Josquin

Josquin used the Pange lingua melody in his Mass, Missa Pange lingua. In this essay, I would analyse the way he had used the melody in the Agnus Dei section of his Mass and explore how he had used other techniques such as canon, imitation, sequence, repetition and duetting.

Josquin used an example of canon to start the Agnus Dei of his mass. A canon is a strict imitation between two or more parts which the intervals between notes are exactly the same. At the beginning of the Angus Dei, Josquin also used the first four notes of the first bar of the Pange lingua (E-E-F-E). Comparing to other sections, the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo are started with a Tenor whereas the Sanctus is started with a Superius, the Agnus Dei is started with an Altus, which
This is when a melody which has the same rhythmic and melodic pattern being repeated within one part only. In bar 18, there is an example of sequence in the Superius. It firstly starts with three Gs, then a leap to E, followed by a stepwise movement to G, then back to A. This pattern appears immediately at the same bar after a minim rest, starts with A. However, this is not an exact sequence since it does not leap to a sixth but a fourth (F-Bb). The final pattern appears in bar 22, again after a minim rest, beginning on G. At the same time, there is imitation between the Superius and Tenor, which creates a ‘stretto’, which a subject is stated in one voice and then imitated in one or more other voices, but with the imitation starting before the subject has finished. Therefore, it is a kind of contrapuntal style. This is again the element of the Pange lingua, which is taken from the fifth bar of the cantus firmus. Another example of sequence is between bars 136 and 141. The phrase is firstly sung by the Tenor, preparing towards an element of the cantus firmus at bar 137 in the Superius, which is the fifth bar of the Pange lingua (G-G-G-F-E-D-E) again. This phrase is echoed by the other three parts, which the imitation is occurring. Sequences are used in their own parts: twice in the Superius and Tenor; once in the Altus and Bassus. Again there is an example of
So while using the same materials, how did Josquin create excitement for the listeners? Josquin successfully did that by re-arranging, adding embellishments, creating various textures and harmonizing by different chord progressions the original Pange lingua. A few of examples, from bars 5 to 7, there is an embellished second half of the first bar of the Pange lingua in the Tenor. There are several repetitions of the notes (B, A, G), which appear in the second half of the second bar of Pange lingua. The use of these notes also can be found in bar 89 and 113 in the Bassus and Superius respectively. The fourth bar of the Pange lingua has been used in the Agnus Dei as well, such as between bars 13 and 15 and between bars 153 and 155 in the