widely take into his service in order to “place Marville, the musician from Lorraine who preceded out for his great interest in the arts. Culture was at disseminated, frequently sung and recopied. a crown upon your chapel”. Coglia recruited talent Josquin, was brutally fired, and was reduced to begging its zenith in Ferrara during the last quarter of the The originality of the mass stems from the way its throughout Europe, and the artists he enrolled worked Ercole’s son-in-law to reinstate him: fifteenth century. The Duke, who was interested in musical subject is derived from its title. The Italian to make the Duke’s reign ever more impressive. A rival Since the arrival of this singer from Milano, I have received literature and the fine arts and also played instruments, theoretician Zarlino called this technique “sogetto talent scout, Gian de Artiganova, or Gian Gascon, neither a salary nor anything else from the Duke…I beg of chose his musicians himself. Jacob Obrecht, Heinrich cavato dale vocali”, (literally “a subject carved out of recommended another composer, , you, for love of the Altissima Nativita, to see the Duke and Isaac, Alexandre Agricola, and the vowels”). Josquin, who invented the procedure, to Ercole in a letter written two weeks later, on 2 to have me reinstated in my chapel. Johannes Martini were all employed in his chapel, the fashioned the mass’s from the vowels in September. Jachet de Lorraine, singer. most renowned of its time; the philosopher Pic de la the work’s title. He used the same process in the Missa 2 I mention to you that Isaac wrote in just two days a motet Jachet’s request came to nothing, however: a letter written Mirandole (1463-94) also contributed to the city’s La sol fa ré mi . on the “A-E-A-G-A-E-C” theme, which is excellent. Of in April of the same year, from Giacomo d’Adria, the intellectual renown. Although its title clearly identifies the mass’s dedicatee, him it can be said that he is a quick man in the art of Mantuan ambassador to the Ferrara court, specifies No documents relate Josquin’s daily activities in the nothing is known about the circumstances or the date composing. the imminent arrival of the musicians Verbonnet and ducal court. Luckily, though, ambassadorial letters of its composition. Josquin certainly wrote it in honor I recommend him to Your Excellency rather than Josquin, Josquin from Paris. A document from Modena, dating have been preserved. In February 1605 Ercole d’Este’s of Ercole d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, but where and when because he is of a better nature among his companions and from October 1503, lists singers and their salaries, and ambassador asked Josquin to examine a musical work did this take place? Can it have been in 1487, during will write new pieces more often. It is true that Josquin mentions “Messer Jusquino francese maistre della capella” in order to determine whether it was praiseworthy. Josquin’s time in Rome, when the cardinal Ascanio composes better, but he composes when he wants to, and not for the Ferrara family. The salary column is unfortunately Knowing Ercole’s devotion to the Virgin Mary, and of Sforza was his patron? Or was it earlier, when Sforza, when one wants him to. And he asks 200 ducats, while empty. The document does indicate, however, that Josquin his predilection for ceremonies of penance, it has been who was already Josquin’s protector, came to Ferrara to Isaac is happy with 120. presided over a chapel of 34 musicians, an unusually possible to identify two composed by Josquin meet with the Duke? Or – and this is the most likely Your Excellence will do as he pleases. high number for the time. The list included twenty-one in Ferrara. The first, Virgo salutiferi, whose magnificent theory – was it written during Josquin’s last years in The search for a new maestro di cappella was undertaken Italian singers, three Flemish singers, two French singers, cantus firmus is sung as a canon by the upper voices, is Italy, in 1503-04, when he was the Duke’s maestro di to secure a successor to Johannes Martini, who died in a Spanish singer, an English singer, an Italian organist and based on a text by the Ferrarese poet Ercole Strozzi, capella? The surviving manuscripts do not correspond 1497 and had not been adequately replaced. Josquin five chaplains to the Duke. Miserere mei Deus, and was written at the Duke’s to any of these periods, however; all of them are later was interested in the position. In late February 1503, Josquin did not remain in Ferrara long, however. In express request. It features a cantus firmus presented than the first printed source (Missarum Josquin Liber in order to prove his abilities, he sent to the Este April 1504 he left the court (and Italy) definitively, in the tenor on all the degrees of the E, or Phrygian, secundus), published by Petrucci in in 1505. family, via Count Sigismondo Cantelmo, a five-voice thereby avoiding the plague that would carry off not mode. These two works contain highly virtuosic writing Stylistic analysis raises more questions than it answers. Salve Regina, written in the ancient style favored in only Ercole (the duke died 25 January 1505) but also reminiscent of the kind used in the Missa Hercules Dux Although Josquin’s mastery of musical architecture in 16 17 the mass prefigures some of his mature works such as in which the “sogetto cavetto dale vocali” motif is not of using the vowels in the title to form a musical The Chascun me crie Credo the Ferrarese motets Virgo salutiferi and Miserere mei, used. The subject of the canon in the Agnus Dei 2 was motif. Examples include the Missa Carolus Imperator other factors, like the use of the ancient cantus firmus taken from the first notes of the altus part in the mass. Romanorum (Lupus Hellinck), the Missa Fernandus Studies of the four manuscript sources that predate the technique in the tenor and of certain archaic cadential Josquin’s canonic writing in these two passages is quite Dux Calabriae ( Jachet de Mantoue), the Missa Vivat only printed edition (Fragmenta Missarum, O. Petrucci, formulas, suggest that he employed earlier codes of remarkable, so much so that it was cited in the principal felix Hercules (Cyprian de Rore), the Missa Philippus 1505), make it possible to date the composition of this composition in his first pieces. musical treatises of the sixteenth century. Rex Hispanie (Bartolomé de Escobedo) and the Missa Credo in the last years of the fifteenth century, in Rome. The sections of this four-voice mass are based on a The musicologist Lewis Lockwood has suggested a Philippus secundus Rex Hispanie (). At that time Josquin Desprez was still employed in the musical motif corresponding to the vowels in the name further connection to Ercole’s name: according to him, Pope’s chapel. The Venetian printer entitled the piece of the work’s dedicatee, Hercules, Duke of Ferrara. The the twelve tripartite appearances of the “sogetto”, which Mass fragments Credo Ciaschun me crie, but the same work is entitled notes thus obtained naturally fall into the D, or Dorian, make up the foundation of the mass, can be associated Patrem Des rouges nes in one of the manuscripts. Both mode. with Hercules’ twelve labors. While this may or may not Mass fragments, though rarely taken into consideration, the works may have been based on a popular song; their Her-cu-les dux Fer-ra-ri-ae be true, Josquin’s objective was to create a mass whose represent an important part of the religious music relationship to the only piece that is currently known results in: original musical structure and majestic character would written by fifteenth-century . Although the to have been published (Canti C, O. Petrucci, 1504) build up to its conclusion, the six-voice Agnus Dei. In idea of a musical cycle unifying the various sections of is uncertain. The borrowing used in the construction this section the cantus firmus is sung first in the superius, The motif is always sung three times. The first entrance the mass was generally accepted, composers also wrote of this Credo is atypical of Josquin’s usual manner, and then in the tenor. The motifs appear eight beats apart, begins on a low D, the second a fifth higher, and the isolated pieces or pairs of pieces. These should not be some musicologists question the attribution to Josquin. which allows each of the two voices to be accompanied third an octave higher, on high D. It is presented in the thought of as incomplete or unfinished masses. The The sources are contradictory: one is anonymous, and by two other imitative voices. The resulting polychoral tenor in long notes. In the Sanctus, however, the motif collection of musical scores kept in Cambrai includes the other attributes the piece to “A.B.”, which could sound continues until the voices come together on the only appears twice, at the octave, first high and then numerous fragmenta missarum by Guillaume Dufay, refer to Antoine Bruhier, Antoine Bidon, or Antoine word “pacem”. The number eight – the number of notes lower. The motif appears twice in retrograde form at , Johannes Regis and Josquin des Brunel, Josquin’s successor at Ferrara. Although in the motif – is used in various ways in the phrasing the end of the Credo, on “Et in spiritum”, and at the Prez. Of these, one Gloria, five Credos and two Sanctus uncertain, the attribution to Josquin is acceptable. and in the intervals between voices and sections, giving beginning of the Agnus Dei. Rhythmic variation of the can be definitively attributed to Josquin. It is difficult the impression that Josquin used the number as a unit motif occurs throughout the mass. In the Osanna it is to pinpoint the dates and circumstances that gave Jacques BARBIER of measurement that would unify the framework of the sung three times. The first is in semibreves separated by rise to these compositions. The Sanctus de passione is Université François-Rabelais de Tours mass. He also used redictae, or repeated short melodic rests, the second in uninterrupted minims. This entry generally thought to be one of the oldest pieces, due Centre d’Études Supérieures de la and rhythmic motifs, from the first bars of the Kyrie to leads directly to the final “Osanna in excelsis”, which to the simple composition techniques used. The Gloria September 2011 the end of the Agnus Dei. Josquin’s choice of stylistic is sung in the tenor while the two upper voices sing de beata Virgine was the basis on which Josquin wrote 1 elements creates clear musical structures and a simple See previous volume Josquin l’Européen, vol. 3, Josquin & Rome 1 the motif in a mirror image: A-B-C-A-B. Like in the a more ambitious version of the Missa de beata Virgine: by the Métamorphoses ensemble, “Messes de l’Homme armé”, polyphonic fabric, both of which contribute to making Missa sine nomine, the two-voice Benedictus features the same tropes having to do with the Virgin Mary are CD Calliope 9441, 2010. his music a favorite with current performers as well as three short entrances of the cantus firmus in the tenor. used in the tenor and superius voices. Two Credos are 2 The original texts in Latin as well as their precise references are their audiences. These are accompanied by one of the three other voices, based on French songs, but Josquin also incorporated to be found in a work entirely dedicated to the composer and his The Missa Hercules dux Ferrariae was expressly written which ornaments the motif. The two-voice Pleni sunt elements of plainchant in the pieces; borr owings from works: Josquin DESPREZ, bleu nuit éditeur, 2010. by a maestro di capella in praise of his employer. Other and the three-voice Agnus Dei 2 are the only passages Credo I occur in six of them. sixteenth-century composers used the same technique 18 19