The ''Missa Gaudeamus'' is a musical setting of the
Ordinary of the Mass
The ordinary, in Roman Catholic and other Western Christian liturgies, refers to the part of the Mass or of the canonical hours that is reasonably constant without regard to the date on which the service is performed. It is contrasted to the ''pr ...
by
Franco-Flemish
The designation Franco-Flemish School, also called Netherlandish School, Burgundian School, Low Countries School, Flemish School, Dutch School, or Northern School, refers, somewhat imprecisely, to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition or ...
composer
Josquin des Prez, probably composed in the early or middle 1480s,
and published in 1502. It is based on the
gregorian introit
The Introit (from Latin: ''introitus'', "entrance") is part of the opening of the liturgy, liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In its most complete version, it consists of an antiphon, Psalms, psalm verse and ' ...
''Gaudeamus Omnes'' and its setting is for four voices.
Sources and attribution
The number of sources for this work is relatively high: two printed editions, four reprints and seven manuscripts.
The ''
issasuper Gaudeamus'' mass was first published in ''Misse Josquin'' ("Liber Primus Missarum Josquin ") (Venice, 1502)
by
Ottaviano Petrucci
Ottaviano Petrucci (born in Fossombrone on 18 June 1466 – died on 7 May 1539 in Venice) was an Italian printer. His '' Harmonice Musices Odhecaton'', a collection of chansons printed in 1501, is commonly misidentified as the first book of sheet ...
together with the masses ''
L'homme arme. Super voces musicales'', ''
La.sol.fa.re.mi'', ''Fortuna desperata'', ''
L'homme arme. Sexti toni'', and reprinted in Rome in 1526.
Among the first manuscript copies we mention the Kyrie copied by Johannes Orceau, for the Sistine Chapel, in Rome, dated between 1503 and 1512.
Some sources misattribute the mass to
Ockeghem:
The Fugger manuscript ''A-Wn Cod. 11778'',
probably copied in the 1520s by
Pierre Alamire Pierre Alamire (also Petrus Alamire; probable birth name Peter van den Hove;Atlas, p. 274 c. 1470 – 26 June 1536) was a German-Dutch music copyist, composer, instrumentalist, mining engineer, merchant, diplomat and spy of the Renaissance. H ...
ascribes the mass to Ockeghem, as well as an 1836 manuscript in Leipzig by
Moritz Hauptmann
Moritz Hauptmann (13 October 1792, Dresden – 3 January 1868, Leipzig), was a German music theorist, teacher and composer. His principal theoretical work is the 1853 ''Die Natur der Harmonie und der Metrik'' explores numerous topics, particular ...
.
Fétis, in his ''Biographie universelle des musiciens'',
under the voice relative to Ockeghem,
[In the same work, under the voice relative to Josquin, the ''Missa Gaudeamus'' is listed among the ones published by Petrucci in 1502, sources: J666] cites a manuscript of the ''Kyrie'' and ''Christe'' of a ''messe
.intitulée Gaudeamus'' published by
Kiesewetter in 1834;
however, such authorship had been later amended by Kiesewetter in his 1848 edition of the ''History of the modern music of western Europe''.
Genesis and background
There are no manuscript sources that can be dated before 1502, and Planchart
suggests that the mass can be dated around the 1480s. Because of its style the work is probably the earliest among the other masses based on a gregorian plainsong that Josquin started composing by the middle of his compositional career (the others being
Ave maris stella
"Ave maris stella" (Latin for 'Hail, star of the sea') is a medieval Marian hymn, usually sung at Vespers. It was especially popular in the Middle Ages and has been used by many composers as the basis of other compositions.
Background
Authorship ...
,
De Beata Virgine,
Da pacem and
Pange lingua
''Pange lingua'' may refer to either of two Mediaeval Latin hymns of the Roman Catholic Church: one by St. Thomas Aquinas and one by Venantius Fortunatus (530-609), which extols the triumph of the Cross. He wrote it for a procession that brought a ...
).
![Gaudeamus omnes Cambrai B 12 used by Josquin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Gaudeamus_omnes_Cambrai_B_12_used_by_Josquin.png)
By comparing four different versions of the ''Gaudeamus'' introit (taken respectively from the
Graduale Romanum
The ''Roman Gradual'' (Latin: ''Graduale Romanum'') is an official liturgical book of the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church containing chants, including the proper and many more, for use in Mass.
The latest edition of 1974 takes account o ...
, the north Italian tradition of the 15th century, the north Italian tradition of the 11th century and the French tradition) Planchart
notes motivic resemblances to the north Italian versions, suggesting that the composer was in northern Italy when composed the mass, basing on one of the local sources. B bringing similar examples taken from the works of
Guillaume Dufay
Guillaume Du Fay ( , ; also Dufay, Du Fayt; 5 August 1397(?) – 27 November 1474) was a French composer and music theorist of the early Renaissance. Considered the leading European composer of his time, his music was widely performed and repr ...
, he also points out as such strong resemblance to one particular source despite of another could indicate that composers of that time did not necessary wrote down their cantus firmus from memory.
''Gaudeamus'' appears also to be the key to assess the work liturgical destination and spiritual inspiration. The introit is traditionally sung at the feast of the
Assumption of the Virgin, connoting the work as a Marian mass, as Ave maris stella and De Beata Virgine. Traditionally, the choice of a liturgical cantus firmus makes the mass specific for a feast of a group of feasts (in this case, celebrations devoted to the Virgin Mary). However, Willem Elders
has proposed an alternative interpretation of the work: the same introit, with textual variations, is sung at other saints celebrations, for instance the Mass of St. Agata (the original version) and, most notably, for
All Saints celebration.
The motif made up by the first six notes of the introit, which makes up the word ''Gaudeamus'', is the most recognizable melodic material, and can be recognized 6 times in the Kyrie, 14 in the Gloria, 2 in the Credo, 12 in the Sanctus and 27 in the Agnus Dei; as this numbers are far from proportional to the length of the various sections, Elders suggests an intentional and numerological plot behind the numbers of ''Gaudeamus'' statements in each section, as symbols related to the
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of ...
, disclosing the profound inspiration of the work as a history of salvation. This enforces the thesis that the Mass could be destined to All Saints' Day Liturgy; among the readings for that day stand the ''Book of Revelation (7:2-12)'' and the gospel is taken from ''Matthew (5)'',
the sermon of beatitudes.
Style
The mass presents sections written with different compositional techniques and style; the
cantus firmus
In music, a ''cantus firmus'' ("fixed melody") is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.
The plural of this Latin term is , although the corrupt form ''canti firmi'' (resulting from the grammatically incorrect tre ...
technique coexists with ''ostinato'' passages as well as more free counterpoint.
The aforementioned ''Gaudeamus Omnes'' introit, transposed up a fifth, is quoted rather unchanged in the cantus firmus at the tenor up to ''"Mariae Virginis"'' in the ''Kyrie'', completely in the ''Gloria'' and the ''Credo''. However, borrowings from this melodic material appear in all voices, most notably the ''Gaudeamus'' intonation appears in many variations (Planchart classifies 10 different variations,
) in all voices, involved in ostinato passages (e.g. ''Kyrie I'', ''Et in terra'', ''Sanctus'', ''Osanna'', ''Agnus III''); other fragments of the chant can be heard in the other voices as well, e.g. in ''Kyrie II'' this is used by superius and bass to anticipate the entrance of the tenor on the same motif.
The treatment of the cantus firmus itself is not uniform, as, often, the tenor, rather than sustaining the other voices with long notes, follows their rhythmic gestures (e.g. ''Christe'', ''Kyrie II'', second half of ''Gloria''). Similarly, in many sections an ordered imitative pattern flows into more free counterpoint as the section develops (e.g. in ''Christe'', second section of ''Credo (Et incarnatus)'', ''Sanctus'').
A recurrent, oscillatory pattern between two pitches (e.g. superius, tenor in ''Kyrie I'', superius in ''Gloria'', tenor in ''Et in spiritum'') which is another distinctive melodic element of many passages in the mass, can be derived from a similar treatment of words such as ''omnes'' and ''domino'' in the introit.
This less rigid utilization of the pre-existing material in addition to cantus firmus anticipates the
paraphrasing technique which will be widely adopted in the last
Missa Pange lingua.
Regarding the style of the mass,
Jeremy Noble says it ''"combines cantus-firmus techniques and those of ostinato with vigour and inventiveness"'' while Planchart
stresses the ''"abundance of melodic and rhythmic invention that seems to grow unchecked by any rational plan"'' and relates its style to the masses of
Obtrecht.
The same author identifies two macro-units in the mass,
evidencing close compositional procedures, one being the group of sections Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus, the other being the Gloria and Credo; when coming to the tonal classification of the mass, Planchart avoids to classify simply the mass as in
dorian mode
Dorian mode or Doric mode can refer to three very different but interrelated subjects: one of the Ancient Greek ''harmoniai'' (characteristic melodic behaviour, or the scale structure associated with it); one of the medieval musical modes; or—mo ...
transposed by a fifth on A, bringing examples of its modal richness and complexity (a typical characteristic among late 15th-century polyphony), for instance borrowings from the
Phrygian mode in the ''Credo''.
Notes
Sources (references)
References
External links and resources
(features also a recording of the mass by Collegium Musicum, University of Kansas)
{{Authority control
Masses by Josquin des Prez
Renaissance music