Published
Musae Jovis Ter Maximi
The motet Musae Jovis is an artfully constructed lament for the death of Josquin des Prez (c. 1440–1521), whose musical legacy significantly shaped the following generation of Franco-Flemish composers. Gombert, possibly a pupil of the great master himself, not only honours Josquin’s memory in the work, but also demonstrates his own mastery of contrapuntal design and expressive depth.
The composition is rich in allusions to ancient mythology. The Muses, daughters of Jupiter (Jovis), are summoned to mourn, their voices drying up in the face of loss. The choice of text thus invokes a humanist culture of mourning characteristic of the Renaissance.
The generation that followed Josquin recognised him as the most significant figure at the beginning of the sixteenth century, an absolute master without equal in the use of the most refined counterpoint. Josquin was celebrated not by one but by several later composers. The most prominent was Nicolas Gombert, but Benedictus Appenzeller also paid tribute. Both used the same text, Musae Jovis, in which Josquin is named through unmistakable imitative writing. A lesser-known composer, Hyeronimus Vinders, also left us O Mors Inevitabilis, another polyphonic jewel dedicated to the same figure.