A Perfected Art:
Church Polyphony in the Late
Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries
Josquin des Prez
(ca. 1450–1521)
• “Master of the notes: They must do as he
wills”
– Martin Luther
• Creator of the Ars perfecta “to which nothing
can be added, after which nothing but decline
is to be expected”
– Henricus Glareanus (1488–1563)
Humanism
• Renewed interest in the study of Ancient texts
• Music as a branch of poetic eloquence
Dodecachordon
(1547)
• Glareanus
• Recognition of four additional modes
– Ionian, Hypoionian
– Aeolian, Hypoaeolian
Josquin’s Career
• From 1475: chapel choir of René, King of Sicily
and Duke of Anjou, in Aix-en-Provence
• 1489: papal choir in Rome
• 1502: music director for Duke Ercole d’Este, in
Ferrara
– Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae
– Soggetto cavato dalle vocali (theme carved out of
vowels)
A Model Masterpiece
• Josquin’s Ave maria [Anthology 1-47]
– Words and melody from the Annunciation
sequence
– Equal-voice polyphonic setting
– Declamation, syntax, and semantic
Imitations
• Ludwig Senfl (ca. 1486–1543), Ave Maria
…Virgo serena
• Antoine de Févin (ca. 1470–1512), Mass on
Ave Maria … Virgo serena
– Imitation Mass
• Josquin, Benedicta es, coelorum
[Anthology 1-48]
– Six-voice motet based on chant sequence for the
Feast of the Annunciation of the Virgin
– Cantus firmus writing
All Is Known
• Ars perfecta
• Le istitutioni harmoniche (1558)
• Gioseffo Zarlino (1517–1590)
• Triad as “harmonia perfetta” (“The Perfect Harmony”)
The “Post-Josquin” Generation
• Jacobus Clemens (1510–1556) “Clemens non
papa”
– Souterliedekens
• 150 Psalms paraphrased into Dutch verse
• Metrical psalms
• contrafactum
The “Post-Josquin” Generation
• Adrain Willaert (1490–1562)
– Benedicta es, coelorum regina (published 1545)
[Anthology 1-50]
– Motet
The New Instrumental Music
• ricercare
• Cori spezzati (split choirs)
Palestrina and the Ecumenical
Tradition
• Gionvanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
(1525–1594)
– Worked in papal service under 11
successive popes
– 104 complete settings of the Ordinary
– Approximately 400 motets
– Vesper hymns and a complete cycle of
Mass Offertories
– Two books of madrigals
Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli
• From second book of Masses (published 1567)
• [Anthology 1-51a,b,c]
• Council of Trent
• Palestrina’s Tui sunt coeli [Anthology 1-52]
– From the book of Offertories (published 1594)
“Stairway to Parnassus”
• stile antico “old style”
• Gradus as Parnassum (1725)
– Johann Joseph Fux (1660–1741)
– Music theory treatise derived from Palestrina’s
style
Alternatives to Perfection
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Henry VIII
Anglican Music
Church of England
John Taverner (1490–1545)
Thomas Tallis (1505–1585)
The Recusant William Byrd
(1543–1623)
• Catholic serving in the chapel royal
• Cantiones quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur
– Published jointly with Tallis (1575)
– Motets
The Recusant William Byrd
(1543–1623)
• Settings of forbidden liturgical texts
• Mass Ordinary settings
• “Agnus Dei” from Mass in Four Parts
[Anthology 1-53a]
• “Agnus Dei” from Mass in Five Parts
[Anthology 1-53b]