MISERERE MEI, DEUS

Miserere mei, Deus: translation

Monumental five-voicedmotetofJosquin Desprezprobably composed for Holy Week services of 1504 at the chapel of Duke Ercole d’Este of Ferrara. The text isPsalm51 (Vulgate 50), subdivided into threepartesof the motet. Josquin sets the wordsMiserere mei, Deus("Have mercy on me, O God") to a monotoniccantus firmusthat he invented after the manner of apsalm tone. This cantus firmus recurs periodically through the singing of the psalm, like anantiphon, except that the pitch of its monotone changes, falling through the eight tones of the Phrygian (E)modein the firstpars, rising back up the octave in the second, and falling down a perfect fifth to A, the tonal center of the work, in the climactic last section. The piece is thus a unique and ingenious application of cantus firmus andimitativetechnique. It lasts about 15 minutes.

See alsoTenebrae.