Josquin: Ave Maria...virgo serena

Author

Josquin des Prez (c. 1450-1521: French)
  • served in several courts in Italy
  • later in life, returned to France to serve as provost at the collegiate church of Condé
  • at least 374 works are attributed to him
  • Wikipedia Article

About the Piece

(much of the description comes from elements that were brought out by Forney and Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music, and the accompanying DVD)

  • Genre is motet
  • 4 voices (SATB) in varied settings, including imitative polyphony, dialogue, and homorhythm
  • text language is Latin
  • frequent texture changes from homorhythm to imitative polyphony
  • voice groupings also change, from 4 independents to 2 pairs to all voices together
  • chant used as melodic basis
  • lots of imitative counterpoint (sometimes all four parts follow in succession)
  • ends with all voices unified in homophony
  • still mostly in fifths, sounds hollow

Purpose

  • sacred
  • honors the Virgin Mary
  • part of the Mass Proper

Reflections

This piece is beautiful. I love the open, hollow feeling the sound has to it; I can imagine this would sound great in a stone cathedral. The text is not perfectly understandable, but the important parts are. The general overall feel of the piece is really one of intense reverence.