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Missa Pro Defunctis by Pierre Manchicourt
Not a household name, eh? No Manchicourt Festivals anywhere that I know of; nor T-shirts nor barbecue aprons with his name or likeness engraved thereupon.

But take a listen to today's piece (a very fine recording is attached), and I think you'll agree that he might be worth some attention. It's the Introit to his Requiem Mass, written in memory of his departed teacher Josquin Desprez, who had died in 1621. 

Polyphonic settings of the Requiem in the Renaissance were generally based upon the chant specified for the liturgy, and today's featured piece is no exception. The chant is clearly stated in the soprano voice, so it's easy to discern. The other five voices--the sumptuous six-voice texture was common for Requiem settings--form a contrapuntal carriage upon which the stately chant rides. We feel the slowly-evolving texture viscerally, an elegant and heartfelt setting of the ancient prayer that eternal peace and light be granted to our dear departed ones.

But there's more to this than meets the ear. If you scrutinize the attached score, you'll notice something odd: There are two voices which aren't singing the standard text. Instead, they sing 
“Circumdederunt me gemitus mortis, dolores inferni circumdederunt me” (“The groans of death have surrounded me, the sorrows of death have encircled me”). This psalm passage, and the melodic line to which it is set, are from a chanson of mourning called 'Nymphes nappes' by--you guessed it--Josquin Desprez. In the chanson, Josquin uses the chant as a recurring motto complementing the French poem. The presence of this line provides a sort of internal proof that the Requiem is indeed Manchicourt's farewell to Josquin, an indication which is further strengthened by the presence, later on in the piece, of yet another Josquin quote, this one from the famous 'Faultes d'argent': “C'est douleur non pareille” (“It is grief without equal”).

As you can see (and hear if you listen closely), the 'Circumdederunt' quotation is performed in canon between the first and second tenor parts. It's wonderful to realize that somehow Manchicourt managed to introduce this structure simultaneously with the prescribed Requiem chant. Even more wonderful is that the music does not sound intellectual or ramified in the least; rather, it sounds like  a natural, organic aural embodiment of both grief and hope.

The usual materials are attached herewith. In addition, there's a very interesting essay by Andrew Fysh, the Australian musicologist who transcribed and edited the piece.
Click here to download learning materials
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