Josquin: Missa Ad fugum and Missa Sine nomine

Program: #09-45   Air Date: Nov 02, 2009

Preservation of this program is made possible by a generous grant from Gordon Bermant.

Peter Phillips on Josquin:

In his unprecedented stature and his undisputed pre-eminence in the eyes of his contemporaries and posterity, Josquin has never failed to remind recent historians of Beethoven, who was similarly regarded 300 years later, and who retains a similar quasi-legendary aura' (Richard Taruskin).

If one were looking for a superstar among Renaissance composers — and identifying such people does no harm to the subject as a whole — Josquin is unquestionably the front runner. He was a star in his lifetime, travelling more widely, being paid better and having more desirable employment than anyone else; and he has become a star again more recently. It is true that in the centuries in between it has been Palestrina and Tallis who were performed more consistently, where Josquin was forgotten, but this was on account of their simple music, which choirs of any ability could sing. Josquin didn't write any simple music. All his music is complex, intellectually and vocally, posing problems which have only recently been found to represent a supreme challenge. As with Beethoven it is now recognized that facing up to Josquin's message can bring unparalleled rewards; and, more than anywhere else, it is now clear it was in his Mass settings that he expressed that message at its most fluent.

Peter Phillips on this recording:

This recording presents the only two Masses by Josquin which are entirely based on canons. He wrote other single movements which are canons — the second Agnus Dei in his Missa L'homme armé super voces musicales is an especially complex example and is recorded on CDGIM 019 — but only here did he explore the possibilities as exhaustively as the idiom would allow. To write this kind of music may seem academic to the modern mind: who is interested in mathematical scaffolding which most people can't hear? But Josquin was interested in it — as were many later composers, from Bach to Brahms to Webern — and it is clear that, like every composer of genius, Josquin relishes the challenge inherent in being tied down to a pattern.

These two settings seem to stand at the extreme ends of Josquin's career. The Missa Ad fugam, an early work, is the easier of the two to follow; the Missa Sine nomine, which may have been Josquin's last Mass-setting before the great Missa Pange lingua, shows the fruits of his experience in mathematical writing like no other. Indeed, Ad fugam is so much more straightforward than Sine nomine that it is possible Josquin wrote the later work as a foil to the earlier, to show how much more he knew about handling this kind of composition by the end of his life. This would have been more important to him than we may recognize now: every Flemish composer up to Josquin's time had proved himself with canonic writing, Ockeghem being a leading example. If it is true that Josquin learnt from Ockeghem, it is possible that he saved up this tour de force just to show he could rival his master. In fact there does seem to be a personal note of this kind: at ‘Et incarnatus est' in the Credo Josquin quotes from his own lament on the death of Ockeghem, Nymphes des bois.

Josquin des Prez (c. 1450 to 1455 – August 27, 1521): Missa Sine nomine and Missa ad fugam.

Fr. Jerome Weber helpfully sent along a discography of the Masses of Josquin des Prez with references to J. F. Weber’s reviews in Fanfare:

This is a brief overview of the Josquin discography of masses. Some choice items are no longer available, but libraries and dealers will have copies.

Avid collectors will now have all of the last dozen masses of Josquin in fine interpretations, as well as the recent premieres of Missa ad fugam (32:1) and Missa D’ung aultre amer (33:1). Of the remainder, Missa Di dadi is available on two CDs and Missa L’ami baudichon, the earliest Mass by common agreement, can be heard on an interesting program of early works under Peter Urquhart. Of the dubious masses, Missa Une mousse de Biscaye exists only on a 1959 LP and Missa Mater patris on an aging Chanticleer CD. Of the inauthentic masses, Missa Da pacem has not been done in many years and Missa Allez regretz has not been done at all, though students deserve to be able to hear and judge them. The duplication of later works leaves us poorer for a more complete hearing of the pivotal composer of the 15th century, but we are gradually closing the gap.

J. F. Weber

Composer Info

Josquin des Prez (c. 1450 to 1455 – August 27, 1521)

CD Info

Gimell CD GIM039