CMME Repertory Access

Editorial Projects

The Other Josquin: Music Excluded from the New Josquin Edition
ed. Marnix van Berchum, Theodor Dumitrescu, Jesse Rodin, and Reinier de Valk

Conflicting and doubtful composer attributions are a common phenomenon in early repertories, but the problem is particularly acute with the output of Josquin des Prez (c. 1450-1521), the foremost musical authority figure of the 16th century. Many pieces which at some point were transmitted in manuscripts and prints bearing Josquin's name were in fact not composed by him - the products of scribal mistakes, forgery, or deliberate rebranding of anonymous compositions for commercial purposes. These compositions have accordingly not been included in the latest publication of Josquin's opera omnia. The matter is far from unambiguous, however; the problems of determining which pieces really are authentic is a veritable scholarly minefield in which academic opinion changes constantly. The present edition begins the work of making these excluded pieces available for study, containing in an initial phase (February to June 2011) critical editions of 40 sacred compositions. In this way the project aims to address a pressing musicological concern, providing materials both necessary for the evaluation of the Josquin "canon" and aesthetically valuable in their own right.

Contents

Compositions
Sources
Introduction

Edited Compositions

Sources

Introduction

June 2011: More editions available, and the first tests of visualizing CMME metadata with the InContext visualizer. Try it here.

May 2011: Editions are starting to go online in a first version. Still to come: expanded critical apparatus and commentary.

February 2011: The project has begun. Music editions will begin appearing on this page at the beginning of May 2011. For development updates from the project team, see the project blog.

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