Jennifer Smith Black and Drs. Joseph Parry, Harrison Powley, Humanities, Classics and Comp. Lit.
Renaissance humanism was the central philosophy and ordering principle of the era. It had a profound influence on all the art and philosophy of the time. It is easy to see humanism translated into painting and architecture, but much more difficult to find it in Renaissance music. Since humanism was such a pervasive influence, however, it must have had as significant an effect on Renaissance music as it did on the other arts. Finding the link between humanism and music in the Renaissance was my goal in this research. To do so, I focused on the life and works of Josquin des Prez (ca. 1440-1521), one of the foremost composers of his time, hoping that his music might provide viable evidences of humanism, thus making a connection with all the other Renaissance arts.
The Renaissance was a literal rebirth of classical culture. Artists and philosophers found in the works of ancient Greece and Rome a wealth of ideas on which to base their own cultural innovations. They were interested especially in the classical world’s celebration of human beings and their potential. Humanism aimed at reaching the limits of this potential, at helping people develop into the most desirable type of beings, the most human. The humanists strove to create art that would have a profound positive effect on the people that experienced it.
This desire to affect people was translated into the arts in many different ways. For example, the use of perspective in painting, the central plan in architecture, and a renewed interest in rhetoric in speech and writing were all products of humanism’s influence. The artists who explored these new aesthetic styles had different motivations, but all of them appear to have one common goal: eloquence. This element is equally pervasive in the music of the Renaissance and provides a strong link between humanism in all the arts.
Classical philosophers and artists lauded eloquence as a power that could lift people and move them to virtuous action. Based on such classical models, Renaissance humanists sought to affect people through their works. Pico della Mirandola did it through writing. Brunelleschi used architecture. Josquin used music. All of them used their arts to move people through eloquence.
As a musician, Josquin did not have the same access that other humanists did to real, concrete classical examples of his art simply because they did not exist. Without any musical scores from the ancient world, Renaissance composers like Josquin were left to interpret classical music theory as best they could. In all his compositions, but especially in his motets, Josquin pursued the ideal of classical eloquence through music.
Although Flemish by birth, Josquin spent a major portion of his career at the Italian courts, surrounded by the influence of humanists and humanism. He composed in all the musical genres of the age— a true ‘Renaissance man’— but he found in his motets (one-movement religious pieces) the greatest opportunities to develop and implement his innovations. In his motets, he used music to enhance the affective power of texts and also to move listeners to virtuous action. The eloquence and beauty of his music sets it apart from most medieval music and marks the beginning of a new era of composition.
This desire for musical eloquence led Josquin to compose in a new way. Instead of making the text follow the music, he composed music to follow the texts of his pieces. He chose the mode (or key) that created the mood best suited to the words. Sometimes, this meant composing contrary to accepted musical rules, but he justified this deviation by making the text most important. After deciding on the right mode, he used specific intervals — in differing degrees of consonance and dissonance — to declaim the text in the most effective and beautiful way.
In order to make texts understandable, both literally and aesthetically, Josquin used several new techniques. Using short melodic motives, he made sure that listeners could easily understand what was being sung. He also used word painting — matching the shape and mood of each musical phrase to the words it accompanied — to enhance the texts effective ability.
The motet Ave Maria … Virgo serena exemplifies Josquin’s eloquence. It demonstrates word painting, a freedom from modal restrictions, a fascinating interplay of consonance and dissonance, and sections of musical imitation; all are aimed at an eloquent declamation of words, expressing the text in such a way that it sounds simple, clear, and exquisitely beautiful.
Josquin’s motets display that music was as much a part of the Renaissance as the other arts. The humanist influence, especially with its focus on eloquence, contributed to innovative compositions that led to the creation of an entirely new musical language. The concept of eloquence links Renaissance music to Renaissance art and philosophy and provides valuable insights into Josquin’s remarkable compositions.