“Josquin may be said to be, in music, a prodigy of nature, as our Michelangelo has been in architecture.” So ran the text of Certon’s deploration on the death of Josquin des Prez. Although Josquin spent many years working away from France, in his sixties he returned there to work at the court of Louis XII. It is in a recreation of a Sainte Chapelle service that Josquin’s simple and affecting Missa d’ung aultre amer is placed in this performance. The Missa d’ung aultre amer forms the framework of a Palm Sunday mass, in which the gospel is an austerely dramatic setting of the St Matthew Passion composed by a pupil of Josquin’s, Claudin de Sermisy. Restoring the highly idiomatic style of Latin used in France during the 16th century is a significant factor in recreating the unique sound world of composers such as Sermisy, and the choir employed such pronunciation in this concert and throughout the Printemps a Paris series.
