A Christmas Miracle - Praeter Rerum Seriem by Josquin Desprez

Josquin's Christmas motet (1) Praeter Rerum Seriem (PRS) is a setting of a text contemplating the mystery of the Virgin Birth. At the heart of the work is the plainchant of the same name, a 13th century song "widely sung by French choirboys and nuns at Christmas and on major feasts of the Virgin Mary." (2) Josquin expert John Milsom suggests that it would have been performed in a "sprightly" manner in that era. At the opening of Josquin’s motet, however, the chant proceeds at a very slow pace indeed. Someone has helpfully put scores of the chant and the motet online (3), which makes tracing the progress of this cantus firmus (4) fairly straightforward. Even without the score, though, it is reasonably easy to follow in the first part of the work - listen initially for the sustained melody passing between the tenor and soprano parts (the highest male and female lines respectively). Set against the slow-moving chant are a series of beautiful, flowing lines, which must be a joy to sing (the way in which the piece seems to operate at several speeds simultaneously is endlessly fascinating).

In the second part of the piece, the fuller texture tends to bury the cantus firmus. Josquin quickens the pace of the chant, narrowing the rhythmic gap between the cantus firmus and the lines weaving around it. By the time we reach "Dei Providentia", the chant is in a lively three-in-a-bar, presumably sounding much as it would have when sung by those Medieval choirboys and nuns. As Peter Phillips points out in the liner notes to the Tallis Scholars recording (5), it is probably no coincidence that the chant goes into triple-time at the first mention of the final third of the Holy Trinity (1st paragraph Son, 2nd Holy Spirit, 3rd the Father). Josquin brings the lilting triple-time to a halt just before the end, for a strong yet peaceful close ("Mater, Ave!").

There is, of course, much more to this technically ingenious masterpiece, although an intimate knowledge of the score isn’t necessary to feel the special power of this work, or to appreciate the way in which Josquin's mysterious sound-world perfectly matches the awestruck tone of the text. Over the years, I've built up a collection of recorded performances of the piece. In general, I favour a more full-throated, expressive approach - I want to hear singers encouraged to enjoy those swirling, sprouting lines. The recording by Alamire and David Skinner is a particular favourite:

Josquin Desprez (c.1450-1521) - Praeter Rerum Seriem - Alamire / David Skinner (Obsidian)

This comes from their excellent two-disc set, Anne Boleyn's Songbook (recorded in the Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle).(6) There are also fine performances by the all-male Gabrieli Consort (set deeper in a big acoustic - very atmospheric) and the closer-miked Gesualdo Six. A word too for the recording by Gli Angeli, which helpfully begins with a rendition of the chant, before going straight into the motet.

Josquin's PRS was one of the most influential pieces of the era, inspiring a number of later works - it was not unusual for Renaissance composers to base a piece on the music of another. I first heard Josquin's motet on a Tallis Scholars disc of a PRS-inspired mass setting by Cipriano de Rore (more on this piece below), and so was aware of one PRS-related work right from the beginning. As time has gone on, I've picked up PRS-inspired records as I've found them, gradually discovering more about a network of composers, courts and patrons, as well as a marvellous selection of musical tributes.

Cipriano De Rore’s Praeter Rerum Seriem mass honours both a patron and an illustrious predecessor. Duke Ercole II d'Este was Rore’s employer at the time of composition, while Josquin Desprez worked at the Ferrarese court under the first Duke Ercole (the grandfather of Ercole II). Rore uses the same cantus firmus as Josquin, although his chant - carried by the alto part throughout - moves even more slowly. The cantus firmus is sung to a text in praise of the Duke (Hercules secundus, dux Ferrariae quartus: vivit et vivet / Hercules the Second, fourth Duke of Ferrara, lives and will live) (7).

Rore’s mass employs a combination of cantus firmus and parody techniques. Where a cantus firmus mass is built around a found single-line melody (often hidden in the middle), a parody mass works with big, obvious chunks of an earlier piece. As the New Grove Dictionary Of Music And Musicians explains: "a parody mass is a musical setting of the ordinary of the Roman Catholic mass that is unified by the presence of the entire texture of a pre-existing polyphonic work…." Peter Phillips is full of praise for Rore's skilful blend of old and new, while recognising the slight oddness of a "new" work that borrows so heavily from an earlier piece: "in one sense very little of Rore's mass is original composition, yet he parodies his material so resourcefully that the stated material seems to take on new perspectives." (5)

Of course, as a massive fan of the motet, I'm more than happy to spend half an hour with this material. To listen to the Rore mass is to take a tour of Josquin's original, with an exceptionally knowledgeable and articulate guide. Rore takes us into every corner of the piece, opening up rooms to which we don't usually have access. As Peter Phillips suggests, Rore submits Josquin's motet to a vast range of musical transformations. Phillips points the listener towards the first few minutes of each of the mass movements, noting that each begins with an audibly different treatment of the opening of the Josquin. After that, you’re on your own, but if you take the time to get to know the original, you’re never far from home.

When it comes to recordings of the Rore mass, the disc by The Huelgas Ensemble and Paul van Nevel is something special. In general, it is brisker than other recordings I have heard, although Van Nevel’s tempi are pretty flexible. As with the Alamire performance of the original, the choir savour the surging lines in a way that really brings this complex music alive (the stunningly good recorded sound is also a big help here). Huelgas records often divide critics. For some, van Nevel's tendency to intervene more often than the average choral conductor is an unwelcome distraction. For me, his audible love of this repertoire trumps that, and a Van Nevel performance is always that - a real performance. In fact, his records may well be the ideal starting point for the classical fan who thinks of early choral music as dry and dusty. This real performance is capped by a daringly slow, exquisitely controlled account of the Agnus Dei.

In his day, Cipriano de Rore was best known for his secular music. The Huelgas disc of the PRS mass begins and ends with several excellent madrigals. In these (freely composed) works, we hear a different side of Rore. Here, the texture is mostly lighter, and the music is governed by the expressive needs of the poetry, rather than the musical logic of the dense polyphony (of course, as we have seen, Josquin was an earlier master of matching text and musical mood). Rore's madrigals were a big influence on the (now) better-known works of Claudio Monteverdi; judged by the Huelgas disc, Rore is with him at the top of the tree (try this). Returning to the mass after time spent with the madrigals is an interesting experience. Inevitably, I end up finding hints of later Italian music - faster-moving madrigalian melodies or moments of simpler homophonic movement.

Cipriano De Rore (1516-1565) - Missa Praeter Rerum Seriem - Huelgas Ensemble / Paul van Nevel (Harmonia Mundi)

From Ferrara, we move to the richly resourced Bavarian court of the music-loving Duke Albrecht V. Ludwig Daser (c.1525-1589) joined the court as a choirboy, and went on to become Albrecht's Kapellmeister in 1525, remaining in service in Munich until 1571. We know that Rore's PRS parody mass was in the library there, thanks to a letter from Albrecht V to Ercole II, in which he praises the "suave harmonies and the rare and new invention of the melodies" in Rore's work.(8) The letter is dated 25th April 1557; Rore himself visited the Munich court in 1558. Daser's own PRS mass appears towards the end of a choirbook compiled between 1544 and 1555, suggesting it was composed around the same time as the Rore (I'm struggling to pin down the exact timeline).

Like the Rore, the Daser is a combination cantus firmus and parody mass, and once more, there is a superb recording by the Huelgas Ensemble and Paul van Nevel. This record appeared in 2023, earning the group a long overdue first Gramophone Early Music award (the Tallis Scholars disc of the Rore mass won back in 1994 - that was my first, memorable encounter with the Josquin motet). To me, the six-voice Daser feels darker than the seven-voice Rore, with its strengthened top line. There is also less madrigalian busyness - Daser strikes a more patient, devotional tone, while still submitting Josquin's original to a dazzling range of compositional techniques. Van Nevel is an expert at steadily building excitement, particularly in those thrilling sections where he really whips up the lines swirling round the still centre. It's the more tender moments that stay with me, though - try the "Et Incarnatus" in the Credo (3'40").

Ludwig Daser (c.1525-1589) - Missa Praeter Rerum Seriem - Huelgas Ensemble / Paul van Nevel (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi)

Daser was eased out of the Munich Kapellmeister job in 1563, most likely on account of his Protestantism. He was replaced by Orlandus Lassus, who had joined the court in 1556. It seems there was no bad blood between the two; in fact, Lassus and Duke Albrecht helped Daser secure the Kapellmeister job at the Protestant court of Duke Ludwig in Stuttgart, where he was able to expand the musical resources to Munich-like levels (more on this in a moment). Lassus' own contribution to the PRS parody genre is a Magnificat, the Magnificat secundi toni super Praeter Rerum Seriem (from c. 1582). There had been parody Magnificats before this time (there are English examples by Fayrfax and Ludford), but Lassus really made the genre his own, producing 35 in total, including eight based on motets. Magnificats were performed daily in Munich, as part of the evening Vespers service. The text ties in nicely with the Josquin original; where the motet deals with the Immaculate Conception, the Magnificat consists of words spoken by a pregnant Virgin Mary on her visit to Elizabeth, who herself was pregnant with John the Baptist (the so-called "Visitation").

In his parody Magnificats, Lassus alternates between verses of polyphony and verses of simple plainchant - the "secundi toni" part of the title identifies the traditional plainchant formula used in the work ("Mode 2 chant" if you want to look it up). The Lassus/Josquin links don't end with the PRS Magnificat. There is a Magnificat based on Josquin's motet Benedicta es, coelorum regina, and in Lassus' motet, Peccantem me quotidie, he quotes from Josquin's Miserere mei, Deus. Most intriguingly, in his motet Recordare Jesu pie, Lassus quotes from Josquin's PRS.(9) Lassus would go on to produce a superb Recordare Jesu pie Magnificat, parodying his own motet.

The vocal group called Magnificat have released two volumes of Lassus' parody Magnificats. Volume two opens with an excellent performance of the Josquin motet, followed by the Lassus PRS Magnificat. The Magnificat version of the Lassus incorporates cornett and sackbutt players - according to the group's director, Philip Cave, contemporary documents suggest that instrumentalists joined the singers for Vespers performances on feast days. Listening to these parody Magnificats is a subtly different experience from listening to the parody masses. The alternate plainchant verses break up the polyphony into bite-sized chunks, offering an opportunity to reflect on the previous couple of minutes, before being plunged back into polyphony (where in the original will we end up next?). The shorter spans of polyphony have a concentrated quality, with Lassus having to build and dispel tension more quickly than he might in an extended mass movement. I love the addition of instruments in these performances, particularly when the cornetts and sackbutts enter with force after a chant section, creating Gabrieli-like moments of grandeur. Again, with time to reflect, I find myself wondering what it is I'm actually hearing. Lassus' polyphony refers to both the Josquin and the plainchant mode - is there some Rore or Daser in there too?(10) 

Orlandus Lassus - Magnificat secundi toni super Praeter Rerum Seriem - Magnificat / Philip Cave (Linn)

Thanks to a recently acquired disc by the Spanish choir, El León de Oro, I have one last PRS-inspired piece to mention. The programme consists of music by Flemish composers based in Madrid, including a PRS parody mass by George de la Hélé, who was maestro de capilla at the court of Phillip II from 1581-1586. I've learned it takes a while to get to grips with these parody works, but, after a couple of listens, I'm sure this one is going to be worth my time. It's certainly a joy to hear this kind of music performed by a larger choir of almost 40 singers - the louder moments have real power (try the end of the Gloria), and, thanks to some skilful singing, conducting and engineering, there is no loss of clarity elsewhere. In the Hélé, the choir are conducted by Tallis Scholars director Peter Phillips, who seems to be in a more unbuttoned mode than usual, relishing the expanded forces at his disposal. There is a taste here:

The liner notes for the El León de Oro disc mention a handful of further PRS-inspired works, including a mass by Le Maistre, and motets by Lusitano, Willaert and Calvinius.(11) I don't think any of these have made it onto disc yet, but, if and when they do, they'll go on my improbably long PRS playlist. I've enjoyed having all of these fabulous pieces and performances in one place, for ease of dipping in and out. In the end, though, there is nothing to match a deep dive into Josquin's magnificent original. When I'm listening hard, lost to the world for six or seven minutes, this time-melding music seems to evoke strong visual images, which has made for some memorable listening experiences. Sometimes, out and about with headphones, I find myself looking to the sky, picking out details, then looking beyond them. Later at night, in the colder, darker silence, the work can feel grander still, with the faster lines like the teeming surface of a slowly-turning planet. Musical magic.

Happy Christmas.

(1) Setting for unaccompanied voices of a sacred Latin text.

(2) Liner notes for "The Earth Resounds" - The Sixteen / Christophers / Dougan (CORO)

(3) Chant here - scroll down for the version used by Josquin. Various editions of the score here.

(4) "Fixed song" - A "found" melody used as the basis for a new work.

(5) Liner notes for Josquin Desprez / Cipriano De Rore - Missa Praeter Rerum Seriem etc. - The Tallis Scholars / Phillips (Gimell)

(6) The "Anne Boleyn Music Book" contains 42 pieces, with Josquin and Mouton the most featured composers. It is now housed at the Royal College of Music in London.

(7) This text is hard to pick in performance, although it sticks out occasionally at the end of movements, when the cantus firmus ends on a consonant and the other voices end on a vowel. Both Josquin and de Rore composed masses named after the dukes - you will find a Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie in both worklists.

(8) see Alvin Johnson - "The Masses of Cipriano de Rore" pg. 232, in Journal of the American Musicological Society, Autumn 1953. 

(9) John Milsom puts this down to the fact that the section of the Josquin used by Lassus sets the words "initus et exitus". Milsom suggests that, in context, this can be read as "birth and death" - Lassus' own motet sets a text from the Requiem mass. (see "Absorbing Lassus" pg. 314, in Early Music, May 2005).  

(10) We know that Lassus performed the Rore PRS mass at the wedding of Prince Wilhelm and Renée of Lorraine in 1568. Lassus' Magnificat dates from c. 1582. 

(11) Thanks to Charles Tebbs for alerting me to several PRS records.