Josquin des Prez: Ave Maria

A motet for four voices

Form:
Through-composed
*No repetition of large musical sections; new material follows new material.

Harmony:
Consonance
*Josquin avoids dissonance to achieve a character of serenity and devotion.
*Most phrases and sections of the piece center around the same keynote (tonic) -
only one section differs (“Ave praeclara omnibus” - near the end of the
piece).

Melody:
*A variety of phrase lengths
*The most common melodic motion is stepwise (conjunct).
*Each section of the piece begins with new melodic material

Rhythm:
*Regular pulse (beat) throughout
*Less complex rhythms are favored - smoother motion
*Meter change from duple to triple meter (“Ave vera virginitas” - theological meaning)
*Tempo is medium (Andante-ish)

Texture:
Polyphonic and Chordal Harmony
*Josquin freely moves between the two textures. Short sections of Chordal
Harmony are used alternately with longer polyphonic sections.
*He uses imitative counterpoint.
Density
*Josquin varies the density of the texture; sometimes thin (one or two voices),
sometimes thick (all voices together).

Word Painting
*Josquin is concerned about clarity, and with “coloring” the words with the right musical
sounds to bring out the meaning of the text.
“Ave” - beginning, letter A, letter B, etc.
“Solemni” - measure 40
“Nova replet laetitia”
“O Mater Dei”