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102-461: The four founding members were: The four members of the second iteration of the group were: The principal members are or were members of the Tallis Scholars , Gabrieli Consort or Taverner Consort . The Consort has also performed and recorded with the jazz quartet Perfect Houseplants . For Metronome, DG Archiv, Harmonia Mundi USA and Hyperion. This article about a classical ensemble

204-433: A contrapuntal texture, giving it an inner unity. 2) The prominent use of imitative polyphony , equally between voices, which "combines a rational and homogeneous integration of the musical space with a self-renewing rhythmic impetus". 3) A focus on the text, with the music serving to emphasize its meaning, an early form of word painting . The musicologist Jeremy Noble concludes that these innovations demonstrate

306-498: A lamentation on the death of Ockeghem, Nymphes des bois . There is no concrete evidence for this tutorship, and later commentators may only have meant that Josquin "learnt from the older composer's example". Josquin musically quoted Ockeghem several times, most directly in his double motet Alma Redemptoris mater/Ave regina caelorum , which shares an opening line with Ockeghem's motet Alma Redemptoris mater . Josquin could have been associated with Cambrai Cathedral , as there

408-550: A vin d'honneur ( lit.   ' wine of honor ' ) record, and he may have returned to Rome soon after. From then to 1498 there is no firm evidence for his activities; Fallows suggests he stayed in Cambrai for these four years, citing Johannes Manlius's 1562 book Locorum communium collectanea , which associates Josquin with Cambrai's musical establishment. This assertion would fit with Josquin's possible youthful connections in Cambrai and later vin d'honneur there. Manlius cites

510-600: A "superb a cappella ensemble founded and conducted by Peter Phillips". During their 40 years of concert performances, the group has received many accolades and awards. In 1987, the Gramophone magazine awarded The Tallis Scholars its Record of the Year , and in 1989 the French magazine Diapason added its Diapason d'Or de l'Année award. In 1991 and 2004, the Gramophone magazine gave The Tallis Scholars its Early Music Award . In 2012,

612-513: A canon in the "Benedictus"—is based on a chanson by Robert Morton and has the rhythmic augmentation of the borrowed tenor part indicated by dice faces, which are printed next to the staff. Canon can also be found in the "Osanna" of the Missa Faisant regretz which is based on Walter Frye 's Tout a par moy . The Missa Fortuna desperata is based on the popular three-voice Italian song Fortuna desperata . In this mass, Josquin used each of

714-729: A canonry at the Notre-Dame de Paris ; Saint Omer, Cambrai; a parish in the gift of Saint-Ghislain Abbey ; the Basse-Yttre parish church; two parishes near Frasnes, Hainaut; and Saint-Géry, Cambrai. Surviving papal letters indicate that some of these claims were approved, but he does not appear to have taken up any of the canonries. The Sistine Chapel's monthly payment records give the best record of Josquin's career, but all papal chapel records from April 1494 to November 1500 are lost, making it unknown when he left Rome. After restorations from 1997 to 1998,

816-525: A deed indicating he did not intend to stay there for long. Ercole is known to have met with Josquin's former employer Louis XII throughout 1499 to 1502, and these meetings may have led to his service for the Duke. Two letters survive explaining the circumstances of his arrival, both from courtiers who scouted musical talent in the service of Ercole. The first of these was from Girolamo da Sestola (nicknamed "Coglia") to Ercole, explaining: "My lord, I believe that there

918-572: A different one) in November 1508. The Josquin mentioned may be the Joskin who traveled to present chansons to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in Brussels or Mechelen . In his later years Josquin composed many of his most admired works. They include the masses Missa de Beata Virgine and Missa Pange lingua ; the motets Benedicta es , Inviolata , Pater noster–Ave Maria and Praeter rerum seriem ; and

1020-505: A hymn by Thomas Aquinas for the Vespers of Corpus Christi . It was probably the last mass Josquin composed. This mass is an extended fantasia on the tune, using the melody in all voices and all parts of the mass, in elaborate and ever-changing polyphony. One of the high points of the mass is the et incarnatus est section of the Credo, where the texture becomes homophonic, and the tune appears in

1122-589: A jab at him. Scholars have proposed different origins for the piece; Lowinsky has connected it to the court of Ascanio Sforza, and the art historian Dawson Kiang connected it to the Turkish prince Cem Sultan 's promise to the pope to overthrow his brother Bayezid II . Josquin's motets are his most celebrated and influential works. Their style varies considerably, but can generally be divided into homophonic settings with block chords and syllabic text declamation; ornate—and often imitative—contrapuntal fantasias in which

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1224-570: A king who he suspected had caused the deaths of his aunt and uncle. By then, the sacred music of Milan Cathedral had a reputation for excellence. Josquin was employed by the House of Sforza , and on 20 June 1484 came into the service of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza. Josquin's renown as a composer, a strong recommendation from a patron of fellow musician, or the use of his wealth, might have helped him get this prestigious and long-term position. While working for Ascanio, on 19 August Josquin successfully requested

1326-475: A later publication, Wegman notes the largely unprecedented nature of such a position and warns "yet of course the letter could equally well be seen to reflect the attitudes and expectations of its recipient, Ercole d'Este". While in Ferrara, Josquin wrote some of his most famous compositions, including the austere, Savonarola-influenced Miserere mei, Deus , which became one of the most widely distributed motets of

1428-596: A musician, would have made such a mistake, but concedes that it is possible. The court of Matthias had a high standard of music and employed numerous musicians, many of them from Italy. Though Fallows asserts that Josquin's presence in the Hungarian king's service is likely, the evidence is circumstantial, and no original documents survive to confirm the claim. Josquin was in Milan again in January 1489, probably until early May, and met

1530-712: A performance in London's National Gallery . At the millennium, they performed in New York City with Paul McCartney. For the 2013-2014 40th-anniversary concert series, the group announced a world tour to include the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, starting the tour with a concert in St Paul's Cathedral in London for 2000 people. Since March 1980, The Tallis Scholars has recorded on their own label, Gimell Records, established by Peter Phillips and Steve Smith. The label

1632-529: A previously rejected dispensation to be rector at the parish church Saint Aubin without having been ordained a priest. Joshua Rifkin dates the well-known motet Ave Maria ... Virgo serena to this time, c.  1485 . Josquin went to Rome with Ascanio in July 1484 for a year, and may have gone to Paris for a litigation suit involving the benefice in Saint Aubin during the later 1480s. Around this time

1734-505: A principal bass at The Royal Opera , Covent Garden . The Tallis Scholars ensemble contributed to a greater recognition of the choral works of Tallis , Palestrina , Byrd , Tye , and de Victoria , and other European Renaissance sacred and secular composers, while performing over 1800 concerts around the world and releasing 50 discs. The singers have paved the way for many younger groups such as The Sixteen , The Clerks , The Cardinall's Musick , The Binchois Consort , Trinity Baroque ,

1836-595: A repertoire from over 150 years of music history (approximately the years 1450–1600), with some excursions into later repertoire. In 2010, Gimell released its 50th recording, de Victoria's Lamentations of Jeremiah . Other notable releases included Gramophone magazine's Record of the Year Award winning disc of Josquin 's Missa Pange lingua and Missa La sol fa re mi . In 2011, the ensemble's recording of Allegri's Miserere mei, Deus in Merton College, Oxford in 1980

1938-529: A servant Juschino who delivered the hunting dogs to the Gonzagas. Circumstantial evidence suggests Juschino may have been Josquin des Prez, but he is not known to have been qualified for such a task, and it would be unusual to refer to him as a servant rather than a musician or singer. Josquin probably did not stay in Milan long, since his former employers were captured during Louis XII's 1499 invasion . Before he left, he most likely wrote two secular compositions,

2040-529: A setting of Psalm 130 , seems to have been written for a royal funeral, perhaps that of Louis XII, Anne of Brittany or Philip I of Castile . Josquin arrived in Ferrara by 30 May 1503, to serve Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara , an arts patron who had been trying for many years to replace the composer and choirmaster Johannes Martini , who had recently died. No extant documents record Josquin as having worked in Ferrara before, though his earlier associations with Ercole suggest prior employment there; he signed

2142-487: A successful academic conference , caused his reevaluation as a central figure in Renaissance music. This has led to controversy over whether he has been unrealistically elevated over his contemporaries, particularly in light of over a hundred attributions now considered dubious. He continues to draw interest in the 21st century and his music is frequently recorded, central in the repertoire of early music vocal ensembles , and

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2244-516: A three-voice motet by Antoine Brumel , is probably the earliest true parody mass by any composer, as it no longer contains any hint of a cantus firmus . Missa D'ung aultre amer is based on a popular chanson of the same name by Ockeghem, and is one of Josquin's shortest masses. A solmization mass is a polyphonic mass which uses notes drawn from a word or phrase. The style is first described by Zarlino in 1558, who called it soggetto cavato , from soggetto cavato dalle parole , meaning "carved out of

2346-534: A workforce which included a dean, a treasurer, 25 canons, 18 chaplains, 16 vicars, 6 choir-boys and other priests. This was an appealing place for his old age: it was near his birthplace, had a renowned choir and was the leading musical establishment in Hainaut, besides St. Vincent at Soignies and Cambrai Cathedral. Very few records of his activity survive from this time; he bought a house in September 1504, and sold it (or

2448-667: A year, in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. In April 1994, they sang Allegri's Miserere mei, Deus in the Vatican's newly restored Sistine Chapel , and in February 1994, they performed in Rome's Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore to commemorate Palestrina 's 400th anniversary. In 1999, The Tallis Singers toured China, giving two concerts in Beijing. In 1998, they marked their 25th anniversary with

2550-399: Is D–C–D–C–D–F–E–D in modern nomenclature. The Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae remains the best known work to use this device and was published by Petrucci in 1505, relatively soon after its composition. Taruskin notes that the use of Ercole's name is Josquin's method of memorialization for his patron, akin to a portrait painting . The other Josquin mass to prominently use this technique

2652-502: Is a diminutive form of Josse, the French form of the name of a Judoc , a Breton saint of the 7th century. Josquin was a common name in Flanders and Northern France in the 15th and 16th centuries. Other documents indicate that the surname des Prez had been used by the family for at least two generations, perhaps to distinguish them from other branches of the Lebloitte family. At the time,

2754-498: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tallis Scholars The Tallis Scholars is a British professional early music vocal ensemble established in 1973. Normally consisting of two singers per part, with a core group of ten singers, they specialise in performing a cappella sacred vocal music . Peter Phillips , the founder of the group, is its conductor. The group has released over 60 discs through its own label, Gimell Records and in 2013, they were elected to

2856-480: Is a "des Prez" among the cathedral's musicians listed in Omnium bonorum plena , a motet by Compère. The motet was composed before 1474 and names many important musicians of the time, including Antoine Busnois , Johannes Tinctoris , Johannes Regis , Ockeghem and Guillaume Du Fay . The motet may refer to the singer Pasquier Desprez, but Josquin is a likelier candidate. Josquin was certainly influenced by Du Fay's music;

2958-495: Is a unique source for Josquin's personality, and the musicologist Patrick Macey interprets it as meaning he was a "difficult colleague and that he took an independent attitude towards producing music for his patrons". Edward Lowinsky connected his purportedly difficult behavior with musical talent, and used the letter as evidence that Josquin's contemporaries recognized his genius. Musicologist Rob Wegman questions whether meaningful conclusions can be drawn from such an anecdote. In

3060-477: Is based on a secular tune similar to " Three Blind Mice ". Basing a mass on such a source was an accepted procedure, as evidenced by the existence of the mass in Sistine Chapel part-books copied during the papacy of Julius II (1503–1513). Josquin's most famous cantus firmus masses are the two based on the " L'homme armé " ( lit.   ' the armed man ' ), a popular tune for mass composition throughout

3162-485: Is being referred to. L'Eau Noire river in the Ardennes has been proposed, and there was a village named Prez there, though the musicologist David Fallows contends that the complications surrounding Josquin's name make a surname connection irrelevant, and that the river is too small and too far from Condé to be a candidate. Fallows proposes a birthplace near the converging Escaut and Haine rivers at Condé, preferring

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3264-460: Is larger than that of any other composer of his period, besides perhaps Isaac and Obrecht. Establishing a chronology of his compositions is difficult; the sources in which they were published offer little evidence, and historical and contextual connections are meager. Few manuscripts of Josquin's music date from before the 16th century, due to, according to Noble, "time, war and enthusiasm (both religious and anti-religious)". Identifying earlier works

3366-429: Is more good-natured and companionable, and will compose new works more often. It is true that Josquin composes better, but he composes when he wants to and not when one wants him to, and he is asking 200 ducats in salary while Isaac will come for 120—but your lordship will decide." Around three months later, Josquin was chosen; his salary of 200 ducats was the highest ever for a ducal chapel member. The Artiganova letter

3468-422: Is neither lord nor king who will now have a better chapel than yours if your lordship sends for Josquin [...] and by having Josquin in our chapel I want to place a crown upon this chapel of ours" (14 August 1502). The second letter, from the courtier Gian de Artiganova, criticized Josquin and suggested Heinrich Isaac instead: "To me [Isaac] seems well suited to serve your lordship, more so than Josquin, because he

3570-560: Is no documentary evidence covering Josquin's education or upbringing. Fallows associates him with Goseequin de Condent, an altar boy at the collegiate church of Saint-Géry, Cambrai until mid-1466. Other scholars such as Gustave Reese relay a 17th-century account from Cardinal Richelieu 's friend Claude Hémeré, suggesting that Josquin became a choirboy with his friend Jean Mouton at the Collegiate Church of Saint-Quentin; this account has been questioned. The collegiate chapel there

3672-452: Is not a true autograph signature, the possibility that Josquin des Prez actually produced it during his stay in the papal chapel is very high", and Fallows says that "it hardly counts as an autograph, but it may be the closest we can get." Documents found since the late 20th century have shed some light on Josquin's life and works between 1494 and 1503; at some point he was ordained a priest. In August 1494 he went to Cambrai, as attested by

3774-409: Is particularly difficult, and later works only occasionally offer any more certainty. The musicologist Richard Taruskin writes that modern scholarship is "still nowhere near a wholly reliable chronology and unlikely ever to reach it", and suggests that the current tentative models "tell us more about ourselves, and the way in which we come to know what we know, than they do about Josquin". The mass

3876-485: Is spelled IOSQVIN Des PREZ. Documents from Condé, where he lived for the last years of his life, refer to him as "Maistre Josse Desprez". These include a letter written by the chapter of Notre-Dame of Condé to Margaret of Austria where he is named as "Josquin Desprez". Scholarly opinion differs on whether his surname should be written as one word (Desprez) or two (des Prez), with publications from continental Europe preferring

3978-830: Is that he had already entered the household of his future employer Ascanio Sforza in 1480. In that case, Josquin would have been with Ascanio in Ferrara and might have written his Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae at this time for Ercole d'Este. Around this period the Casanatense chansonnier was collected in Ferrara, which includes six chansons by Josquin, Adieu mes amours , En l'ombre d'ung buissonet , Et trop penser , Ile fantazies de Joskin , Que vous ma dame and Une mousque de Biscaye . Adieu mes amours and Que vous ma dame are thought to have been particularly popular, given their wide dissemination in later sources. In February 1483 Josquin returned to Condé to claim his inheritance from his aunt and uncle, who may have been killed when

4080-475: Is that he was born around 1440, based on a mistaken association with Jushinus de Kessalia, recorded in documents as "Judocus de Picardia". A reevaluation of his later career, name and family background has discredited this claim. He is now thought to have been born around 1450, and at the latest 1455, making him a "a close contemporary" of composers Loyset Compère and Heinrich Isaac , and slightly older than Jacob Obrecht . Josquin's father Gossart dit des Prez

4182-491: Is the Missa La sol fa re mi , based on the musical syllables contained in ' laisse faire moy ' ("let me take care of it"). Essentially the entire mass's content is related to this phrase, and the piece is thus something of an ostinato . The traditional story, as told by Glarean in 1547, was that an unknown aristocrat used to order suitors away with this phrase, and Josquin immediately wrote an "exceedingly elegant" mass on it as

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4284-689: Is the central rite of the Catholic Church, and polyphonic settings of the ordinary of the mass—the Kyrie , Gloria , Credo , Sanctus and Agnus Dei —increased in popularity in the 14th century. From the 15th century, composers treated it as a central genre in Western classical music in accordance with greater demand. By Josquin's time, masses were generally standardized into substantial, polyphonic five-movement works, making it difficult for composers to satisfy both liturgical and musical demands. Previous examples in

4386-550: Is uncertain, as is Josquin's authorship of the mass. No questions of authenticity cloud the Missa sine nomine , written during Josquin's final years in Condé. In contrast to the inflexibility of the canonic scheme in the Missa ad fugam , the temporal and pitch interval of the canon, along with the voices that participate in it, are varied throughout. The free voices are more fully integrated into

4488-447: The Missa ad fugam is the earlier of the two. It has a head-motif consisting of the whole first Kyrie which is repeated in the beginning of all five movements. The canon is restricted to the highest voice, and the pitch interval between the voices is fixed while the temporal interval varies between only two values; the two free voices generally do not participate in the imitation. The precise relationship of Josquin's mass to de Orto's

4590-464: The Dodecachordon of 1547, the motet Memor esto verbi tui servo tuo ("Remember thy promise unto thy servant") was composed as a gentle reminder to the king to keep his promise of a benefice to Josquin. Glarean claimed that on receiving the benefice, Josquin wrote a motet on the text Bonitatem fecisti cum servo tuo, Domine ("Lord, thou hast dealt graciously with thy servant") to show his gratitude to

4692-596: The Gabrieli Consort , and Octarium . Founded in 1999, the Boston-based early-music a cappella ensemble Blue Heron is viewed by some critics as an example of The Tallis Scholars' influence on the American early-music scene. In 2000, the group established The Tallis Scholars Summer Schools, a program providing amateur singers and promising young professionals the opportunity to be coached by Phillips and other members of

4794-571: The Gramophone Hall of Fame . In 2023, Gramophone marked the group's 50th anniversary by dedicating a special edition of its magazine to them. The group was formed in 1973 by Peter Phillips , a music student of David Wulstan and Dennis Arnold , who in 1972–1975 was an organ scholar at St John's College, Oxford . Phillips invited the members of chapel choirs from Oxford and Cambridge to form an amateur Renaissance vocal music ensemble, which turned professional after ten years of concert-giving. From

4896-584: The Marian antiphon of the same name ; it is one of his shortest masses. The late Missa de Beata Virgine paraphrases plainchants in praise of the Virgin Mary. As a Lady Mass , it is a votive mass for Saturday performance, and was his most popular mass in the 16th century. The best known of Josquin's paraphrase masses, and one of the most famous mass settings of the Renaissance, is the Missa Pange lingua , based on

4998-568: The Renaissance , he was a central figure of the Franco-Flemish School and had a profound influence on the music of 16th-century Europe. Building on the work of his predecessors Guillaume Du Fay and Johannes Ockeghem , he developed a complex style of expressive—and often imitative —movement between independent voices ( polyphony ) which informs much of his work. He further emphasized the relationship between text and music, and departed from

5100-563: The Sainte-Chapelle of Paris. Josquin's connection to Louis XI could be furthered by his early motet Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo , which may be a musical tribute for the king, since it ends with the psalm verse "In te Domine speravi, non confundar in aeternum", the line Louis commissioned Jean Bourdichon to write on 50 scrolls in the Château de Plessis-lez-Tours . A less accepted theory for Josquin's activities between 1478 and 1483

5202-447: The archbishop of Esztergom Pal Varday  [ hu ] stating that the court of Matthias included "excellent painters and musicians, among them even Josquin himself". Some scholars suggest Aleandro was repeating a false rumor, or that Varday confused Josquin des Prez for Josquin Dor or Johannes de Stokem . Fallows contends that it is unlikely that Varday, who was well-educated and

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5304-479: The cantus firmus technique in that the source material, though still monophonic, could be (by Josquin's time) highly embellished, often with ornaments. As in the cantus firmus technique, the source tune may appear in many voices of the mass. Several of Josquin's masses feature the paraphrase technique, such as the early Missa Gaudeamus , which also includes cantus firmus and canonic elements. The Missa Ave maris stella , also probably an early work, paraphrases

5406-486: The plague in 1503 prompted the evacuation of the Duke and his family, as well as two-thirds of the citizens, and Josquin left by April 1504. His replacement, Obrecht, died of the plague in mid-1505. Josquin probably moved from Ferrara to his home region of Condé-sur-l'Escaut, and became provost of the collegiate church of Notre-Dame on 3 May 1504; he may have obtained the post from Philip I's sponsorship. His role gave him political responsibility, and put him in charge of

5508-523: The "L'homme armé" song ( Faugues , Compère and Forestier ), or chant ( Fevin and La Rue 's Missae de feria ). Josquin's two canonic masses are not based on existing tunes, and so stand apart from the mainstream. They are closer to the Missa prolationum written by Ockeghem, and Missa ad fugam by de Orto , both of which use original melodies in all the voices. Josquin's two canonic masses were published in Petrucci's third book of Josquin masses in 1514;

5610-520: The 16th century. Also probably from this period was the virtuoso motet Virgo salutiferi , set to a poem by Ercole Strozzi , and O virgo prudentissima based on a poem by Poliziano . Due to its stylistic resemblance to Miserere and Virgo salutiferi , the Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae is also attributed to this time; it was previously thought to have been written in the early 1480s. Josquin did not stay in Ferrara long. An outbreak of

5712-519: The Italian song's voices as cantus firmi , varying throughout the work. A similar variation in the source material's voices is used in the Missa Malheur me bat , based on a chanson variously attributed to Martini or Abertijne Malcourt . The dating of Missa Malheur me bat remains controversial, with some scholars calling it an early composition, and others a later one. The Missa Mater Patris , based on

5814-461: The Renaissance and early Baroque music. Andrew Gant is also organist at the Chapel Royal . The Tallis Scholars has performed and recorded Russian Orthodox repertoire, including music by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Igor Stravinsky , and contemporary works by Norbert Moret , Ivan Moody , Arvo Pärt , John Tavener and Eric Whitacre . In 2013, The New York Times described The Tallis Scholars as

5916-413: The Renaissance. Though both are relatively mature compositions, they are very different. Missa L'homme armé super voces musicales , is a technical tour-de-force on the tune, containing numerous mensuration canons and contrapuntal display. Throughout the work, the melody is presented on each note of the natural hexachord: C, D, E, F, G and A. The later Missa L'homme armé sexti toni is a "fantasia on

6018-498: The army of Louis XI besieged the town in May 1478 and had the population locked and burned in a church. In the same document, the collegiate church of Condé is reported to have given vin d'honneur ( lit.   ' wine of honor ' ) to Josquin, because "as a musician who had already served two kings, he was now a distinguished visitor to the little town". Josquin hired at least 15 procurators to deal with his inheritance, suggesting he

6120-509: The chansons Mille regretz , Nimphes, nappés and Plus nulz regretz . The last of these, Plus nulz regretz , is set to a poem by Jean Lemaire de Belges that celebrates the future engagement between Charles V and Mary Tudor . In his last years Josquin's music saw European-wide dissemination through publications by the printer Ottaviano Petrucci . Josquin's compositions were given a prominent place by Petrucci, and were reissued numerous times. On his deathbed, Josquin left an endowment for

6222-534: The choir, as the composers Gaspar and Stokem had left recently and the only other choristers known to be composers were Marbrianus de Orto and Bertrandus Vaqueras. Two months after his arrival, Josquin laid claim to the first of various benefices on 18 August. Holding three unrelated benefices at once, without having residency there or needing to speak that area's language, was a special privilege that Josquin's tenure and position offered; many of his choir colleagues had also enjoyed such privileges. His claims included

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6324-606: The church was demolished amid the French Revolution . After Du Fay died in 1474, Josquin and his contemporaries lived in a musical world of frequent stylistic change, in part due to the movement of musicians between different regions of Europe. A line of musicologists credits Josquin with three primary developments: 1) The gradual departure from extensive melismatic lines, and emphasis instead on smaller motifs . These "motivic cells " were short, easily recognizable melodic fragments which passed from one voice to another in

6426-485: The curved line on the far right is read as the abbreviation for "us". Other choristers named Josquin tended to sign their name in full, whereas Josquin des Prez is known to have done so mononymously on occasion. Andrea Adami da Bolsena notes in his 1711 Osservazioni per ben regolare il coro dei cantori della Cappella Pontificia that in his time Josquin's name was visibly 'sculpted' in the Sistine Chapel's choir room. The musicologist Richard Sherr writes that "while this

6528-410: The early Renaissance tendency towards lengthy melismatic lines on a single syllable, preferring to use shorter, repeated motifs between voices. Josquin was a singer, and his compositions are mainly vocal. They include masses , motets and secular chansons . Josquin's biography has been continually revised by modern scholarship, and remains highly uncertain. Little is known of his early years; he

6630-724: The ensemble in their specialist repertoire. The program now includes three courses which take place in Oakham in the United Kingdom , Seattle in the United States , and Sydney in Australia . Various members of the group have scholarly interests in addition to their activities as professional musicians. Phillips has published a scholarly text English Sacred Music 1549–1649 . Sally Dunkley, Francis Steele, and Deborah Roberts have all worked as music editors and publishers with interests spanning

6732-521: The first performance in the Church of St. Mary Magdalen, Oxford on November 3, 1973, Phillips aimed to produce a distinctive sound, influenced by choirs he admired, in particular the renowned Clerkes of Oxenford , directed by David Wulstan. Since winning a Gramophone Award in 1987, The Tallis Scholars has been recognised as one of the world's leading ensembles specializing in Renaissance polyphony. The Tallis Scholars tour widely, performing some 70 concerts

6834-420: The first to write masses based on secular songs (a parody mass), and his Missa Se la face ay pale , dates to the decade of Josquin's birth. By the turn of the 16th century, composers were moving from quoting single voice lines, to widen their reference to all voices in the piece. This was part of the transition from the medieval cantus firmus mass, where the voice bearing the preexisting melody stood aloof from

6936-428: The former and English-language publications the latter. Modern scholarship typically refers to him as Josquin. Little is known about Josquin's early years. The specifics of his biography have been debated for centuries. The musicologist William Elders noted that "it could be called a twist of fate that neither the year, nor the place of birth of the greatest composer of the Renaissance is known". A now-outdated theory

7038-410: The genre by composers such as Du Fay and Ockeghem were widely admired and emulated. Josquin and Obrecht led an intensive development of the genre. Josquin's masses are generally less progressive than his motets—though he is credited with numerous innovations in the genre. His less radical approach may be explained by most of the masses being earlier works, or the structural and textual limitations of

7140-915: The genre. Almost all are for four voices. The Josquin Companion categorizes the composer's masses into the following styles: Josquin began his career at a time when composers started to find strict cantus firmus masses limiting. He pioneered paraphrase and parody masses, which were not well established before the 16th century. Many of his works combine the cantus firmus style with paraphrase and parody, making strict categorization problematic. Reflecting on Josquin's masses, Noble notes that "In general his instinct, at least in his mature works, seems to be to extract as much variety as possible from his given musical material, sacred or secular, by any appropriate means." Josquin's predecessors and contemporaries wrote masses based on canonic imitation. The canonic voices in these masses derive from pre-existing melodies such as

7242-422: The king, either Louis XI or Louis XII. Although such a motet survives and is mentioned with Josquin's Memor esto in many sources, Bonitatem fecisti is now attributed to Carpentras . Some of Josquin's other compositions have been tentatively dated to his French period, such as Vive le roy , and In exitu Israel , which resembles the style of other composers of the French court. The five-voice De profundis ,

7344-516: The latter since it was known for transporting coal, perhaps fitting the "Black Water" description. Other theories include a birth near Saint-Quentin, Aisne , due to his early association with the Collegiate Church of Saint-Quentin , or in the small village of Beaurevoir , which is near the Escaut, a river that may be referred to in an acrostic in his later motet Illibata Dei virgo nutrix . There

7446-445: The masses Missa de Beata Virgine and Missa Pange lingua ; the motets Benedicta es , Inviolata , Pater noster–Ave Maria and Praeter rerum seriem ; and the chansons Mille regretz , Nimphes, nappés and Plus nulz regretz . Influential both during and after his lifetime, Josquin has been described as the first Western composer to retain posthumous fame. His music was widely performed and imitated in 16th-century Europe, and

7548-681: The motet Ave Maria ... Virgo serena , and the popular chansons Adieu mes amours and Que vous ma dame . He served Pope Innocent VIII and Pope Alexander VI in Rome, Louis XII in France, and Ercole I d'Este in Ferrara . Many of his works were printed and published by Ottaviano Petrucci in the early 16th century, including the Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae . In his final years in Condé , Josquin produced some of his most admired works, including

7650-665: The musicologist Alejandro Planchart suggests that the impact was not particularly large. The first firm record of Josquin's employment is from 19 April 1477 when he was a singer in the chapel of René of Anjou , in Aix-en-Provence . Other evidence may place him in Aix as early as 1475. Josquin remained there until at least 1478, after which his name disappears from historical records for five years. He may have remained in René's service, joining his other singers to serve Louis XI , who sent them to

7752-617: The name JOSQUINJ was found as a graffito on the wall of the Sistine Chapel 's cantoria (choir gallery). It is one of almost four hundred names inscribed in the chapel, around a hundred of which can be identified with singers of the papal choir. They date from the 15th to 18th centuries, and the JOSQUINJ signature is in the style of the former. There is some evidence suggesting the name refers to Josquin des Prez; it may be interpreted as either "Josquin" or "Josquinus", depending on whether

7854-505: The name Lebloitte was rare and the reason that Josquin's family took up the more common surname des Prez as their dit name remains uncertain. His name has many spellings in contemporary records: his first name is spelled as Gosse, Gossequin, Jodocus, Joskin, Josquinus, Josse, Jossequin, Judocus and Juschino; and his surname is given as a Prato, de Prato, Pratensis, de Prés, Desprez, des Prés and des Près. In his motet Illibata Dei virgo nutrix , he includes an acrostic of his name, where it

7956-647: The others, to the Renaissance parody masses, where all the voices formed an integrated texture. In such masses, the source material was not a single line, but motifs and points of imitation from all voices within a polyphonic work. By the time Josquin died, these parody masses had become well established and Josquin's works demonstrate the variety of methods in musical borrowing during this transition period. Six works are generally attributed to Josquin which borrow from polyphonic pieces, two of which also include canonic features. One of these—the Missa Di dadi , which includes

8058-523: The performance of his work, Pater noster , at all general processions when townsfolk passed his house, stopping to place a wafer on the marketplace altar to the Holy Virgin. He died on 27 August 1521 and left his possessions to Condé's chapter of Notre Dame. He was buried in front of the church's high altar, but his tomb was destroyed, either during the French Wars of Religion (1562–1598) or in 1793 when

8160-532: The poet Serafino dell'Aquila wrote his sonnet to Josquin, "Ad Jusquino suo compagno musico d'Ascanio" ("To Josquin, his fellow musician of Ascanio"), which asks him "not to be discouraged if his 'genius so sublime' seemed poorly remunerated". Between 1485 and 1489 Josquin may have served under the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus in Vienna; an account by the Cardinal Girolamo Aleandro in 1539 recalls

8262-498: The reformer Philip Melanchthon as the source for many of his stories, strengthening the authenticity of his Josquin anecdotes; Melanchthon was close to musical figures of his time, including the publisher Georg Rhau and the composer Adrianus Petit Coclico . Two letters between members of the House of Gonzaga and Ascanio Sforza suggest that Josquin may have re-entered the service of the Sforza family in Milan around 1498; they refer to

8364-503: The singers again received the Diapason d'Or de l'Année award, and in 2013 they were elected by a popular vote to the Gramophone's Hall of Fame . Josquin des Prez Josquin Lebloitte dit des Prez ( c.  1450–1455 – 27 August 1521) was a composer of High Renaissance music , who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered one of the greatest composers of

8466-462: The subject of continuing scholarship. He was celebrated worldwide on the 500th anniversary of his death in 2021. Josquin's full name, Josquin Lebloitte dit des Prez, became known in the late 20th century from a pair of 1483 documents found in Condé-sur-l'Escaut , where he is referred to as the nephew of Gille Lebloitte dit des Prez and the son of Gossard Lebloitte dit des Prez. His first name Josquin

8568-401: The text is overshadowed by music; and psalm settings which combined these extremes with the addition of rhetorical figures and text-painting that foreshadowed the later development of the madrigal . He wrote most of them for four voices, which had become the compositional norm by the mid-15th century, and descended from the four-part writing of Guillaume de Machaut and John Dunstaple in

8670-409: The texture, and frequently participate in imitation with the canonic voices, sometimes preemptively. Prior to Josquin's mature period, the most common technique for writing masses was the cantus firmus , a technique which had been in use for most of the 15th century. Josquin used the technique early in his career, with the Missa L'ami Baudichon considered to be one of his earliest masses. This mass

8772-561: The theme of the armed man." While based on a cantus firmus , it is also a paraphrase mass, for fragments of the tune appear in all voices; throughout the work the melody appears in a wide variety of tempos and rhythms. Technically it is almost restrained, compared to the other L'homme armé mass, until the closing Agnus Dei, which contains a complex canonic structure including a rare retrograde canon, around which other voices are woven. Paraphrase masses by Josquin The paraphrase mass differed from

8874-510: The theorist and composer Franchinus Gaffurius there. From June 1489 until at least April 1494, Josquin was a member of the papal choir in Rome, under Pope Innocent VIII then the Borgia pope Alexander VI . Josquin may have arrived there due to an exchange of singers between Ludovico Sforza and Pope Innocent, where the latter sent Gaspar van Weerbeke to Milan, presumably in return for Josquin. Josquin's arrival brought much-needed prestige to

8976-471: The topmost voice. Here the portion which would normally set—"Sing, O my tongue, of the mystery of the divine body"—is instead given the words "And he became incarnate by the Holy Ghost from the Virgin Mary, and was made man." Noble comments that "The vigour of the earlier masses can still be felt in the rhythms and the strong drive to cadences, perhaps more so than in the Missa de Beata Virgine , but essentially

9078-482: The transition from the earlier music of Du Fay and Ockeghem, to Josquin's successors Adrian Willaert and Jacques Arcadelt , and eventually to the late Renaissance composers Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Orlande de Lassus . Josquin was a professional singer throughout his life, and his compositions are almost exclusively vocal. He wrote in primarily three genres: the mass , motet , and chanson (with French text). In his 50-year career, Josquin's body of work

9180-447: The two contrasting strains of Josquin's music—fantasy and intellectual control—are so blended and balanced in these two works that one can see in them the beginnings of a new style: one which reconciles the conflicting aims of the great 15th-century composers in a new synthesis that was in essence to remain valid for the whole of the 16th century." Parody masses by Josquin Du Fay was one of

9282-498: The well-known frottola El Grillo ("The Cricket"), and In te Domine speravi ("I have placed my hope in you, Lord"), based on Psalm 31 . The latter might be 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 Savonarola's favorite psalm, a meditation on which he left unfinished in prison when he

9384-463: The word ‘gimell’ it had to be decided in rehearsal that some of you singing that part would have to look elsewhere on the page, or even pick up another book and find your part. So it was a signpost. Soon, there was a critical consensus that, "the Tallis Scholar's recordings are of reliably high quality". Between 1981 and 2006, the group recorded 40 critically acclaimed discs. The recordings covered

9486-457: The words". The earliest known mass by any composer using solmization syllables is the Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae , which Josquin wrote for Ercole I. It is based on a cantus firmus of musical syllables of the Duke's name, 'Ercole, Duke of Ferrara', which in Latin is 'H e rc u l e s D u x F e rr a r ie' . Taking the solmization syllables with the same vowels gives: Re–Ut–Re–Ut–Re–Fa–Mi–Re , which

9588-428: Was a policeman in the castellany of Ath , who was accused of numerous offenses, including complaints of undue force , and disappears from the records after 1448. Nothing is known of Josquin's mother, who is absent from surviving documents, suggesting that she was either not considered Josquin's legitimate mother, or that she died soon after, or during, his birth. Around 1466, perhaps on the death of his father, Josquin

9690-461: Was an important center of royal patronage and music for the area. All records from Saint-Quentin were destroyed in 1669, and Josquin may have acquired his later connections with the French royal chapel through an early association with Saint-Quentin. He may have studied under Johannes Ockeghem , a leading composer whom he greatly admired throughout his life. This is claimed by later writers such as Gioseffo Zarlino and Lodovico Zacconi ; Josquin wrote

9792-615: Was born in the French-speaking area of Flanders , and he may have been an altar boy and have been educated at the Cambrai Cathedral , or taught by Ockeghem. By 1477 he was in the choir of René of Anjou and then probably served under Louis XI of France. Now a wealthy man, in the 1480s Josquin traveled Italy with the Cardinal Ascanio Sforza , may have worked in Vienna for the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus , and wrote

9894-504: Was executed. Josquin was probably in France during the early 16th century; documents found in 2008 indicate that he visited Troyes twice between 1499 and 1501. The long doubted account from Hémeré that Josquin had a canonry at Saint-Quentin was confirmed by documentary evidence that he had exchanged it by 30 May 1503. Canonries at Saint-Quentin were almost always gifts from the French king to royal household members, suggesting Josquin had been employed by Louis XII. According to Glarean in

9996-544: Was highly praised by Martin Luther and the music theorists Heinrich Glarean and Gioseffo Zarlino . In the Baroque era , Josquin's reputation became overshadowed by the Italian composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina , though he was still studied by some theorists and music historians. During the 20th-century early music revival , publications by August Wilhelm Ambros , Albert Smijers , Helmuth Osthoff and Edward Lowinsky , and

10098-520: Was named after the compositional technique gymel . In accordance with Phillips, The word Gimell comes from the Latin word ‘gimellus’, meaning ‘a twin’, and it’s a technical term. It’s a corrupt form of the word gimellus that you find in manuscripts of the Tudor school where the part is twinned. You have to understand that in those days the music wasn’t written in score; it was written in parts so you’d only see your part. If you were singing your part and you saw

10200-639: Was named by BBC Music Magazine as one of the "50 Greatest Recordings of All Time". In 2013, the recording of John Taverner 's Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas became the number one in the UK Specialist Classical Chart . According to Phillips, during the 1982-1983 concert season, The Tallis Singers formed a core that was more or less consistent for the next 25 years. Some singers left the group to develop successful solo careers, including Michael Chance , Mark Padmore , James Gilchrist , John Mark Ainsley , Tessa Bonner , and Jeremy White , who became

10302-571: Was named by his uncle and aunt, Gille Lebloitte dit des Prez and Jacque Banestonne, as their heir. Josquin was born in the French-speaking area of Flanders, in modern-day northeastern France or Belgium. Despite his association with Condé in his later years, Josquin's own testimony indicates that he was not born there. The only firm evidence for his birthplace is a later legal document in which Josquin described being born beyond Noir Eauwe, meaning 'Black Water'. This description has puzzled scholars, and there are various theories on which body of water

10404-497: Was then wealthy. This would explain how later in his life he was able to travel frequently and did not have to compose greatly demanded mass cycles like contemporaries Isaac and Ludwig Senfl . A surviving record indicates that Josquin was in Milan by 15 May 1484, perhaps just after his 1483 trip to Condé. In March 1484 he may have visited Rome. Fallows speculates that Josquin left Condé for Italy so quickly because his inheritance gave him more freedom and allowed him to avoid serving

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