Overview

The Josquin Companion presents both the scholarly and general reader with the most complete and concentrated discussion ever published in English on the music of Josquin des Prez (c.1450-1521) - the greatest composer of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Not a standard, single-author life and works, the volume provides a basic survey of Josquin's music and of the many problems which attend it. Through a collaborative effort of distinguished scholars, it takes into account the most recent research on Josquin. Beginning with a summary of the latest developments in the composer's constantly-changing biography and a discussion of his stature as a great man then and now, the Companion continues with chapters considering all the compositional genres employed by Josquin and offers wide-ranging surveys as well as close studies of individual pieces. Further chapters explore both traditional and untraditional analytical perspectives on Josquin's music, and suggest new avenues of research. A Worklist, Bibliography, and Annotated Discography (the first since the advent of the compact disc and the concurrent explosion of early music recording) end the book.

Full Product Details

9780198163350

Table of Contents

Reviews

... a comprehensive account, based on the latest scholarship ... aimed at both specialists in Renaissance musicology and students of music history generally ... benefits from the strengths of a multi-author approach. Renaissance Quarterly Impressive in terms of its overall conception and organisation ... provides a tremendous amount of well-informed information about a lot of music ... the Companion is both timely and, for the right audience, extremely valuable, for it presents a clear exposition of the state and character of present-day Josquin scholarship and what makes it tick. Musical Times The most important musicological contribution in the last 35 years to the life and work of undoubtedly one of the greatest composers of all time. This volume consists of 18 articles examining the life of the composer from very different angles. Its contributors include specialists of the stature of Bonnie J. Blackburn, Willem Elders, David Fallows, Ludwig Finscher, Alejandro Planchart, Richard Sherr, Rob C. Wegman and others, all cleverly chosen and co-ordinated by Sherr, who himself wrote six of the articles. Maricarmen Gomez, Early Music Magazine The contributors to The Josquin Companion are some of the finest scholars in its subject area ... readers will find [it] a superb example of the current state of work on some of the best music of 500 years ago. Times Literary Supplement The contributors here are a roll-call of the finest scholars working in the field, and the volume is far more valuable as a testimony to the diversity of current scholarship than as the expression of a single authorial voice. Edward Wickham, Classical Music This splendid, multi-authored collection of essays ... It also adds a biographical coup of its own: the frontispiece (and cover) is a photograph of a recently uncovered wall in the Sistine Chapel where Josquin has apparently scratched his own name. BBC Music Magazine The Josquin Companion should have a long shelf life as a major work of reference. Sixteeenth Century Journal

... a comprehensive account, based on the latest scholarship ... aimed at both specialists in Renaissance musicology and students of music history generally ... benefits from the strengths of a multi-author approach. Renaissance Quarterly Impressive in terms of its overall conception and organisation ... provides a tremendous amount of well-informed information about a lot of music ... the Companion is both timely and, for the right audience, extremely valuable, for it presents a clear exposition of the state and character of present-day Josquin scholarship and what makes it tick. Musical Times The most important musicological contribution in the last 35 years to the life and work of undoubtedly one of the greatest composers of all time. This volume consists of 18 articles examining the life of the composer from very different angles. Its contributors include specialists of the stature of Bonnie J. Blackburn, Willem Elders, David Fallows, Ludwig Finscher, Alejandro Planchart, Richard Sherr, Rob C. Wegman and others, all cleverly chosen and co-ordinated by Sherr, who himself wrote six of the articles. The companion is ideally complemented by a CD performed by The Clerk's Group under the direction of Edward Wickham. It includes 12 of Josquin's most popular works selected from the many discussed in the close to 700 pages, the most up-to-date information and the most authoritative opinions about the Virgil of music . Maricarmen Gomez, Early Music Magazine The contributors to The Josquin Companion are some of the finest scholars in its subject area ... readers will find [it] a superb example of the current state of work on some of the best music of 500 years ago. Times Literary Supplement The contributors here are a roll-call of the finest scholars working in the field, and the volume is far more valuable as a testimony to the diversity of current scholarship than as the expression of a single authorial voice. Edward Wickham, Classical Music This splendid, multi-authored collection of essays ... It also adds a biographical coup of its own: the frontispiece (and cover) is a photograph of a recently uncovered wall in the Sistine Chapel where Josquin has apparently scratched his own name ... try the marvellous works on the accompanying CD. BBC Music Magazine The Josquin Companion should have a long shelf life as a major work of reference. Sixteeenth Century Journal

`The contributors to The Josquin Companion are some of the finest scholars in its subject area ... readers will find [it] a superb example of the current state of work on some of the best music of 500 years ago.' Times Literary Supplement, September 7 2001 `As a summary of where Josquin scholarship is at, The Josquin Companion is a huge success.' Edward Wickham, Classical Music `The contributors here are a roll-call of the finest scholars working in the field, and the volume is far more valuable as a testimony to the diversity of current scholarship than as the expression of a single authorial voice.' Edward Wickham, Classical Music 27/02/2002 `try the marvellous works on the accompanying CD' BBC Music Magazine `It also adds a biographical coup of its own: the frontispiece (and cover) is a photograph of a recently uncovered wall in the Sistine Chapel where Josquin has apparently scratched his own name' BBC Music Magazine `this splendid, multi-authored collection of essays' BBC Music Magazine

Author Information

Richard Sherr is Professor of Music at Smith College, USA

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available