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B. Josquin des Prez (c. 1450–1521)
1. power ful influence on following generations
2. varied career: northern Eu rope, Italy, France
a. courts in Milan, Ferrara
b. papal choir in Rome
c. returned to France, provost at Condé
3. humanism, rich in feeling: expressive harmony,
serene melodies
4. output: over 100 motets, 17 Masses, French
chansons, Italian secular songs
C. LG 7: Josquin: Ave Maria . . . virgo serena (Hail
Mary . . . gentle Virgin) (1480s)
1. four– voice a cappella choir, sacred Latin motet
2. rhymed, strophic prayer to the Virgin Mary
3. sectional form: follows poetry
4. musical reference to preexisting chant
5. varied textual styles: convey meanings of text
6. imitative polyphony, moments of homorhythm
7. voice combinations highlight emotional aspects
a. frequent changes in voice groupings
b. equality and interdependence of voices
c. full ensemble ends phrases
8. final line reflects humanism: “O Mother of God,
remember me”
OVERVIEW
This chapter introduces the Re nais sance as an age that
merged the sacred with the new spirit of humanism. Josquin
des Prez’s motet Ave Maria . . . virgo serena illustrates how
Re nais sance composers imbued sacred music with a personal
type of human expression.
OUTLINE
I. Re nais sance 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. multivoiced hymns, motets, polyphonic settings
of the Mass
2. professional male singers trained from childhood
in cathedral choir schools
3. early Re nais sance: works based on cantus firmus
(pre– existing melody)
C. Golden age of the 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
II. Josquin des Prez and the Motet
A. Motet: sacred vocal work, Latin text
1. used in Mass, other religious ser vices
2. combined newly written texts with prescribed
prayers
3. praise of Virgin Mary extremely popu lar
4. early Re nais sance (1450–1520): preeminent
motet composers from present- day Belgium and
northern France
CHAPTERfi18 Remember Me: Personalizing the
Motet in the Re nais sance
54 | Chapterfi18
Ages. What are the stylistic differences between the two
examples? Compared with plainchant, does polyphonic
music add to or take away from the worship experience?
TEACHING CHALLENGES
Deciphering imitation as a technique distinct from canon
may be difficult for some students. Providing the score of Ave
Maria . . . virgo serena (J. Peter Burkholder and ClaudeV.
Palisca, eds., The Norton Anthology of Western Music, Vol.
SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY
especially pp.277–78 for the influence of humanism on these
motet composers.
Fenlon, Iain. “ Music and Society.” In The Re nais sance. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1989. Pp.1–62. This essay (Chapter1)
YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE
The recording associated with our listening guide features
a mixed- gender chorus of several voices to a part, but in
the Re nais sance, sacred music of this sort was almost exclu–
sively sung by small all- male ensembles. Find a recording
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand the Re nais sance as an age of humanism
role
3. To understand Josquin’s motet Ave Maria . . . virgo ser-
ena as a hallmark of the Re nais sance sacred music style
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
Compare, for example, the Crucifixion scenes from a
tenth- century parchment and an early Re nais sance
panel by Giotto:
a. Anonymous, parchment illustration from a tenth-
How do Raphael’s and Giotto’s works reflect aspects of
humanism?
2. Play the opening of Ave Maria . . . virgo serena and ask
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
1. Why do you think the a cappella style evolved as the pre–
ferred per for mance tradition in the choirs of the Catho–
For the sections that pair upper voices against lower voices,
listening guide recording, this motet’s association with Mary
connects this version more directly to the subject of the text.
MODEL RESPONSE
bre and the higher pitch of the mixed- gender recording more
effectively evoke an appeal to the heavens or a higher spirit.