CHAPTER 16
Remember Me: Personalizing the Motet in the Renaissance
OVERVIEW
This chapter introduces the Renaissance as an age that merges the sacred with the new spirit of
humanism. Josquin des Prez’s motet Ave Maria . . . virgo serena serves to illustrate how
Renaissance composers imbue sacred music with a personal type of human expression.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand the Renaissance as an age of humanism
2. To recognize the a cappella style of Renaissance sacred music, in which imitative
polyphony plays an impor-tant role
3. To understand Josquin’s motet Ave Maria . . . virgo serena as a hallmark of the Renaissance
sacred motet
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
After playing and displaying on the board the notated melody of the chant Ave Maria gratia
plena, illustrate how Josquin incorporates the chant melody into the first fifteen measures of his
motet Ave Maria . . . virgo serena. Ask the class to detect any similarities among the first four
voice entrances on the text Ave Maria. After the students recognize the canon effect of the
imitation, ask whether they can detect more of the same technique on the phrases gratia plena
and Dominus tecum. The original chant melody can be found in Burkholder and Palisca’s Norton
Anthology of Western Music (W. W. Norton; see “Supplemental Bibliography).
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
1. Why do you think the a cappella style evolved as the preferred performance tradition in the
choirs of the Catholic Church during the Renaissance? Why do you think instrumental
participation might have been discouraged (or at least downplayed) in the worship
experience?
2. Compare Josquin’s Ave Maria . . . virgo serena to Hildegard of Bingen’s Alleluia plainchant
from the Middle Ages in Chapter 13. What are the stylistic differences between the
examples? Compared with plainchant, do you think polyphonic music adds to or takes away
from the worship experience? In what ways?
TEACHING CHALLENGES
Deciphering imitation as a technique distinct from canon may be difficult for some students.
Providing the score of Ave maria . . . virgo serena (Burkholder and Palisca; see “Supplemental
Bibliography) and having students closely follow the melodic contours of the voice parts might
help to illustrate the difference. In measure 7, for example, the bass voice begins the phrase
“gratia plena” the same way as the other voices do (and appears to be singing in canon) but
varies the melody slightly in measures 8 and 9. The score will also aid students in detecting voice
pairs because the juxtaposition of movement and rests among the voices is clearly identifiable in
the notation.
SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY
Josquin: Miserere mei, Deus (motet)
Josquin (?) or Pierre de la Rue (?): Absalon, fili mi (motet)
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Atlas, Allan. “The Virtuoso Motet.” In Renaissance Music. New York: W. W. Norton, 1998.
More on the proliferation and cultural meaning of the motet during Josquin’s generation. See
pp. 269–85; pp. 277–78 especially deal with the influence of humanism on these motet
composers.
J. Peter Burkholder and Claude V. Palisca, eds. Norton Anthology of Western Music, Vol. 1,
Ancient to Baroque. 7th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2014. The chant text mentioned in
“Lecture Suggestions” appears on p. 242 (chant); you can find the score of Ave maria . . .
virgo serena suggested in “Teaching Challenges” on pp. 231–42.
Fenlon, Iain. “Music and Society.” In ed. The Renaissance. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall,
1989. This essay (Chapter 1, pp. 1–62) provides a broad account of the pervasive influence
of humanism on musical composition during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Remember Me: Personalizing the Motet in the Renaissance (Chapter 16)
I. Renaissance Sacred Music
A. Humanism: inspired by ancient Greece and Rome
1. reliance on reason, scientific inquiry
2. human issues, the individual
3. order world rationally
B. Expanded sung worship: reconciled needs of the individual
1. hymns, motets, polyphonic settings of the Mass
2. professional male singers trained from childhood in Cathedral choir schools
3. some works based on cantus firmus (pre–existing melody)
C. Golden age of a cappella style
1. polyphony: based on imitation
a. subtle, varied effects
b. combines individual action with collaborative worship
2. harmony: fuller chords, “sweeter” thirds and sixths
3. carefully controlled dissonance
4. cantus firmus: elaborate ornamentation in other voices
5. greater interest in duple meter
D. Josquin des Prez and the motet
1. motet: sacred vocal work, Latin text
a. used in Mass, other religious services
b. combined newly written texts with prescribed prayers
c. praise of Virgin Mary popular
d. preeminent composers from present-day Belgium and northern France
2. Josquin des Prez (c. 1450–1521)
a. powerful influence on following generations
b. varied career: northern Europe, Italy, France
c. humanism, rich in feeling: expressive harmony, serene melodies
d. output: over 100 motets, 17 Masses, French chansons, Italian secular songs
3. Listening Guide 5: Josquin, Ave Maria…virgo serena (Hail Mary…gentle virgin)
(1480s)
a. four-voice a cappella choir, sacred Latin motet
b. rhymed, strophic prayer to the Virgin Mary
c. sectional form: follows poetry
d. varied textual styles: convey meanings of text
e. imitative polyphony, moments of homorhythm
f. voice combinations highlight emotional aspects
i. frequent changes in voice groupings
ii. equality and interdependence of voices
iii. full ensemble ends phrases
g. final line reflects humanism: “O Mother of God, remember me”