Tu Solus Qui Facis Mirabilia
Josquin Des Prez
Browse 1 Sheet
Sort:
Song library
Browse piano sheets by Josquin Des Prez on Zen Virtual Piano. Josquin des Prez was a composer and singer, identified by a pair of 1483 documents as the nephew of Gille Lebloitte dit des Prez and the son of Gossard Lebloitte dit des Prez. The earliest firm record of Josquin's work comes from a roll of musicians associated with the cathedral in Cambrai in the early 1470s, and nothing records that Josquin studied with Johannes Ockeghem, as later writers such as Gioseffo Zarlino and Lodovico Zacconi claimed. The 1483 family documents and the Cambrai roll of the early 1470s may suggest a composer who appears in records from at least two different decades. A roll from Cambrai in the early 1470s, beside the later claims by Zarlino and Zacconi, may hint at later writers tying Josquin's name to Ockeghem. Josquin performed for the papal chapel from 1486 to about 1494. His earlier singing, in the late 1470s and early 1480s, was done for Rene I of Anjou and for Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan. A salary of 200 ducats was the highest ever for a ducal chapel member once Josquin was chosen. Posts at courts and the papal chapel, beside a record salary of 200 ducats, may point to a singer and composer sought by several patrons. The musicologist Patrick Macey reads the Artiganova letter as meaning that Josquin was a “difficult colleague and that he took an independent attitude towards producing music for his patrons”. Josquin's compositions fall into three principal categories: motets, masses and chansons. Ottaviano dei Petrucci printed 17 of Josquin's 20 complete surviving masses while the composer was alive, issuing them as three sets dated 1502, 1505 and 1514. Sorrow in the motets comes through poignant harmonies. Josquin also used suspension for emphasis, and when the text speaks of death he led the voices gradually down to their lowest registers. Three sets of printed masses, beside motets that shape harmony around the text, may hint at a composer whose works circulated widely and answered closely to words. In later works Josquin gradually abandoned cantus firmus technique for parody and paraphrase, and frequently used canon and melodic imitation. On 3 May 1504 Josquin became provost of the collegiate church of Notre-Dame. He probably had moved from Ferrara to the home region of Condé-sur-l'Escaut. Josquin's deathbed endowment paid for Pater noster, one of his works, to be performed at every general procession as townsfolk went past his house. Martin Luther expressed great admiration for Josquin's music, calling Josquin “master of the notes, which must do as he wishes; other composers must do as the notes wish.” An endowment for Pater noster, beside Luther's admiration, may suggest that Josquin's music drew attention both from townsfolk and from Luther.
Browse piano sheets by Josquin Des Prez on Zen Virtual Piano.
Josquin des Prez was a composer and singer, identified by a pair of 1483 documents as the nephew of Gille Lebloitte dit des Prez and the son of Gossard Lebloitte dit des Prez. The earliest firm record of Josquin's work comes from a roll of musicians associated with the cathedral in Cambrai in the early 1470s, and nothing records that Josquin studied with Johannes Ockeghem, as later writers such as Gioseffo Zarlino and Lodovico Zacconi claimed. The 1483 family documents and the Cambrai roll of the early 1470s may suggest a composer who appears in records from at least two different decades. A roll from Cambrai in the early 1470s, beside the later claims by Zarlino and Zacconi, may hint at later writers tying Josquin's name to Ockeghem.
Josquin performed for the papal chapel from 1486 to about 1494. His earlier singing, in the late 1470s and early 1480s, was done for Rene I of Anjou and for Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan. A salary of 200 ducats was the highest ever for a ducal chapel member once Josquin was chosen. Posts at courts and the papal chapel, beside a record salary of 200 ducats, may point to a singer and composer sought by several patrons. The musicologist Patrick Macey reads the Artiganova letter as meaning that Josquin was a “difficult colleague and that he took an independent attitude towards producing music for his patrons”.
Josquin's compositions fall into three principal categories: motets, masses and chansons. Ottaviano dei Petrucci printed 17 of Josquin's 20 complete surviving masses while the composer was alive, issuing them as three sets dated 1502, 1505 and 1514. Sorrow in the motets comes through poignant harmonies. Josquin also used suspension for emphasis, and when the text speaks of death he led the voices gradually down to their lowest registers. Three sets of printed masses, beside motets that shape harmony around the text, may hint at a composer whose works circulated widely and answered closely to words.
In later works Josquin gradually abandoned cantus firmus technique for parody and paraphrase, and frequently used canon and melodic imitation. On 3 May 1504 Josquin became provost of the collegiate church of Notre-Dame. He probably had moved from Ferrara to the home region of Condé-sur-l'Escaut. Josquin's deathbed endowment paid for Pater noster, one of his works, to be performed at every general procession as townsfolk went past his house. Martin Luther expressed great admiration for Josquin's music, calling Josquin “master of the notes, which must do as he wishes; other composers must do as the notes wish.” An endowment for Pater noster, beside Luther's admiration, may suggest that Josquin's music drew attention both from townsfolk and from Luther.
Search the library
Common questions
Josquin des Prez was a composer and singer, identified by 1483 documents as the son of Gossard Lebloitte dit des Prez.
Josquin performed for the papal chapel from 1486 to about 1494, after singing at the courts of Rene I of Anjou and Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan.
Josquin's compositions fall into three principal categories: motets, masses and chansons, with 20 masses surviving complete.
Martin Luther expressed great admiration for Josquin's music, calling him “master of the notes, which must do as he wishes; other composers must do as the notes wish.”