JOSQUIN DES PRÈS / JOSQUIN DESPREZ

Messe Gaudeamus / Missa Gaudeamus -

Messe Gaudeamus

1. Kyrie, Christe, Kyrie (2'35'')

2. Gloria : intonation, Et in terra, Qui tollis peccata mundi (5'20'')

3. Credo : intonation, Patrem omnipotentem, Et incarnatus est, Et in spiritum, Et unam sanctam (9'12'')

4. Sanctus : Pleni sunt coeli, Hosanna, Benedictus, In nomine Domini (5'11'')

5. Agnus Dei I - II - III (4'22'')

Les fresques musicales de St. Bonnet-le-Chateau

6 à 20 - pièces vocales et instrumentales diverses (25'15'')

Groupe des instruments anciens de Paris

Ensemble des Chantres de Plain-chant

Direction musicale : Roger Cotte

Twenty years after the death of Josquin des Prés, a music publisher commented that ‘now that Josquin is dead, he is putting out more works than when he was alive’, an indication that lesser composers were content to add his name to their work in order to make their music more widely available. Yet for all his reputation in the sixteenth century as one of the finest composers of the High Renaissance, few biographical details are known. Born between 1440 and 1455, he is believed to have been a chorister at Saint-Quentin and to have studied with Ockeghem. During the 1470s and 1480s he was employed in Aix-en-Provence and Milan and in the following decade was a member of the Papal choir - his graffito was recently found on a wall of the Sistine Chapel. From 1504 until his death in 1521 he lived in France at which time his reputation was enhanced by the publication of several Masses. This collection of Messe Gaudeamus, together with instrumental works by Josquin and others, was recorded in 1960, a time when performance practice was more assured than heretofore.

Editions Charlin CL40