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Josquin des Prez, an anthology of mass movements and motets

Including an introduction and critical commentary by Willem Elders

84 pages; English

Order in the KVNM webshop
paperback cover (A4) € 19,95 (excluding shipping cost);
digital version (PDF) € 12,50

About this publication

This anthology is compiled and introduced by the world famous musicologist Willem Elders and now for the first time available in a digital version.

Having published two editions of the collected works of Josquin des Prez, the Royal Society for Dutch Music History commemorates the 500th anniversary of the composer’s death with a jubilee anthology of his sacred music. It contains the five items of the Ordinary taken from different cycles, which illustrate the compositional devices that Josquin, from the early 1480s onwards, had at his disposal. The seven motets, likewise for four voices, testify to the large repertoire of texts that underlies most of the sacred music in the Renaissance. Inspired by both the Old and New Testament, as well as texts written in honour of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, these works too illustrate various compositional procedures.

The compositions included in this anthology are reproduced from the New Josquin Edition, which is the result of the cooperation of a team of nineteen scholars from the United States, England, Germany, and the Netherlands, who in the last three decades have been working under the supervision of an international editorial board.’

About the author

Willem Elders (1937) lives nowadays in the south of France, enjoying the beautiful view from the terrace of his Provençal house ‘El grillo’, and the company of his partner. He still works regularly in his library and stays connected with scholars abroad, who share his passion for Josquin des Prez.

He continued the research on Josquin, initiated by Albert Smijers, and, together with Myroslaw Antonowycz, edited the last volumes of Smijers’ famous Josquin edition. From 1987 to 2017 Elders was the General Editor of the New Josquin Edition. In acknowledgement of his great merits for the history of music in the Netherlands, Elders was awarded the medal of the KVNM in 1989.