Richafort’s Requiem: beyond Josquin

Early Music ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Jennifer Bloxam
Keyword(s):  
Early Music ◽  
Josquin Des Prez ◽  
Ritual Context

Abstract All polyphonic Requiem settings have a commemorative purpose, but none is more multi-layered in its memorializing aims and strategies than that by Jean Richafort (c.1480–c.1550). This piece is unique among Renaissance Requiems in drawing its materials and procedures from an earlier composer’s oeuvre: Richafort mined no fewer than three works by Josquin des Prez. Indeed, Richafort’s Requiem is so deeply indebted to Josquin that Gustave Reese suggested it was ‘written on the death of Josquin’ in 1521. This article revisits this exquisite piece of music in order to look more deeply into its commemorative nature and purpose. First, essential musical and textual details germane to its function as tribute are identified, building on John Milsom’s essay ‘Sense and sound in Richafort’s Requiem’ in Early Music, xxx (2002). The association of this Requiem with Josquin’s death is assessed, and other possibilities for the work’s genesis suggested. Finally, ways in which this setting serves a purpose beyond the memorialization of any one individual is explored by situating it within the ritual context of the Funeral Mass, and evidence offered to suggest that certain compositional decisions made by Richafort were designed to commemorate Christ’s redeeming death and resurrection as the key to every Christian’s salvation.

The Apotheosis of Josquin des Prez and Other Mythologies of Musical Genius

2004 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 443-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Higgins
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Ludwig Van Beethoven ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Musical Culture ◽  
Early Music ◽  
Josquin Des Prez ◽  
The Past ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

Within the theoretical framework of Roland Barthes's writings on myth and ideology, this essay seeks to expose the historical legitimation project through which the mythmaking, universalizing rhetoric of musical genius that has long surrounded the figure of Ludwig van Beethoven came to infiltrate scholarship on Josquin des Prez, culminating in his late twentieth-century apotheosis. Contextualizing the composer's reception history with respect to the debates between Joseph Kerman and Edward Lowinsky in 1965 and especially the 1971 Josquin Festival-Conference, the author suggests that the ideological refashioning of Josquin in the image of Beethoven has simultaneously shaped and derailed the intellectual trajectory of early music scholarship in the past thirty years. By privileging a discourse of musical genius in the service of which, among other concerns, the canon of works attributed to the composer is being decimated beyond historical recognition, the richness and complexity of the musical culture of which he was a vital part risks being overshadowed and obfuscated by the disproportionate amount of attention invested in his singular accomplishments. The essay advocates a resolute historicization of sixteenth-century discourses of creative endowment, a critical reassessment of the role of authentication scholarship in Josquin studies, and a renewed sensitivity to the imbrication of mythologies of musical genius in music historiographies of both the past and the present.

scholarly journals The Other Josquin - Enhanced Editions of 16th century music

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marnix Van Berchum
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Web ◽  
The Other ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Common Phenomenon ◽  
Early Music ◽  
Humanities Computing ◽  
Josquin Des Prez ◽  
Authority Figure ◽  
Web Standards ◽  
Online Music

Conflicting and doubtful composer attributions are a common phenomenon in early musical repertories, but the problem is particularly acute with the output of Josquin des Prez (c. 1450-1521), the foremost musical authority figure of the 16th century. The matter is far from unambiguous; the problems of determining which pieces really are authentic is a veritable scholarly minefield in which academic opinion changes constantly. The Other Josquin has two goals: to contribute to musicological research and humanities computing by producing 40 online music editions of compositions dubiously ascribed to Josquin des Prez, using the CMME system for digital early music editions; and the semantic enrichment of the CMME web dataset in accordance with semantic web standards such as RDF-XML.

Features of optative modality in Macedonian language (with emphasis on the functionalities of independent da-construction)

2020 ◽  
pp. 301-323
Author(s):  
Natalya I. Kikilo ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Literary Language ◽  
Natural Context ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Text Types ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Ritual Context

In the Macedonian literary language the analytic da-construction used in an independent clause has a wide range of possible modal meanings, the most common of which are imperative and optative. The present article offers a detailed analysis of the semantics and functions of the Macedonian optative da-construction based on fiction and journalistic texts. The first part of the article deals with the specificities of the optative as a category which primarily considers the subject of a wish. In accordance with the semantic characteristics of this category, optative constructions are used in those discourse text types where the speakers are explicitly designated (the most natural context for the optative is the dialogue). The analysis of the Macedonian material includes instances of atypical usage of the optative da-construction, in which the wish of the subject is not apparent and thereby produces new emotional tonalities perceptible to the reader of a fiction/journalistic text. The study describes Macedonian constructions involving two different verb forms: 1) present tense form (da + praes) and 2) imperfective form (da + impf). These constructions formally designate the hypothetical and counterfactual status of the optative situation, respectively. Thus, the examples in the analysis are ordered according to two types of constructions, which reflect the speaker’s view on the probability of the realisation of his/her wish. Unrealistic wishes can be communicated through the present da-construction, while the imperfective construction denotes situations in which the wish can be realised in the future. The second part of the article is devoted to performative optative da-constructions, which express formulas of speech etiquette, wishes and curses. The analysis demonstrates that these constructions lose their magical functions, when used outside of the ritual context, and begin to function as interjections.

Improvising Early Music

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob C. Wegman ◽  
Johannes Menke ◽  
Peter Schubert
Keyword(s):  
Early Music

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekaterina E. Kozlova
Keyword(s):  
Social Structures ◽  
Social Expectations ◽  
Child Loss ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Family Based ◽  
Ritual Context

This section considers why ancient communities in crisis deemed sorrowing motherhood as a potent agent in bringing about their preservation. It suggests, for example, that since child loss creates existential limbo for the bereft mother, it can unlock a unique capacity in her for incessant supplications and intercessions. Thus, when groups and individuals were at their most vulnerable, the perpetual destabilization of a bereft mother and the ability to intercede as its outcome were the go-to social tools. Additionally, it considers the ability of mourning rites to transgress normal social expectations and defy class differences. Consequently, within a ritual context bereft mothers could voice uncensored perspectives on personal and collective suffering and on the persons responsible for it. Finally, since Israel used family-based metaphors for its various social structures, it was only natural to appeal to maternal agency, with its emphasis on care and protection, in times of crises.

Writing and Ritual in Deuteronomy 28

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Quick
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
History Of ◽  
Important Means ◽  
Written Word ◽  
Ritual Process ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Ritual Context

This chapter argue that ritual behaviours might be just as good a source as literary texts for the diffusion of traditional cursing and treaty material across different cultures in the ancient Near East. In particular, the role of ad hoc oral Targum in the ritual process could have been an important means by which traditions were shared between different language communities. Recognition of the ritual context of this material also provides insights for the comparative method, the dating and authorship of Deuteronomy 28, and the subversive impetus thought to have stood behind its composition. Ultimately, the function of the written word in a largely oral world is shown to be fundamental to understanding the composition, function and the early history of the curses in the book of Deuteronomy.

The Jewish Population of Tennessee

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Maslon
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Jewish Population ◽  
Music Industry ◽  
Major Power ◽  
Sheet Music ◽  
Early Music ◽  
Music Publishers ◽  
Popular Music Industry

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the first way that the imprimatur of Broadway reached consumers was through the immense distribution of colorful and tuneful sheet music. Early music publishers learned quickly that associating a song with a Broadway show such as the Ziegfeld Follies, Broadway personalities such as Al Jolson and Fanny Brice, or Broadway composers such as Victor Herbert gave that tune a special identity that increased its popularity. In addition, music publishers, such as Max Dreyfus, were major power brokers in the popular music industry, yielding the ability to make a song into a hit, and continued to be influential through the first half of the twentieth century.

Josquin des Prez, Renaissance Historiography, and the Cultures of Print

2011 ◽  
pp. 353-380
Author(s):  
Kate van Orden
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Information Sources ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Josquin Des Prez ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Renaissance Studies

This article studies Josquin des Prez, a musical genius who refused to compose on request and was an individualist who represented the new spirit of humanism. It notes the lack of information sources or print for studies on Josquin. This makes him a good example of how musicologists who carry out research on the sixteenth century are often forced to go to the extremes in order to recover even the tiniest shreds of historical evidence. Nevertheless, this article focuses on information gathered by several researchers about Josquin, including his importance in Renaissance studies.

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