Missa pange lingua, Motets

Josquin des Prez

Church Music to Spark an Internal Renaissance

In this sacred choral work by Renaissance composer Josquin des Prez (c. 1440–1521), the grouped voices do more than merely state the text of the hymn. They generate a stilled and shining sound of awe, a profoundly otherworldly tone that is suited to the savoring of mysteries, be they sacred or secular. No religious affiliation is required to enter into this reverence. Josquin takes his listeners there, via celestial voices. Give him a few minutes and he will elevate you, or make you a believer. Or, at the very least, induce calm.

The Mass, recorded here by the French ensemble A Sei Voci with a children's choir, is a fantasy on the pange lingua hymn pertaining to the Feast of Corpus Christi, with words from Thomas Aquinas. The chant is found in its most complete form in the very beginning and very end of the Mass; elsewhere, it's embedded, broken up and slowed down into a series of long-held whole notes that anchor the composer's contrapuntal fantasy. You're not necessarily supposed to be able to pick out the hymn at any given point, and it can be equally tricky to discern where one part of the Mass stops and another begins.

Josquin and his contemporaries composed under the belief that the words themselves had holy power and therefore didn't need to be "sold" to the listener (after all, many of the pieces were based on the same Mass text they heard week in and week out in church). This might explain the piece's unusual ending: There's no big culminating statement, no finale. Having appealed to man's "higher" self so effectively, the Mass merely dissipates into thin air, leaving listeners in a state of awed contemplation.

Genre: Classical
Released: 2000, Astree/Na�ve
Key Tracks: Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus.
Another Interpretation: Missa pange lingua, Ensemble Clément Janequin.
Collector's Note: A Sei Voci does not perform the entire Mass, only the parts composed by Josquin. This allows the inclusion of several breathtaking motets, among them the "De profundis clamavi."
Next Stop: The Hilliard Ensemble: Pérotin
Book Page: 413