Ave Maria by Ludwig Self
Yesterday afternoon, as we were checking the tech setup for last night's 'Bach's World' event, Dianna mentioned that our very first virtual Bach Talk ('Alt Bach') had occurred exactly one year before, on May 13, 2020.
And today we have our 52nd Friday Motet!
To celebrate, we're going to wrap right back to our very first motet, the remarkable and justly famous 'Ave Maria' by Josquin Desprez (c.1553-1521). Here's a link to that first motet project. I suggest you click and listen for two reasons: A) It's one of the greatest pieces in the repertoire, it's good for the soul, and can't be heard too much; and B) Listening will help prepare you to get the most out of today's piece.
Why's that, you ask? Because today our project is Ludwig Senfl's amazing transmogrification of Josquin's 'Ave Maria'.
Senfl (c.1486-c.1543) was a Swiss composer who spent much of his career as director of the Hofkapelle of Maximilian I, and was later at the court in Munich, where he was succeeded by Orlande de Lassus. Senfl worked extensively with his senior colleague Heinrich Isaac (c.1450-1517), and absorbed and built upon Isaac's style; but he was also a devotee of Josquin's music (as was Isaac himself), and much of Senfl's work displays a deep comprehension of the style of the older, groundbreaking composer.
Some Senfl pieces go beyond this, adopting specific devices from Josquin or borrowing and extending certain passages. Examples include his 'Miserere mei Deus', which adopts an ostinato technique similar to Josquin's setting of the same text; and his 'Ave rosa sine spinis', which uses the same cantus firmus as Josquin's eponymous setting.
But no extant Senfl piece goes as far as his 'Ave Maria'. In this 'tribute piece', Senfl includes virtually all of the materials of Josquin's motet. But he expands the piece both horizontally (his setting is much longer than its model) and vertically (Senfl scores for six voices rather than Josquin's four).
In addition, he converts the famous opening line (So Do-Do Re Mi Do) into a sort of idée fixe: The Tenor primus sings nothing but this line, in long notes, entering towards the end of every point of imitation, punctuating and providing clear structure and unification to the entire piece.
It's an amazing achievement: The piece honors and celebrates Josquin and his motet, while simultaneously being an absolutely new work of art. It brings to mind the more radical transformations which Picasso wrought in his series of takes on Velázquez' 'Las Meninas'.
I am attaching both a modern score and a scan of the manuscript (which includes works by both Josquin and Senfl) in which the Ave Maria is found. The beautiful manuscript is well worth checking out. It is in separate parts on facing pages. Each double-page contains the six parts: Discantus primus, Discantus secundus and Bassus on the left; Contratenor, Tenor primus and Tenor secundus on the right. As the pages are turned, one can imagine the singers jockeying for a good position to see their parts.
And everyone had to be really good at counting, or the whole thing would fall apart. However, at least one could begin again page by page, rather than going all the way back to the beginning as might happen with the more common separate part-books. Thank God (or whichever of His minions handles the minutiae of music notation) for modern scores!
In addition to the old and modern scores attached, click this link for a packet which also includes recordings of the two parts of the motet, and a text-translation sheet.
Enjoy! Thrive! May there be Peace! Harmony! Abundance! Love!
Yesterday afternoon, as we were checking the tech setup for last night's 'Bach's World' event, Dianna mentioned that our very first virtual Bach Talk ('Alt Bach') had occurred exactly one year before, on May 13, 2020.
And today we have our 52nd Friday Motet!
To celebrate, we're going to wrap right back to our very first motet, the remarkable and justly famous 'Ave Maria' by Josquin Desprez (c.1553-1521). Here's a link to that first motet project. I suggest you click and listen for two reasons: A) It's one of the greatest pieces in the repertoire, it's good for the soul, and can't be heard too much; and B) Listening will help prepare you to get the most out of today's piece.
Why's that, you ask? Because today our project is Ludwig Senfl's amazing transmogrification of Josquin's 'Ave Maria'.
Senfl (c.1486-c.1543) was a Swiss composer who spent much of his career as director of the Hofkapelle of Maximilian I, and was later at the court in Munich, where he was succeeded by Orlande de Lassus. Senfl worked extensively with his senior colleague Heinrich Isaac (c.1450-1517), and absorbed and built upon Isaac's style; but he was also a devotee of Josquin's music (as was Isaac himself), and much of Senfl's work displays a deep comprehension of the style of the older, groundbreaking composer.
Some Senfl pieces go beyond this, adopting specific devices from Josquin or borrowing and extending certain passages. Examples include his 'Miserere mei Deus', which adopts an ostinato technique similar to Josquin's setting of the same text; and his 'Ave rosa sine spinis', which uses the same cantus firmus as Josquin's eponymous setting.
But no extant Senfl piece goes as far as his 'Ave Maria'. In this 'tribute piece', Senfl includes virtually all of the materials of Josquin's motet. But he expands the piece both horizontally (his setting is much longer than its model) and vertically (Senfl scores for six voices rather than Josquin's four).
In addition, he converts the famous opening line (So Do-Do Re Mi Do) into a sort of idée fixe: The Tenor primus sings nothing but this line, in long notes, entering towards the end of every point of imitation, punctuating and providing clear structure and unification to the entire piece.
It's an amazing achievement: The piece honors and celebrates Josquin and his motet, while simultaneously being an absolutely new work of art. It brings to mind the more radical transformations which Picasso wrought in his series of takes on Velázquez' 'Las Meninas'.
I am attaching both a modern score and a scan of the manuscript (which includes works by both Josquin and Senfl) in which the Ave Maria is found. The beautiful manuscript is well worth checking out. It is in separate parts on facing pages. Each double-page contains the six parts: Discantus primus, Discantus secundus and Bassus on the left; Contratenor, Tenor primus and Tenor secundus on the right. As the pages are turned, one can imagine the singers jockeying for a good position to see their parts.
And everyone had to be really good at counting, or the whole thing would fall apart. However, at least one could begin again page by page, rather than going all the way back to the beginning as might happen with the more common separate part-books. Thank God (or whichever of His minions handles the minutiae of music notation) for modern scores!
In addition to the old and modern scores attached, click this link for a packet which also includes recordings of the two parts of the motet, and a text-translation sheet.
Enjoy! Thrive! May there be Peace! Harmony! Abundance! Love!