This album is constructed around musical tributes to Josquin Desprez, using his motets Praeter rerum seriem and Benedicta es, caelorum Regina as linking threads.
Cultural Impact
Josquin Desprez, a Franco-Flemish composer, was as highly acclaimed in the 16th century as Beethoven was in the 19th century.
Composition History
Victor Cordero's Premier chant contre le cours des choses, an homage to Josquin Desprez, was commissioned and premiered by Ensemble La Sestina in 2010.
Compositional Technique
The motet Dum vastos Adriae by Jacquet of Mantua is a unique homage to Josquin, quoting at least five textual and musical passages from five of Josquin's motets.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Music theorists in the 16th century regarded Josquin Desprez as an unsurpassable model, with Heinrich Glarean comparing him to Virgil.
Compositional Technique
Josquin's motet Praeter rerum seriem uses the ancient technique of isorhythm, where the plainchant melody migrates between the tenor and cantus voices.
Compositional Technique
Orlando di Lasso's Magnificat Praeter rerum seriem, based on Josquin's motet, is longer than the original and features denser polyphonic textures, typical of Lasso's learned style.
You might also enjoy...
Plorer, gemir, crier... Hommage à la "voix d'or" de Johannes Ockeghem
Lambert de Sayve: Ad Vesperas
Lassus: The Alchemist (Vol. 1)
Renaissance Masterpieces
Gombert: Magnificat I / Salve Regina / Credo / Tulerunt Dominum
Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks, Vol. 1
Mary in the Land of Snow and Light
Spain and the New World - Renaissance music from Aragon and Mexico
