OCKEGHEM: Missa L'homme arme / JOSQUIN: Memor esto verbi tui
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Johannes Ockeghem (c.1420-1497) Missa L'homme arme; Ave Maria; Alma Redemptoris Mater Josquin Desprez (c.1460-1521) Memor esto verbi tui There are three...
Johannes Ockeghem
(c.1420-1497)
Missa L'homme arme;
Ave Maria; Alma Redemptoris Mater
Josquin Desprez
(c.1460-1521)
Memor esto verbi tui
There are three factors that have affected the choice of music recorded
here. First, the recording was made a few days before the 500th anniversary of
Ockeghem's death (the composer died on 6th February 1497). Secondly, this
release forms part of the Oxford Camerata's series of Renaissance masses based
on the fifteenth-century Burgundian song L'homme arme (Naxos: Dufay
8.553087, Obrecht 8.553210, Josquin 8.553428). Thirdly, Josquin's extraordinary
motet Memor esto servi tui is the model on which a previously recorded
anonymous setting of the Nunc dimittis was based (Naxos: Renaissance
Masterpieces 8.550843).
The Ave Maria, which opens this recording (like the Missa
L'homme arme), survives in a source copied for a Burgundian nobleman very
shortly after Ockeghem's death. Having said that, the Ave Maria was
added to this sumptuous manuscript (the so-called Chigi Codex) almost two
decades after its original assembly. Although only a short work, Ockeghem's Ave
Maria is noteworthy for a number of reasons: it makes no reference to any
pre-existent material; it demonstrates beautifully the composer's fluid
approach to harmonic rhythm; and it ends with a short 'Amen' low in the
tessitura which culminates in a minor chord. By contrast, Ockeghem's setting of
the other Marian text on this recording - Alma Redemptoris Mater - is an
airier work that uses the Alma Redemptoris plainchant as its model
(heard on this recording immediately before Ockeghem's motet). If Ockeghem's Ave
Maria is a reverential genuflection to the Virgin, then the Alma
Redemptoris is an ecstatic serenade.
Ockeghem's Missa L'homme arme is a largely austere work, possibly
as a response to the foursquare and belligerent nature of the song on which it
is based. It is difficult to say with certainty exactly how Ockeghem responded
to the text of the mass because the sources are far from clear in this regard.
However, the soaring cantus firmus at the words tu solus altissimus (you
alone are the highest) in the Gloria, or the athletic setting of the
word vivificantem (giver of life) in the Credo can surely be no
accident. Similarly, the strength of the elliptical modulation at the end of
the Credo and the glorious musical arch that forms the opening section
of the Sanctus show a composer whose dramatic involvement with the text
of the Mass was frequently at a premium. In order to make some reference to the
shape of the liturgy, on this recording a plainchant Offertory, its text
from Psalm 34 (Psalm 33 in the Vulgate), has been inserted at the central point
of the Mass to mark the progression from the Ministry of the Word to the
Consecration. The Missa L'homme arme ends with a sublimely dark-textured
Agnus Dei, a stylistic innovation that Ockeghem frequently used to great
effect, nowhere more poignantly than at the end of this remarkable work.
However much or little the succeeding generation learnt from Ockeghem,
the innovations of Josquin set a standard for the high Renaissance. Memor
esto verbi tui shows a fascination for melodic imitation and textural
contrast, and exhibits a deliberately structural use of resonant four-voice
writing. Memor esto verbi tui is a setting of sixteen verses from Psalm
119 (Psalm 118 in the Vulgate); it dates from the first decade of the sixteenth
century and its genesis is an interesting one. According to the early
sixteenth-century musical theorist Heinrich Glarean: "Louis XII, the
French king, had promised Josquin a benefice. When the promise remained
unfulfilled (as is wont to happen at the courts of kings), Josquin composed the
motet Memor esto verbi tui with such majesty and elegance that, when it
was brought to the song school and examined with strict justice, it was admired
by everyone. The king, filled with shame, did not dare to defer any longer, and
immediately discharged the favour which he had promised." This account is
born out by the fact that the motet survives in fourteen sources and was
evidently widely known during Josquin's lifetime, although much of the motet's
fame was probably due to Josquin's nerve in setting the words Memor esto
verbi tui servo tuo (Remember your word to your sevant) in such an
obviously urgent manner both at the beginning and end of the motet. Memor
esto verbi tui is a model of early Renaissance balance and (along with
Haydn's 'Farewell' Symphony) is one of the greatest musical invoices of
all time.
J. C. Summerly 1997
Missa L'Homme arme (more info)
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Ave Maria, gratia plena - 3:07
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Alma Redemptoris Mater (Mode 5) - 1:55
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Alma Redemptoris Mater - 5:43
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L' homme arme - 0:45
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Kyrie (Missa L' homme arme) - 2:21
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Gloria ( Missa L' homme arme) - 5:20
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Credo (Missa L' homme arme) - 7:20
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Immittet Angelus Domini - 2:00
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Sanctus (Missa L' homme arme) - 8:22
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Agnus Dei (Missa L' homme arme) - 6:29
Memor esto verbi tui (more info)
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Memor esto verbi tui - 13:22