Josquin Desprez
About the composer
Josquin Desprez (c.1450 – 1521) was born in Hainault in Belgium. He was probably a student with Ockegem. He worked almost 10 years at the Chapel of the Pope in Rome, then with the court of Louis XII of France and finally was Provost of the Chapter at Condé.
Deprez composed a.o. 25 masses, more than 120 motets and more than 60 chansons. His style started a new musical period, the Musica Reservata. It is characterized by its great mobility, it is open-hearted and elegant.
About the Stabat Mater
| Date: | 1480 |
| Performers: | Mixed Choir (originally: 5 voices) |
| Length: | 8.10 minutes |
| Particulars: | A motet. The polyphony is constructed around a "cantus firmus" that is supposedly taken from a secular song by Gilles Binchois: the "Tenor" from Comme femme desconfortée. Compared to the English Renaissance music the stile is relaxed. The stanzas are sung smoothly one after the other, with one exception: after "dum emisit spiritum", the last breath of Jesus, the singers hold a subtle pause. |
| Textual variations: | The "Analecta"-text is used, but the stanzas 11 through 14 are omitted. |
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Information about the recording
| CD1: | Harmonia Mundi 901243: Josquin Desprez, Stabat Mater – Motets |
| More info: | Dedicated to works of di Lasso. Recorded at the Priority Church of St Mary & St Blaise, Boxgrove, West-Sussex, in September 1983. |
| Choir: | La Chapelle Royale |
| Conductor: | Philippe Herreweghe |
| Other works: | Ave Maria |
| Code: | 1997 DES-01 |
| CD2: | ASV Quicksilva CD QS 6234: Stabat Mater – Late medieval Motets of Penitence and Passion |
| More info: | Seven Motets by different composers, beautifully sung. Recorded at the Church of St.Michael and All Angels, Mount Dinham, Exeter, in June 1998. I bought this CD on the Internet, Amazon.com, 2001. |
| Choir: | Cantores |
| Conductor: | David Allinson |
| Other works: | Jean Mouton: Ave Maria Gemma Virginum |
| Code: | 2001 LAS-01 |
| CD3: | KRO ES47.425 Stabat Mater 2003 |
| More info: | The recording of the fifth concert organized by the Dutch Stabat Mater Foundation. Recorded at the St.Petrus church, Oirschot, in April 2003. |
| Choir: | Capella Brugensis |
| Conductor: | Patrick Peire |
| Other works: | Antonio Vivaldi: Stabat Mater |
| Code: | 2003 SCH-05 |
| CD4: | Stabat Mater Foundation 2013: Desprez (Tawfiq, Pergolesi) | ||
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| Choir: | Capella Pratensis | ||
| Conductor: | Stratton Bull | ||
| Other works: | Hawar Tafiq. Stabat Mater | ||
| Code: | 2015 TAW-01 |
| 5: | Mignarda – Mater Dolorosa |
| More info: | Mater Dolorosa, Music for the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, released November 11th, 2020. Compilation of live recording of concerts at Immaculate Conception Church, Cleveland between 2016 – 2019, commemorating the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. Josquin composed his setting of the Stabat Mater circa 1480. There were several arrangements published for solo lute, and in 1552 Pierre Phalese published an arrangement for solo voice and lute. Mignarda recorded this version with a viola da gamba playing the long notes of the cantus firmus (the important tenor line). A world premiere. |
| Soloists: | Donna Stewart, mezzo soprano, |
| Other works: | Recercare, Comme femme desconfortee, Recercare primo, De tous biens plaine, Comme femme, Que vous, madame/In pace in idipsum, Christe si dedero, Stabat Mater (chant). The CD illustrates how secular and spiritual music were so closely intertwined at the late 15th century |
| Code: | FON - 05 |
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