Josquin des Prez (1450/1455 – 1521), often referred to
simply as Josquin, was a Franco-Flemish composer of the
Renaissance. He is also known as Josquin Desprez and
Latinized as Josquinus Pratensis, alternatively Jodocus
Pratensis. He himself spelled his name "Josquin des
Prez" in an acrostic in his motet Illibata Dei virgo
nutrix. He was the most famous European composer
between Guillaume Dufay and Palestrina, and is usually
considered to be the central figure of the
Franco-Flemish School. Josquin is widely considered by
music scholars to be the first master of the high
Renaissance style of polyphonic vocal music that was
emerging during his lifetime.
During the 16th century, Josquin gradually acquired the
reputation as the greatest composer of the age, his
mastery of technique and expression universally
imitated and admired. Writers as diverse as Baldassare
Castiglione and Martin Luther wrote about his
reputation and fame; theorists such as Heinrich Glarean
and Gioseffo Zarlino held his style as that best
representing perfection. He was so admired that many
anonymous compositions were attributed to him by
copyists, probably to increase their sales. More than
370 works are attributed to him; it was only after the
advent of modern analytical scholarship that some of
these mistaken attributions have been challenged, on
the basis of stylistic features and manuscript
evidence. Yet in spite of Josquin's colossal
reputation, which endured until the beginning of the
Baroque era and was revived in the 20th century, his
biography is shadowy, and we know next to nothing about
his personality. The only surviving work which may be
in his own hand is a graffito on the wall of the
Sistine Chapel, and only one contemporary mention of
his character is known, in a letter to Duke Ercole I of
Ferrara. The lives of dozens of minor composers of the
Renaissance are better documented than the life of
Josquin.
Josquin wrote both sacred and secular music, and in all
of the significant vocal forms of the age, including
masses, motets, chansons and frottole. During the 16th
century, he was praised for both his supreme melodic
gift and his use of ingenious technical devices. In
modern times, scholars have attempted to ascertain the
basic details of his biography, and have tried to
define the key characteristics of his style to correct
misattributions, a task that has proved difficult, as
Josquin liked to solve compositional problems in
different ways in successive compositions—sometimes he
wrote in an austere style devoid of ornamentation, and
at other times he wrote music requiring considerable
virtuosity. Heinrich Glarean wrote in 1547 that Josquin
was not only a "magnificent virtuoso" (the Latin can be
translated also as "show-off") but capable of being a
"mocker", using satire effectively. While the focus of
scholarship in recent years has been to remove music
from the "Josquin canon" (including some of his most
famous pieces) and to reattribute it to his
contemporaries, the remaining music represents some of
the most famous and enduring of the Renaissance.
Fors seulement is a French chanson, popular as a basis
for variations and as a cantus firmus. An early version
is attributed to Ockeghem - this is sometimes called
Fors seulement l'attente to distinguish it from his
similarly titled Fors seulement contre. Brumel wrote a
polytextual version, combining a tenor setting of Du
tout plongiet with the words and superius from
Ockeghem's Fors seulement l'attente for the baritone.
Many versions of the chanson were produced including
those by Ockeghem, Josquin, Pipelare, Verbonnet,
Obrecht, Pirson, Brumel and Agricola. Mass settings
include those by Ockeghem, Obrecht, Pipelare, and
Carpentras.
The lyrics read (in English): "Except in waiting for
death, There dwells in my faint heart no hope..."
Although originally written for Chorus (SATB), I
created this arrangement for Concert (Pedal) Harp. |
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PARTITION