Josquin des Prez

Josquin des Prez
Josquin des Prez

Josquin des Prez (French rendering of Dutch "Josken Van De Velde", diminutive of "Joseph Van De Velde"; latinized Josquinus Pratensis, alternatively Jodocus Pratensis) (c. 1450 to 1455 – August 27, 1521) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. He was the most famous European composer between Guillaume Dufay and Palestrina, and is usually considered to be the central figure of the Franco-Flemish School.

During the 16th century, Josquin gradually acquired the reputation as the greatest composer of the age, possessing a mastery of technique and expression universally to be imitated and admired. Writers as different as Baldassare Castiglione and Martin Luther wrote about his reputation and fame; theorists such as Gioseffo Zarlino held his style as that best representing perfection. He was so admired that many anonymous compositions were attributed to him by copyists, probably in order to increase their sales; indeed the total of works attributed to him is at least 374; it was only after the advent of modern analytical scholarship that some of these mistaken attributions could be corrected based on stylistic features. Yet in spite of Josquin's colossal reputation, which endured until the beginning of the Baroque era, and revived again in the 20th century, his biography is shadowy, and we know next to nothing about his personality. The only surviving work in his own hand is a possible graffito on the wall of the Sistine Chapel, and only one contemporary mention of his character is known, in a letter to Duke Ercole I of Ferrara. The lives of dozens of minor composers of the Renaissance are better documented than the life of Josquin.

Josquin wrote both sacred and secular music, and in all the significant vocal forms of the age, including masses, motets, chansons, and frottole. During the sixteenth century he was praised both for his supreme melodic gift as well as his use of ingenious technical devices. In modern times scholars have attempted to ascertain the basic details of his biography, and have also tried to define the key characteristics of his style in order to correct misattributions, a task which has proven difficult because of his inventiveness and refusal to repeat himself. Josquin liked to solve compositional problems different ways in successive compositions, rather as did Stravinsky more than 400 years later. Sometimes he wrote in an austere style devoid of ornament, and other times he wrote music requiring considerable virtuosity. Heinrich Glarean wrote in 1547 that Josquin was not only a "magnificent virtuoso" (the Latin can be translated also as "show-off") but capable of being a "mocker", using satire effectively. While the focus of scholarship in recent years has been to remove music from the "Josquin canon", including some of his most famous pieces, and reattribute it to other contemporaries of his, the music which remains still represents some of the most famous and enduring music of the Renaissance.

His life

Birth and early career

Little is known for certain of his early life. Much is inferential and speculative, though numerous clues have emerged from his works and the writings of contemporary composers, theorists, and writers of the next several generations. Josquin was born in the area controlled by the Dukes of Burgundy, and was possibly born either in Hainaut (modern-day Belgium), or immediately across the border in modern-day France, since several times in his life he was classified legally as a Frenchman (for instance, when he made his will). Josquin was long mistaken for a man with a similar name, Josquin de Kessalia, born around the year 1440, who sang in Milan from 1459 to 1474, dying in 1498. More recent scholarship has shown that Josquin des Prez was born around 1450 or a few years later, and did not go to Italy until the early 1480s.

Around 1466, perhaps on the death of his father, Josquin was named by his uncle and aunt, Gilles Lebloitte dit Desprez and Jacque Banestonne, as their heir. Their will gives Josquin's actual surname as Lebloitte. According to Matthews and Merkley, "des Prez" was a nickname.

According to a 17th century account by Claude Hémeré, who used the records of the collegiate church of Saint-Quentin, Josquin became a choirboy there, probably around 1460, and was in charge of its music. He may have studied counterpoint under Ockeghem, whom he greatly admired throughout his life: this is suggested both by the testimony of Gioseffo Zarlino and Lodovico Zacconi, writing later in the 16th century, and by Josquin's eloquent lament on the death of Ockeghem in 1497, Nymphes des bois/Requiem aeternam, based on the poem by Jean Molinet. All records from Saint-Quentin were destroyed in 1669; however the cathedral there was a center of music-making for the entire area, and in addition was an important center of royal patronage. Both Jean Mouton and Loyset Compère were buried there, and it is certainly possible that Josquin acquired his later connections with the French royal chapel through early experiences at Saint-Quentin.

The first definite record of his employment is dated April 19, 1477, and it shows that he was a singer at the chapel of René, Duke of Anjou, in Aix-en-Provence. He remained there at least until 1478. No certain records of his movements exist for the period from March 1478 until 1483, but if he remained in the employ of René he would have transferred to Paris in 1481 along with the rest of the chapel. One of Josquin's early motets, Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo, suggests a direct connection with Louis XI, who was king during this time. In 1483 Josquin returned to Condé to claim his inheritance from his aunt and uncle, who may have been killed by the army of Louis XI in May 1478, when they besieged the town, locked the population into the church, and burned them alive.

Milan

The period of 1480 to 1482 has puzzled biographers: some contradictory evidence exists, suggesting either that Josquin was still in France, or was already in the service of the Sforza family, specifically with Ascanio Sforza, who had been banished from Milan and resided temporarily in Ferrara or Naples. Residence in Ferrara in the early 1480s could explain the Missa Hercules dux Ferrariae, composed for Ercole d'Este, but which stylistically does not fit with the usual date of 1503-4 when Josquin was known to be in Ferrara. Alternatively it has been suggested that Josquin spent some of that time in Hungary, based on a mid 16th-century Roman document describing the Hungarian court in those years, and including Josquin as one of the musicians present.

In either 1483 or 1484 Josquin is known to have been in the service of the Sforza family in Milan. While in their employ, he made one or more trips to Rome, and possibly also to Paris; while in Milan he made the acquaintance of Franchinus Gaffurius, who was maestro di cappella of the cathedral there. He was in Milan again in 1489, after a possible period of travel; but he left that year.

Rome

From 1489 to 1495 Josquin was a member of the papal choir, first under Pope Innocent VIII, and later under the Borgia pope Alexander VI. He may have gone there as part of a singer exchange with Gaspar van Weerbeke, who went back to Milan at the same time. While there, he may have been the one who carved his name into the wall of the Sistine Chapel; a "JOSQUINJ" was recently revealed by workers restoring the chapel. Since it was traditional for singers to carve their names into the walls, and hundreds of names were inscribed there during the period from the 15th to the 18th centuries, it is considered highly likely that the graffiti is by Josquin – and if so, it would be his only surviving autograph. ,

Josquin's mature style evolved during this period; as in Milan he had absorbed the influence of light Italian secular music, in Rome he refined his techniques of sacred music. Several of his motets have been dated to the years he spent at the papal chapel.

Departure from Rome; France

Around 1498 Josquin most likely re-entered the service of the Sforza family, on the evidence of a pair of letters between the Gonzaga and Sforza families. He probably did not stay in Milan long, for in 1499 Louis XII captured Milan in his invasion of northern Italy and imprisoned Josquin's former employers. Around this time Josquin most likely returned to France, although documented details of his career around the turn of the century are lacking. Prior to departing Italy he most likely wrote one of his most famous secular compositions, the frottola El grillo, as well as In te Domine speravi, based on Psalm 30. The latter composition may have been a veiled reference to the religious reformer Girolamo Savonarola, who had been burned at the stake in Florence in 1498, and for whom Josquin seems to have had a special reverence; the text was the monk's favorite psalm, a meditation on which he left incomplete in prison prior to his execution.

Some of Josquin's compositions, such as the instrumental Vive le roy, have been tentatively dated to the period around 1500 when he was in France. A motet, Memor esto verbi tui servo tuo ("Remember your promise to your servant"), was, according to Heinrich Glarean, writing in the Dodecachordon of 1547, composed as a gentle reminder to the king to keep his promise of a benefice to Josquin, which he had forgotten to keep. According to Glarean's story, it worked: the court applauded, and the king gave Josquin his benefice.

Ferrara

Josquin probably remained in the service of Louis XII until 1503, when Duke Ercole I of Ferrara hired him for the chapel there. One of the rare mentions of Josquin's personality survives from this time. Prior to hiring Josquin, one of Duke Ercole's assistants recommended that he hire Heinrich Isaac instead, since Isaac was easier to get along with, more companionable, was more willing to compose on demand, and would cost less. Ercole, however, chose Josquin.

While in Ferrara, Josquin wrote some of his most famous compositions, including the austere, Savonarola-influenced Miserere, which became one of the most widely-distributed motets of the 16th century; the utterly contrasting, virtuoso motet Virgo Salutiferi; and possibly the Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae, which is written on a cantus firmus derived from the musical letters in the Duke's name, a technique known as soggetto cavato.

Josquin did not stay in Ferrara long. An outbreak of the plague in the summer of 1503 prompted the evacuation of the Duke and his family, as well as two thirds of the citizens, and Josquin left by April of the next year, possibly also to escape the plague. His replacement, Jacob Obrecht, died of the plague in the summer of 1505, to be replaced by Antoine Brumel in 1506, who stayed until the disbanding of the chapel in 1510.

Retirement to Condé

Josquin went directly from Ferrara to his home region of Condé, southeast of Lille on the present-day border between Belgium and France, becoming provost of the collegiate church of Notre-Dame on May 3, 1504, a large musical establishment that he headed for the rest of his life. While the chapter at Bourges Cathedral asked him to become master of the choirboys there in 1508, it is not known how he responded, and there is no record of his having been employed there; most scholars presume he remained in Condé.

During the last two decades of his life, Josquin's fame spread abroad along with his music. The newly-developed technology of printing made wide dissemination of his music possible, and Josquin was the favorite of the first printers: one of Petrucci's first publications, and the earliest surviving complete collections of music by a single composer, was a book of Josquin's masses which he printed in Venice in 1502.

On his death-bed Josquin asked that he be listed on the rolls as a foreigner, so that his property would not pass to the Lords and Ladies of Condé. This bit of evidence has been used to show that he was French by birth. Additionally, he left an endowment for the performance of his late motet, Pater noster/Ave Maria, at all general processions in the town when they passed in front of his house, stopping to place a wafer on the marketplace altar to the Holy Virgin. Pater noster may have been his last work.

Works and influence

Josquin dominated the musical world of his time, not only on account of his learning, skill, and originality, but because of his singular ability to bring together the many streams of contemporary musical practice. He possessed a vivid conception of the meaning and dramatic possibilities of the sacred texts, as well as polyphonic dexterity and supreme melodic skill. During his lifetime he acquired immense popularity and fame, and was much in demand. Duke Ercole I sent an (undated) letter to his secretary with the interesting comment "It may be true that Josquin is a better composer, ...but Isaac is better able to get along with his colleagues." His fame lasted long after his death; Zarlino, writing in the 1580s, was still using examples from Josquin in his treatises on composition; and his fame was only eclipsed after the beginning of the Baroque era, with the decline of the polyphonic style.

Josquin's fame was overshadowed by Palestrina and his school until the 20th century, but his reputation has grown steadily for the last hundred years, and Josquin's music is often sung and recorded today. A possible reason for his current popularity is that his music contains, to many listeners, a direct emotional appeal often seen to be lacking in the austere, impersonal, but technically perfect music of Palestrina. The 19th-century trend in musicology was to consider early music as moving from primitive forms to ever increasing perfection, and thus venerated Palestrina as the peak of development of polyphony; contemporary musicology tends to consider changes in style not as changes towards or away from perfection but as trends of adaptation and influence; as such Josquin is seen as someone who simultaneously brought together most of the contemporary trends, innovated significantly, and was also able to express intense emotion with economy of means.

Thirty-two masses are attributed to Josquin, seventeen of which were printed by Petrucci (1466-1539) in Fossombrone and Venice in 1505. The masses printed by Petrucci are deemed genuine, but at least some of the others, some preserved in manuscript in the archives of the papal choir in Rome and in the libraries of Munich, Vienna, Basle, Berlin, the Ratisbon cathedral, and Cambrai, are probably spurious. Among the finest of Josquin's masses are the Missa Ave Maris Stella and the Missa Pange Lingua. Motets by Josquin were published by Petrucci, Pierre Attaignant (1533), Tylman Susato (1544), and by Le Roy and Ballard (1555). Numerous fragments and shorter works are reproduced in the historical works of Forkel, Burney, Hawkins, Busby, and in Choron's collection.

In addition to the sacred works, Josquin wrote numerous chansons, some of which became very popular, and were circulated throughout Europe; many of them are sung regularly by a cappella vocal groups today.

Audio

• Listen to free recordings of songs from Umeå Akademiska Kör.

Works list

Masses

1. Missa Ave maris stella (Rome, 1486-1495);
2. Missa De beata virgine;
3. Missa Di dadi (=N'auray je jamais);
4. Missa Faisant regretz;
5. Missa Fortuna desperata;
6. Missa Gaudeamus;
7. Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae (Ferrara, possibly early 1480s, but traditionally assigned to 1503/04);
8. Missa La sol fa re mi;
9. Missa L'ami baudichon;
10. Missa L'homme armé sexti toni;
11. Missa L'homme armé super voces musicales;
12. Missa Malheur me bat;
13. Missa Mater patris;
14. Missa Pange lingua (Condé, around 1514);
15. Missa Sine nomine;

Doubtful works:

1. Missa Ad fugam;
2. Missa Da pacem
3. Missa D'ung aultre amer (Mailand, 1483/85);
4. Missa Une Mousse de biscaya;

Mass fragments

1. Credo Chascun me crie (= Des rouges nez);
2. Credo De tous biens playne;
3. Credo Vilayge (II);
4. Credo [Quarti toni] (canonic)
5. Gloria De beata virgine;
6. Sanctus De passione;
7. Sanctus D'ung aultre amer.

Doubtful:

1. Credo Vilayge (I);
2. Credo La belle se siet (probably Robert de Févin)

Motets

1. Absolon, fili mi (4vv) (attribution has been challenged; possibly Pierre de la Rue)
2. Absolve, quaesumus, Domine/Requiem aeternam (6vv) (attribution has been challenged);
3. Alma redemptoris mater;
4. Alma redemptoris mater / Ave regina caelorum;
5. Ave Maria, gratia plena ... benedicta tu (4vv);
6. Ave Maria, gratia plena ... Virgo serena (Mailand 1484/85);
7. Ave munda spes, Maria (not in first complete works edition);
8. Ave nobilissima creatura;
9. Ave verum corpus natum;
10. Benedicta es, caelorum regina;
11. De profundis clamavi (4vv) (probably middle-period composition);
12. De profundis clamavi (5vv) (late composition);
13. Domine exaudi orationem meam;
14. Domine, ne in fuore tuo (4vv);
15. Domine, non secundum peccata nostra (2-4vv; for Rome);
16. Ecce, tu pulchra es, amica mea;
17. Factum est autem;
18. Gaude virgo, mater Christi;
19. Homo quidam fecit cenam magnam;
20. Honor, decus, imperium;
21. Huc me sydereo descendere jussit Olympo (5vv);
22. Illibata Dei virgo nutrix;
23. In exitu Israel de Aegypto;
24. In illo tempore assumpsit Jesus doudecim disciplus;
25. Iniquos odio habui (4vv, only tenor part survives);
26. In principio erat Verbum;
27. Inviolata, integra et casta es, Maria;
28. Jubilate Deo omnis terra;
29. Liber generationis Jesu Christi;
30. Magnificat quarti toni (attributed to Josquin on stylistic grounds);
31. Magnificat terii toni (attributed to Josquin on stylistic grounds);
32. Memor esto verbi tui;
33. Miserere mei Deus (Ferrara, 1503);
34. Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo (Frankreich, 1480/83);
35. Missus est Gabriel angelus ad Mariam Virginem;
36. Mittit ad virginem;
37. Monstra te esse matrem;
38. O admirabile commercium (part of a 5-motet cycle);
39. O bone et dulcissime Jesu;
40. O Domine Jesu Christe (part of a Passion setting in 5 sections);
41. O virgo prudentissima;
42. O virgo virginum;
43. Pater noster, qui es in caelis (Condé, 1505-1521);
44. Planxit autem David;
45. Praeter rerum seriem;
46. Qui edunt me adhuc;
47. Qui habitat in adiutorio altissimi;
48. Qui velatus facie fuisti (part of a Passion setting in 6 sections);
49. Salve regina (4vv);
50. Salve regina (5vv, 1502);
51. Stabat Mater;
52. Tu lumen, tu splendor;
53. Tu solus qui facus mirabilia;
54. Usquequo Domine oblivisceris me (attrib on stylistic grounds; only part survives);
55. Ut Phoebi radiis;
56. Veni, sancte spiritus (also attrib to Forestier);
57. Victimae paschali laudes;
58. Virgo prudentissima;
59. Virgo salutiferi (Ferrara, 1504/05);
60. Vultum tuum deprecabuntur (7-part Passion cycle) (1480s).

Chansons

1. A la mort / Monstra te esse matrem;
2. A l'heure que je vous;
3. A l'ombre d'ung buissonet, au matinet (3vv);
4. Adieu mes amours;
5. Adieu mes amours (6vv or 7vv);
6. Baisé moy, ma doulce amye (4vv);
7. Belle, pour l'amour de vous;
8. Bergerette savoyenne;
9. Ce povre mendiant / Pauper sum ego;
10. Cela sans plus;
11. Comment peult haver joye;
12. Cueur langoreulx;
13. De tous biens plaine (3vv);
14. De tous biens plaine (4vv);
15. Douleur me bat;
16. Du mien amant;
17. Dulces exuviae;
18. En l'ombre d'ung buissonet tout, au long (3vv);
19. En l'ombre d'ung buissonet tout, au long (4vv);
20. Entré je suis en grant pensée (3vv);
21. Entré je suis en grant pensée (4vv);
22. Fama malum;
23. Faulte d'argent;
24. Fors seulement (only one of six voice parts survives);
25. Fortuna d'un gran tempo;
26. Helas madame;
27. Ile fantazies de Joskin;
28. In te Domine speravi per trovar pietà;
29. Incessament livré suis à martire;
30. Je me complains;
31. Je n'ose plus;
32. Je ris et si ay larme;
33. Je sey bien dire;
34. La belle se siet;
35. La Bernardina;
36. La plus de plus;
37. Le villain [jaloux];
38. Ma bouche rit et mon cueur pleure;
39. Mille Regretz (4 voices);
40. Mon mary m'a diffamée;
41. N'esse pas ung grant desplaisir;
42. Nymphes des bois (written for the death of Johannes Ockeghem);
43. Nymphes, nappés / Circumdederunt me;
44. Parfons regretz;
45. Petite camusette;
46. Plaine de dueil;
47. Plus n'estes ma maistresse;
48. Plus nulz regretz;
49. Plusieurs regretz;
50. Pour souhaitter;
51. Quant je vous voye;
52. Que vous madame / In pace in idipsum;
53. Qui belles amours a
54. Recordans de my signora;
55. Regretz sans fin;
56. Scaramella va alla guerra;
57. Se congié prens;
58. Si j'ay perdu mon amy (3vv);
59. Si j'ay perdu mon amy (4vv);
60. Tant vous aimme Bergeronette;
61. Tenz moy en voz bras;
62. Una mousse de Biscaye;
63. Vive le roy (instrumental piece, written for Louis XII);
64. Vous l'arez, s'il vous plaist;
65. Vous ne l'arez pas;
66. textless (4vv).

Frottole

1. El Grillo

References and further reading

• Richard Sherr, ed., The Josquin Companion. Oxford, Oxford Univ. Press, 2000. ISBN 0-19-816335-5
• Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0-393-09530-4
• Gustave Reese (biography) and Jeremy Noble (works), "Josquin Desprez," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
• Patrick Macey: "Josquin des Prez", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed October 8, 2006), (subscription access)
• Patrick Macey, Bonfire Songs: Savonarola's Musical Legacy. Oxford, Clarendon Press. 1998. ISBN 0-19-816669-9
• Harold Gleason and Warren Becker, Music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance (Music Literature Outlines Series I). Bloomington, Indiana. Frangipani Press, 1986. ISBN 0-89917-034-X
• Ross W. Duffin (editor), A Josquin Anthology. Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-19-353218-2
• K. Pietschmann : "Ein Graffito von Josquin Desprez auf der Cantoria der Sixtinischen Kapelle", Die Musikforschung, 1999.
• Proceedings of the International Josquin Symposium. Utrecht, Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis. 1986. ISBN 90-6375-148-6

External links

• Josquin biography and discography
• Free scores by Josquin Des Prez in the Werner Icking Music Archive
• Listen to free recordings of songs from Umeå Akademiska Kör.

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