Josquin (and Jacquet)
VOICES & INSTRUMENTS
Tutor: Andrew Griffiths
Location: St Columba’s RC Church, Chester
Reviewer: Hugh Cherry
Writing this, the morning after this workshop, I still have one of the musical phrases from Josquin’s Miserere running through my head. It is a simple downwards minor scale of an octave and occurs several times with various modifications. Wondering why such a simple phrase would stick so strongly in my head I concluded it was all about context – the fact that these pieces are constructed with great sophistication, relating all the different voices and sections of music together, so when I think of that little phrase it brings back the whole texture of the piece.
This workshop (given by Andrew Griffiths) was a fascinating insight into one of western music’s great historical figures – Josquin des Prez (c.1450-1521). Andrew is a member of Stile Antico, an internationally famous group of singers specialising in the early repertoire in which Josquin is a major figure. However, as Andrew noted, Josquin’s music is not performed as much as its beauty and historical significance demands. He was a pivotal figure leading into the late renaissance style of Palestrina, Victoria, Byrd et.al., and so was working in an earlier and less familiar style to modern ears. A consequence of this is that his style is less overtly expressive than late renaissance composers such as Palestrina and Byrd, and of course, much less dramatic than early baroque composers such as Monteverdi. Josquin was the first major western composer whose fame survived him, with his music widely circulated for many years after his death in 1521. This was primarily caused by his extraordinary distinction as a composer, but enormously aided by the printing of music which followed the appearance of the Gutenberg bible in 1455, with the very first music printing 10 years later. In 1501 Ottaviano Petrucci started large scale music printing in Venice, including some of Josquin’s music, and even produced a volume dedicated entirely to Josquin’s masses a year later. He was so famous that many composers labelled their works as his, which led Martin Luther to comment that now he was dead he was producing more compositions than when he was alive. The same Martin Luther complimented him by declaring that other composers were ruled by the notes, but for Josquin, the master of the notes, “They do as he tells them”.
The basis of this workshop was a publication by Jacquet of Mantua in 1554 of a motet he composed in memory of Josquin, entitled Dum vastos Adriae fluctus, a rather strange text about the turbulence of the Adriatic and the calming effect of Josquin’s music which contains quotes from five of Josquin’s motets woven into the music. Andrew raised the question “Why these 5 motets?” and the answer seems to be that these were regarded as the peak of Josquin’s skill by his following composers. All the motets are in 5 or 6 parts, despite the fact that Josquin only appears to have written 15 motets in more than 4 parts, with over 100 surviving in 4 parts. Also, a major part of his output – his 18 masses – is ignored. So, given the approval of these five pieces by his successors they seem a good basis for a workshop to appreciate his great qualities as a composer. We worked on three of them in the morning, and two of them after lunch, ending with Jacquet’s tribute piece. This proved a very satisfying, if exhausting, day.
With so much music to cover there was no time to look at any of the pieces in great detail, however what was evident from all of them was Josquin’s skill at creating complex structures involving canons, ostinato figures, use of imitation and a cantus firmus (a fixed part around which the other parts have to weave their lines) together with a wonderful sense of melody and rhythm. He seemed to revel in the challenge of constraining himself. For example, in the Salve Regina the second part sings a single four breve phrase (to the word ‘Salve’) throughout, each recitation followed by a 3 breve rest and then the phrase repeated a fourth lower and a further 3 breve rest. You might think this would make it impossible to produce a creative and satisfying musical work, but he revels in the challenge. Andrew mentioned that he sings that line when Stile Antico performs it, and he takes great pleasure in singing it entirely from memory, listening to the other parts wrap themselves round his foundation line. This was a particularly influential work in Spain where Victoria produced an eight part Salve Regina in evident homage.
Another example of Josquin’s love of complexity comes in the motet Inviolata, integra et casta es another hymn to the virgin Mary. Here the constraint lies in the use of a canon at the fifth between the 4 th and 2 nd parts. The entries are separated by 3 longs in the first section, by 2 in the second section, and by just 1 in the final section so the music gathers momentum and density of texture as it progresses. Præter rerum seriem is the only 6 part piece in this group of five motets, and is an immensely festive Christmas motet. It has two equal bass parts which dance around each other throughout the piece, frequently joined by the upper parts. The cantus firmus starts in the tenor part and then is repeated in the soprano – in the second half it reappears in half note lengths, and the final section moves into triple time, with a very short return to duple time for the last few bars. Imitation is a strong feature, of course, of Josquin’s style and this motet is perhaps a rather extreme example of it, with little phrases, some derived from the cantus firmus, being tossed about between the parts.
Stabat mater was a well known poem, but when Josquin was writing did not have a musical basis, so he used the tenor of a 3 part piece by Binchois – Comme femme desconfortée – but quadrupled its note lengths. In the workshop Andrew sung us the Binchois piece, accompanied by two renaissance viols, which gave us a useful reference point when listening to the slow moving cantus firmus. (As well as the 22 singers we had two viols and three low recorders that gave us some much needed support). The slow notes give a very stable foundation but major compositional challenges as the harmony therefore has to move very slowly and it is hard to keep interest. To help, Josquin alternates passages of almost chordal style (to bring out the text) with the more usual close imitation (to provide rhythmic interest). In the closing section the words ‘Threatened by flames and fire’ are expressed by mixed triple and duple rhythm, but at the very end peace returns as the parts come together for the conclusion.
Miserere mei Deus is the piece I mentioned at the beginning of these workshop notes and is the longest of the 5 motets – lasting of the order of a quarter of an hour. This is based on Psalm 50 and the first device Josquin uses here is a kind of ostinato with the words ‘Miserere mei Deus’ repeated after each of the 19 verses of the psalm. In fact, Josquin adds two verses, apparently to reach the magic number of 21. This repetition is remarkably effective and builds the tension through the piece until the very last phrase where all the parts come together. The second device he uses is the repetition in the tenor of the same phrase. This moves down one step at each repetition (separated by some rests) in the first section, and back up a step at a time in the second section, each time moving over a full octave. In the last section the tenor starts where it finished in the second section and moves down step by step just a fifth to the final statement in the last bars of the piece. In addition the middle section tenor notes are half the length of those in the first and third sections. In between all this structure there are frequent duets between pairs of parts that Andrew recommended to us as classic examples of how to write 2 part counterpoint. This is one of the few motets that can be dated, as it was written while Josquin was in the service of Duke Hercule d’Este in Ferrara in 1503-4. It is derived in some respects from the meditation Savonarola wrote on Psalm 50 while he was imprisoned before being burnt at the stake in 1498. In Savonarola’s meditation the words ‘Miserere mei Deus’ appear many times in bold text, just like the emphatic repetition in the Josquin piece.
The final piece we sang was the tribute motet by Jacquet of Mantua and it was interesting to hear fragments of the works we had just studied appearing briefly in its middle section. But for me I shall stick with the Josquin pieces.
Hopefully the above gives a taste of the complexity of these works and why they were so highly regarded by his peers. In all cases the imagination and flexibility with which Josquin tackles the compositional problems involved in using these structures result in beautifully free flowing and expressive music which is a delight to hear, and, as we discovered, to perform. In no way does the music sound anything other than entirely natural and often the underlying logic is quite inaudible, at least to the untrained ear.
Many thanks to Andrew Griffiths for introducing us to these works and enabling us to sing through them. It was a very informative day – in some ways very hard work, but very rewarding.
Hugh Cherry
First published in November 2021 Newsletter
