Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Fifteenth-Century Music
- Series page
- The Cambridge History of Fifteenth-Century Music
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Music examples
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Historiography
- Part II Improvisation and composition
- 8 Oral composition in fifteenth-century music
- 9 Improvisation as concept and musical practice in the fifteenth century
- 10 How did Oswald von Wolkenstein make his contrafacta?
- 11 Making a motet: Josquin’sAve Maria … virgo serena
- 12 The origins of pervasive imitation
- Part III Humanism
- Part IV Music and other arts
- Part V Music in churches, courts, and cities
- Part VI Religious devotion and liturgy
- Part VII Theory and practice
- Part VIII Sources
- Part IX Genres
- Part X Reception
- Index
11 - Making a motet: Josquin’sAve Maria … virgo serena
from Part II - Improvisation and composition
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2015
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Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Fifteenth-Century Music
- Series page
- The Cambridge History of Fifteenth-Century Music
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Music examples
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Historiography
- Part II Improvisation and composition
- 8 Oral composition in fifteenth-century music
- 9 Improvisation as concept and musical practice in the fifteenth century
- 10 How did Oswald von Wolkenstein make his contrafacta?
- 11 Making a motet: Josquin’sAve Maria … virgo serena
- 12 The origins of pervasive imitation
- Part III Humanism
- Part IV Music and other arts
- Part V Music in churches, courts, and cities
- Part VI Religious devotion and liturgy
- Part VII Theory and practice
- Part VIII Sources
- Part IX Genres
- Part X Reception
- Index
Summary
The quest for facts about Josquin des Prez's Ave Maria virgo serena narrows down to study of the work itself - its words and its musical content. The words in particular demand attention especially when aligned with known biographical, liturgical, political, or historical facts. The text of Josquin's Ave Maria is seemingly unique to Marian motet; no composer before Josquin is known to have set precisely these words, nor has the text as a whole been found in any independent literary source. There are good reasons for believing that Josquin began work on his motet by pondering the opening of Regis's Ave Maria. Regis had discovered that the first segment of the plainchant melody can be superimposed on itself to generate fuga (imitation) that answers at the unison. If discoveries can still be made about pieces as familiar as Josquin's Ave Maria, then vast possibilities surely remain for probing the inner workings of fifteenth-century polyphony at large.
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- The Cambridge History of Fifteenth-Century Music , pp. 183 - 199Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015
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