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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.