A Reaction to Vince Mazzoni's Renaissance Listening Journal

In the beginning of Vince’s analysis of the Hilliard Ensembles recording, Motets et Chansons, he summarizes the style of Josquin des Prez by stating that he “preserves the tradition of textual clarity while emphasizing varied vocal texture and human emotion.” Vince did a fine job evaluating the dominance of the text and the role that variety plays in his music. But I wanted to know more about the ways Josquin is able to convey the depth of human emotion in his music, so when I listened to this recording, I had a distinct purpose: to experience the range of emotions in the music and uncover the techniques that he uses to display them.

Josquin was composing music at a time when the motet was a very important genre. Unlike the motets of the Medieval period, Renaissance motets were entirely sacred and the focus was on the words. These motets no longer had multiple texts, but rather one, and every compositional choice was made to enhance the meaning of the words. In his analysis of the first motet on the recording, Ave Maria, Gratia Plena, Vince discussed several techniques that characterize Josquin’s music, including imitation, seamless polyphony, a mixing of polyphony and homophony and varied vocal textures. All of these techniques can be found in the other motets on the album, as well as other methods which are used to display the emotions of each particular motet.

The motet Absalon, fili mi, a lament of David, is a lament for the death of his son Absalom. Josquin sets the text in a low register and writes slower rhythms to give the listener a real sense of the grief David felt for the loss of Absalom. Although there are only five lines of poetry, the music stretches on, moving slowly towards the last phrase, “Let me live no longer, but descend into hell weeping,” where the bass finally settles on B-flat. This motet displays one of the extremes of human emotion, grief, by setting a very slow pace and rarely leaving the lower registers of the voices.

The motet De profundis clamavi is set in a similar way. In the opening line the psalmist cries, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, hear my voice!” Josquin begins his motet with each voice entering individually, highest to lowest. Each voice is low in its range, so when the bass finally enters the sound is low and solemn. The rhythmic motion is slow, and the mood is very grave. As the text becomes more optimistic near the end, “With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption,” the upper voices sing in a higher register, filling out the sound, and the rhythm becomes much more active. Even the harmonies sound more hopeful. Josquin allows the voices to rest on thirds and sixths, whereas the opening was built on emptier intervals. The raising of the register, quickening rhythmic motion, and near-triadic harmonies lead the listener from the more somber cry of the opening phrase to the hopeful redemption of the end.

In his journal, Vince stated, “Josquin artfully blends his techniques so his music does not sound technical, but captures the listener through beautiful colors and varied textures.” I absolutely found this to be true while I was listening to this recording. I had a hard time dwelling on the technical aspects of Josquin’s writing because I was so taken with the colors he uses to exhibit the emotional character of each piece. Vince’s journal gave me several launching points for my own analysis. I really enjoyed reading it, and listening to this recording of Josquin’s music.