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RETROGRADE, INVERSION,RETROGRADE-INVERSION, ANDRELATED TECHNIQUES IN THEMASSES OF JACOB US OB REC HT

By R . LA RRY TO D D

ONE WOULD NOT expect a pioneer of modern music to seek

historical precedent in compositions more than four hundred

years removed from his own work. Yet Anton von Webern, in a lec-

ture delivered on March 2, 1932, from the series Der Weg zur neuen

Musik, showed an active awareness of the past and its relation to his

music when he described the "particularly intimate unity" of his

Symph ony, Op us 21 (1928). Sum m arizing the funda me ntal stru ctu re

of the final movement as a "double canon by retrograde," he con-cluded : "Gr eate r unity is impossible. Even the Neth erlande r^ di dn 't

manage it ."1

By "Nethe r landers" W ebern was undou btedly referring

primarily to Heinrich Isaac, whose Choralis Constantinus — a monu-

m enta l cycle design ed especially for the pro pe r of the Mass — dis-

plays a superabundance of learned contrapuntal devices. Webern

had edited the second part of this cycle for the Denkmdler der Ton-

kunst in Osterreich, and for him it represented the intellectual sum-

mit of the "Netherlander" polyphonic art .2

Th is study is a revised and ex pand ed version of a paper read at the New Englan d

Chapter meeting of the American Musicological Society in New Haven on April 10,

1976. The author wishes to express his gratitude for the gracious assistance and sug-

gestions of Professors. Craig W righ t, Leon Plan tinga , and C laude Palisca of Y ale

University.1 Anton von Webern, "The Path to Twelve-Note Composi tion," in The Path to

the New Music, ed. W ill i Reich (Bryn M awr, 1968), p. 56.

2Z)TO , Bd. 32, Jahrga ng XV I/1 (Vienna, 1909). W ebem 's summary of Isaac's

contrapuntal artistry appears in the Einleitung, p. x. A study of Webern's appreciation

of music history is provided by Scott Goldthwaite, in "Historical Awareness in AntonW e b e m ' s Symphony, Op. 21," Essays in Musicology in Honor of Dragan Plamenac on

His 70th Birthday, ed. Gustave Reese, R. J. Snow (Pittsburgh, Pa., 1969), pp . 65-81.

50

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Te chn ique s in the Masses of Jacob us O brech t 51

Isaac was, of course, not the only Netherlander composer to at-

tain a mastery of such a specialized polyphonic craft. Webern could

have found in Jacobus Obrecht a figure equally suitable for his pro-vocative historical comparisons. Several of the approximately twenty-

five Masses definitely ascribed to O brecht offer ex am ples in which

the cantus firraus is ordered according to a precalculated plan simi-

lar to our modern notion of serialism.8

In these works the cantus

firraus, in addition to being heard in its original form, is also stated

in retrograde, arranged in inverted order, or, by combining the two

properties, presented simultaneously in an inverted and retrograde

fashion. On occasion Obrecht employs transposition, either of the

original cantus firmus — which is, of course, consistent w ith the in-creasing theoretical recognition of modal transposition at this time

— or of a deriva tive version of the cantus firmus. O ften these elabora-

tions are concisely effected by verbal canons without notating in full

the new form of the cantus firmus. However, if the canon calls for

especially elaborate changes, then the new, derived cantus firmus

may be written out to ensure proper execution. For example, the

Et incarnatus of the Missa Graecorum, which survives in a single

printed source (Petrucci 's Misse Obreht of 1503), requ ire s extens iveadjustment of the cantus firmus by means of a canonic inscription.

To avoid possible error, Petrucci provides both the canon and

its realization. F our othe r Masses of Ob rec ht th at illu strate c anonic-

ally produced techniques of retrograde, inversion, or retrograde-

inversion are L'homme arm<i, De tous bien plaine, Fortuna desper-

ata, and Petrus Apostolus*

3 It must be stressed that in this study, "serialism" on ly applies in the general

sense to the organization of musical material through the use of retrograde, inversion,

or retrograde-inversion. There is no attempt here to search for twelve-tone procedures

in the fifteenth century. Yet it is interesting to note in passing that Webern's mentor,

Arnold Schoenberg, was also intrigued by the contribution of the Netherlanders,

whose influence was exercised in a strange manner in the curious Doppelt Spiegel-

und Schlussel-Kanon for vier Stimen gesetzet auf niedcrlandsche Art [sic], composed

in 1922. A facsimile of this curious miniature is in Arnold Schoenberg Gedenkau sstel-

lung 1974, ed. Ernst Hilm ar (Vienn a, 1974), p. 148.

* An additional Mass, the Missa Salve diva parens, discussed below, does not

transmit specific verbal canons but does contain passages organized according to

serial procedures. A Magnificat ascribed to Obrecht displays some evidence of inver-

sion in the setting of its eighth verset. The authenticity of this work, however, is in

question. (See Sister Mary Ellen Nagle, "The Structural Role of the Cantus Finnus

in the Motets of Jacob Obrecht" [PhD. diss., University of Michigan, 1972], p. 102.)

More promising is an anonymous Mass that is based on the chanson N'arai je jamais of

Rob ert Morton and em ploys inversion of the cantus firmus in the A gnu s .Dei. C on-

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52 T h e Musical Q uarte rly

A n u m b er of oth er O brech t Masses exh ibit o the r cantus-firmus

transformations that, while differing from strict "serial" procedure,

also portray the composer as an "uncompromising rationalist whoprefers to use . . . eith er a literal qu ota tio n of th e origin al melody

or a schematically manipulated version of it. . . ." 5 One of these

stratagems favored by Obrecht is the segmentation of the cantus

firmus as, for example, in the Masses Maria zart, De tous bien plaine,

Malheur me bat, Rose playsante, Je ne demande, and Si dedero. A

variant of the cantus firmus occurs when the composer rearranges

the order of the fragments, distributing them either among the vari-

ous voices, as in the Missa Maria zart, or in one voice, as in the

Missa De tous bien plaine. In the Sanctus of this Mass, eight state-

ments of the cantus firmus are rotated to form the following se-

que nce, not qu ite an exact retrograd e: 1, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. T hr ou gh

yet another process Obrecht designates the reordering of the cantus

firmus according to rhythmic values, as he does in both the Missa De

tous bien plaine and the Missa Graecorum. Such a conscious applica-

tion of predetermined, ordered elements shows Obrecht's concern

for formal unity within the cyclic Mass. To be sure, this fascination

with a strict serial-like regulation of the cantus firmus is not uniquein the late fifteenth century. And even before Obrecht's time, com-

posers practiced techniques such as retrograde-inversion, in addition

to the more frequently used retrograde and inversion. A brief re-

view of this tradition may help to place Obrecht's contribution in

historical perspective. To this end a list appended to this study pre-

sents in approximate chronological order some other relevant ex-

amples from contemporaries of Obrecht, as well as before and after

him. (See Table 1.)Of the three procedures, retrograde motion appears to have been

the first to be cultivated widely by composers. In a two-part sub-

sidered with the fragmentation of the cantus firmus in the earlier movements, a de-vice characteristic of the composer, this strongly suggests Obrecht as the composer.For discussion see Martin Staehelin, "Moglichkeiten und praktische Anwendung derVerfasserbestimmung an anonym uberlieferten Kom positionen de r Josqu in-Zeit," inTijdschrift van de Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis (TVNM), XXIII

(1973), 87; idem, "Obrechtiana," in TVNM, XXV (1975), 3-5; and Martin Jus t, DerMensu ralkodex Mus. ms. 40021 der Staalsbibliothek P reussischer Kullurbesiti Berlin,Vol. I, (Tu tzin g, 1975), 297 f. A third related Mass is the Je ne demande. See n. 21below.

5 Edward H. Sparks, Cantus Firmus in Mass and Motet 1420-1520 (Berkeley, Calif.,

1963), p. 254.


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Te ch niq ue s in the Masses of Jaco bus Ob recht 53

stitute clausula based on the tenor word Dominus from the mid-

thirteenth century manuscript Florence Pluteo 29. 1, the syllables

are found in reverse order (Nusmido), indicating to the performer

that for a correct rendition the chant is to be executed backwards. 6

The repertory of the fourteenth century offers at least three crab

canons: two works from the manuscript Strasbourg Bibliotheque

de la Ville 222 C. 22, J'ai mis ce rondelet and Tres douls amis,7

and

the well-known rondeau Ma fin est mon commencement by Gui-

llaume de Machaut. A late fourteenth-century source, the Chantilly

Manuscript , provides a pal indrome in the anonymous motet Ami-

cum quaerit, while the Old Hall Manuscript contains an anonymous

Credo that employs retrograde motion as well.8

Two early fifteenth-century m anusc ripts, Bologna Q 15 and Oxford Can onici 213, trans-

mit motets with retrograde techniques by Richard Loqueville and

Domenico da Ferrara,9

respectively. The former piece bears the

canon, tenor isle dicitur sicut iacet 2° retrogradendo .

While the use of a retrograde ordering is manifest as early as

the mid-thirteenth century, inversion and retrograde-inversion ap-

pear less frequently. Manfred Bukofzer was the first to discover

mirror inversion in an anonymous Gloria from the "Fountains Frag-m en t"; th e pro ced ure is specified there by the canon , hie tenor est

arsis et contra sit tibi thesis. If Bukofzer's dating of the fragment is

accepted, then the Gloria may originate from as early as 1420.10

A

more famous example of inversion is the isorhythmic motet of Duns-

8 Fresh evidence on the dating of this manuscript is given in R. A. Baltzar,"Thirteenth-Century Illuminated Miniatures and the Date of the Florence Manu-script," in Journal of the Am erican M usicological Society, XXV (1972), 15. For dis-cussion of the Nusmido clausula, see Friedrich Ludwig, "Die mehrstimmige Musik des

14. Jahrhundem," in Sammelbdnde der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft, IV (1903), 30;and Manfred Bukofzer, "Speculative Thinking in Mediaeval Music," in Speculum,XVII (1942), 176.

7 An additional fourteenth-century work formerly thought to use retrograde mo-tion may be mentioned briefly. Talent met pris was printed as a crab canon in Fried-rich Kammerer, Die M usikstucke des Prager Kodex X I E 9 (Augsburg, 1931), pp. 137-40. This interpretation was corrected by Nino Pirrotta in "Per 1'origine c la storiadella 'caccia' c del 'madrigale' trecentesco," Rivista Musicale Italiana, XLVIII (1946),318; and Jacques Handschin in "The Sumer Canon and itj Background," Musica

Disdplina, III (1949), 80-81.

S Cf. Manfred Bukofzer, "The Music of the Old Hall Manuscript," in Studies in

Medieval and Renaissance Music (New York, 1950), p. 66.9 Facsimile of the latter is in J. F. R. Stainer, ed., Dufay and His Contemporaries

(London, 1898), PI. 8.

i°See Manfred Bukofzer, "Th e Fou ntains Fragment," Studies in Medieval andRenaissance Music, pp. 92 f. and 108.


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54 T h e Musical Qu arterly

table found in the manuscripts Trent 92 and Modena Biblioteca

Estense lat. 471, Veni sancte spiritus et emitte. According to the ver-

bal directive, the three taleae of the ten or are to be perfo rm ed first

as written, then inverted, and finally by means of retrograde-inver-

sion with a transposition a fifth below (et dicitur primo direcle,

secundo subvertere lineam, tertio revertere remittendo terciam par-

tem et capies dyapen the si vis habere tenorem).11 Noteworthy here is

the combination of retrograde-inversion with transposition; the same

device occurs in Obrecht's Missa Graecorum.

A glance at the register of works in Table 1 shows that only rarely

did the three "serial" operations appear within the oeuvre of a single

composer. Dunstable seems to have restricted his experiments to oneisorhythmic motet; Dufay resorted only to the retrograde procedure

in his Missa L'homme arme; while Ockeghem, the composer of the

erudite Missa P rolationum, was not interested in these techniques.12

In striking contrast to the works of these men are those of Antoine

Busnois, an important composer directly associated with Obrecht.

No less than six compositions of Busnois illustrate these methods.

And if the extraordinary series of anonymous L'homme arme' Masses

preserved in the Neapolitan manuscript, Biblioteca Nazionale MSV I. E. 40, are in fact by Busnois, then his imp ortan ce as a com poser

who is interested, like Obrecht, in "serial" manipulation of the cantus

firmus is greatly enhanced. Five of the six Masses in this source trans-

mit canons that designate retrograde, inversion, and retrograde-in-

version presentations of the famed tune.18

A measure of support for

Busnois's authorship is the fact that the same version of the L'homme

11 Two fragmenu by Dunstable which are of related interest and both of which

are isorhythmic may be noted in passing here. The first, found in British LibraryMS Add. 31922, bears the following inscription: a dorio tenor hie ascendens essevidetur quater per genera tetrachordum repetelur. The second, an isorhythmic for-mula consisting of ascending and descending tetrachords, is located in a version ofthe treatise, Libellus cantus mensurabilis, ascribed to Johannis de Muris. The twoitems are available in John Dunstable, Complete Works, ed. Manfred Bukofzer, 2ndrev. ed. (Lo ndo n, 1970), pp . 94, 156.

'2 A Missa Pour quelque paine, which employs inversion and retrograde canonsin the Sanctus and Agnus Dei, is attrib uted to Ockeghem in one ma nuscr ipt (BrusselsBibliothfrque royale, MS 5557), but is evidently the work of one Cornelius Heyns. SeeDragan Plamenac, "A Postscript to Volume II of the Collected Works of Johannes

Ockeghem," Journal of the American Musicological Society, II I (1950), S4 f." T h e basic study of this manuscript remains Jud ith Cohen, The Six Anonymous

L'homm e Armi Masses in Na ples, Hiblioteca Nazionale, MS VI E 40 (n.p.: AmericanInstitu e of M usicology, 1968). Evidence that points to Busnois as the com poser of th eMasses is summarized there on pages 62-71.


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Te chn iqu es in the Masses of Jacob us Ob recht 55

arme melody is used as a cantus firmus in the well-known L'homme

arme Mass definitely determined to be by Busnois. This composi-

tion displays inversion in the Agnus Dei according to the canonicru le , Ubi thesis assint sceptra ibi arsis et e contra, and is, in turn,

closely related to Obrecht's Mass on the same tenor.

Busnois's motet, In hydraulis, which dates from before 1467,14

derives its tenor from a three-note figure — d-c-d, a-g-a, d'-c'-d', a-g-a,

d-c-d — that may be interpreted as a large-scale palindrome. George

Perle noted the presence of motivic inversion in the rondeau, Je suis

venu vers mon ami,™ and more recently Albert Seay has detected

retrograde, inverted, and retrograde-inversion patterns in Busnois's

hymn setting, Conditor alme siderum.16 A work of Busnois printed

in the Odhecaton, J'ai pris amours tout au rebours, depends upon

an inverted form of an external tenor for its own cantus firmus, in

this case, the tune, J'ai pris amours.11 Finally, the bergerette, Main-

tes femmes, also published by Petrucci, contains some rather recon-

dite riddle canons that require of the performer a knowledge of the

Guidonian hand just to generate the cantus firmus, which is sub-

sequently presented in both "prime" and retrograde forms.18

The extensive application of retrograde, inversion, and retro-

grade-inversion in the music of Busnois and Obrecht may point to a

close musical association between the two composers. We know that

both musicians were in Bruges around 1490, Busnois as rector can-

n In the text Busnois is referred to as the indignum musicum of Charles, Countof Charolais, who became Duke of Burgundy in 1467. The only discussion of Busnois'smotets remains that of Edward H. Sparks, "The Motets of Antoine Busnois," Journal

of the American Musicological Society, VI (1953), 216-26.18

George Pcrle, "The Chansons of Antoine Busnois," Music Review, XI (1950), 94.An analysis of the rondeau is in Putnam Aldrich, "An Approach to the Analysis ofRenaissance Music," Music Review XXX (1969), 12-16.

16 Albert Seay, "The Conditor Alme Siderum by Busnois," Quadrivium, X II(1971), 225-34.

17Table 1 shows two other pieces in which reordered versions of separate tenors

are used for the structural voice. The tenor of Ghizeghem's popular rondeau De tous

bien plaine is inverted in a setting by Ja p an (No. 36), and the anonymo us A quoi

passerai (No. 15) has an inverted form of a rondeau teno r from the D ijon Chan-sonnier. The latter work, possibly by Busnois, was recently discovered in a Lillearchive. See Craig W righ t, "An Exam ple of Inversion from the C ircle of Dufay,"

in Papers read at the D ufay Quincentenary Conference, Brooklyn College Decem ber6-7, 1974, ed. Allan W . Atlas (Brooklyn , 1976), pp . 144-48.

18The solution to Busnois's puzzle was supplied by Helen Hewitt in "The Two

Puzzle Canons in Busnois' Maintes femmes," Jou rnal o f the A merican Musicological

Society, X (1957), 104-10. See also Ca the rine Brooks, "A nto ine Busnois as a Composerof C hansons" (Ph .D. diss., New York University, 1951), p . 129-32.


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56 T he Musical Qu arterly

loriae at Saint Sauveur, and Obrecht as a succentor at Saint Dona-

tian.19 It is very possible that O bre cht h ad become acq uain ted with

Busnois's work even earlier in his career while in Cambrai duringthe years 1484 an d 1485. Busnois himself ha d pro bab ly acco m panie d

the Count of Charolais, the future Charles the Bold, to Cambrai on

nu m ero us occasions d ur in g the 1460s, an d his mu sic was part of th e

repertory of the cathedral choir.20 Thus it is not surprising that sev-

eral Obrecht Masses derive their cantus firmi from Busnois chan-

sons,21

while one Mass, the L'homme armc, was probably directly

modeled after Busnois's Mass on the same tenor.

There are many similarities between the two L'homme armc

Masses that disclose Obrecht's debt to Busnois,22 but several details

concerning the organization of the cantus firmus point to Obrecht's

role as more than that of an imitator. Busnois applies both trans-

position and inversion: the tenor is transposed a fourth below in

the Patrem of the Credo, while in the Agnus Dei the cantus firmus

is inverted, the first half of the melody being presented in Agnus

Dei I, the second half in Agnus Dei III. Obrecht follows closely

Busnois's arrangement of the cantus firmus in the corresponding

sections, but introduces some modifications as well. In the Credothe melody is transposed not a fourth but a fifth lower. This is

18 Georges van Doorslaer, "La Chapellc musicale de Philippe le Beau," Revue

Beige d'Archiologie, IV (1934), 21-57 and 139-65. A summary of th e docu me ntaryevidence is in Bain Mun-ay, "Jacob Obrecht's Connection with the Church of OurLady in Antwerp," Revue Beige de Musicologie, XI (1957), 125-33. Of rela ted interestis idem, "New Light on Jacob Obrecht's Development — a Biographical Study,"The Musical Quarterly, XLIII (1957), 500-516.

w

For documentary references to Charles's visits to Cambrai, see Craig Wright,"Dufay at Cambrai: Discoveries and Revisions," Journal of the American MuiicologicalSociety, XX VIII (1975), 208-9.

Ji Missae Je ne demande, Fortuna desperata, an d Diversorum tenorum. The firstMass is transmitted with two versions of the second Agnus Dei, one in Munich,Staatsbibliothek Codex 3154 and the other, a print, in Petnicci's Misse Obreht. Ina recent study ("Problems of Transmission in Obrecht's Missa Je ne demande," TheMusical Quarterly, LX III [1977], 211-23). Thom as Noblitt argues convincingly forthe Munich manuscript as the authentic source. In that version, interestingly enough,Busnois's melody is not only segmented, but executed in a retrograde order as well.

The latter of the three Masses (Diversorum tenorum) borrows from three Busnois

chansons: Joye me fuit, Accordes moy, and Mon moignault. The only critical editionof these works remains Catherine Brooks, "Antoine Busnois as a Composer of Chan-sons"; a summary of her research is in "Antoine Busnois, Chanson Composer,"Journal of the American Musicological Society, VT (1953), 111-35.

MCf. Oliver Strunk, "Origins of the 'LTiornme arme' Mass," Bulletin of the

American Musicological Society, II (1937), 25.


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Te chn iqu es in the Masses of Jacobu s Ob recht 57

necessary because a transposition a fourth below Obrecht's Phrygian

version of the L'homme armi melody would produce an awkward

modal construction on B, one that would conspicuously display the

much-dreaded diabolus in musica. Obrecht's choice of transposition

bears on other matters as well. For one thing, it creates a good bit

of voice crossing between the tenor and bass parts, so that at the

end of the Et incarnatus section the tenor voice actually assumes the

cadential function of the bass. More significant, the trap.position a

fifth lower is compatible with the cadential structure of the Mass.

Though Obrecht continually casts the L'homme armi tune in the

Phrygian mode, he just as consistently executes the principal ca-

dences not on E but on A; therefore, a statement of the melody inits Aeolian form seems particularly appropriate. In comparison,

Busnois's Mass, which is set in a transposed Dorian mode on G, main-

tains cadences on G throughout with one exception, a cadence on D

that occurs at the close of the Et incamatus.

A more striking deviation from Busnois's model is found in the

Agnus Dei. Unlike Busnois, Obrecht uses not merely inversion but

retrograde-inversion. This device is applied to the first half of the

cantus firmus in the first Agnus Dei, and the second half of themelody is similarly rendered in the concluding Agnus Dei. Although

Obrecht strictly controls the pitch organization, he does formulate

a variant metrical scheme for the third Agnus Dei, where the ternary

mensuration yields to an augmented setting of the cantus firmus in

binary values. At this point the opening pitch of the final Agnus Dei

— which, because of the tr ea tm en t of the can tus firmus, is actually

the last pitch of th e origin al melody — is sustained for twelve full

measures to form a lengthy and formidable pedal point.T h e L'homme arme tune, as Obrecht quite possibly realized, is

well suited to both inversion and retrograde procedures. Character-

ized by an alternating pattern of disjunct and conjunct motion, the

opening of the melody outlines a curious ambivalence between the

modal division of fifth plus fourth and fourth plus fifth. In Obrecht's

Phrygian version of the melody, two species of tetrachords (e-a and

b-e') and the pen tach ord (e-b) are prom ine nt, so that th e octave at

first appears to be divided e-a-e' and e-b-e'.23 Such a division of the

Phrygian octave, with the melodic emphasis wavering between a

23 For a different analy sis of the L'homme armi melody, see Lewis Lockwood,

"Aspects of the 'L'Horarae arm e' Tr adi tion ," Proceedings of the Royal Mu sical Associa-

tion, C (1973-1974), 104-5.


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58 T h e Musical Q uarterly

and b , is, of course, rath er u nor thod ox, and exposes the Phrygian

mode as an unusual choice for this particular cantus finnus. Not-

Avithstanding this, an examination of the L'homme arme tune in its

inve rted and re trog rad e guises yields fruitful re sults (see Exx. la, l b ,

E i . l a . ObrKhl, Mlnm LTiomme Anmr , Kyrfc (ttnor)

Ex. lb. Inverted form

Ex. Ic ObnAl.HllnmLimmmtArme, Agran Dd I (tenor)

n . [

13

I I

lc). Since the disjunc t m otion is lim ited to fourth s a nd fifths, inver-

sion of the melody provides a comparable intervallic structure: in

fact, the same duality of modal structure is retained. Thus the fourth

e-a becomes e-B and the fifth e-b is transformed to e-A (Ex. lb). And

because of the unique construction of the melody, the adoption of

retrograde motion is equally appropriate. As shown in Example lc,

the sequence of fourths and fifths for the first half of the melody is the

following: fo urth (with stepwise m otio n), fifth, fifth (with stepwisemotion), fifth, and fourth (with a combination of disjunct and con-

junct motion). Thus a highly symmetrical pattern is formed by this

series of intervals that remains fairly constant even when performed

in cancrizans. It may have been on account of these and other fea-

tures of the cantus finnus that Obrecht decided to depart from the

model of Busnois.

For a more extensive manipulation of a borrowed melody one

may turn to Obrecht's three-voiced Missa De tous bien plaine (pub-

lished by Johan nes W olf as a Missa sine nomine). In the Patrem the

rubr ic , a maiori debet fiori denominaiio, calls for a radical alteration

of Heyns's transposed Dorian tune into a seemingly amorphous suc-

cession of pitches (see Exx. 2a, 2b). According to this directive, the


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Te ch niq ue s in the Masses of Jacob us O bre cht 59

E x . 2a. Otmcht, Mlna D e torn M e n pMne, Kyrk tenor)

y w " i " i • • i ~ i • • i i i r i i i i ' ' i ~ i1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

I I I I I I I20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37

I I I 1 I ~n r T i r ii i i =a=i38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 SO 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 JO 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79

Ex. 2 b . Obrvcbt, M b m D e toia bimpJcint, Pitnun (fenor)

tv. .L i m i i i n t i i_ - t_ i n T M i ^ _ i n T n i p i w i W " i r i i " l a '

wn

r r r iiiirr NII iqri i i i i =

1 19 37 54 62 80 2 3 3 11 14

I I I I I I ^ ^ T ^ I T I I17 18 20- 21 27 32 33 36 42 43 45 47 48 52 55-5 6 61 63-6 4

" i i i r ^ ^ i i i r - i T ^ i' 5 66 70 73 79 4 5 6 7 9 10 1 2 1 3 15 16 22 23 24 25 26 28 30 31

v \ " ° I I I " I ' I " " I " ° I " - 1 ' I I I I II34 35 38 39 40 41 44 46 49 SO 51 53 57 58 59 60 67 68 69 71 72 74 75 76 77 78

Ex. 2c . O bnch t , Mam Dt torn bit* pUtnt, Et inctrruluj ( tenor)

i l l . l " ? H I - I - i l l i l l I - I - I r i i I I ! I I i I I i g . M i ^ i I '

80 62 S4 37 19 1 79 73 70 66 65

' H a l H I 1 1 ! 1 1 ! 1 1 ! I I I 1 1 ! ! ! I l l 1 I " I I H I64-6 3 61 56 -55 52 48 47 45 43 42 36 33 32 27 21 -20 18 17 14

' ^ i i l l i i I i ia" r ' n°" i ^

11 8 3 2 76 75 74 72 71 69 68 67 60 59 58 57 S3 51 50 49 46 44

I I I ^ ^ ^ I I I4 1 40 39 38 35 34 31 30 2 8 2 6 25 24 2 3 2 2 16 15 13 12 10 9 7 6 5 4

cantus firmus is to be arranged in decreasing rhythmic values: the

longae are selected and heard first, then the breves, and finally

the semibreves. T h e result is an arbitrary reorg anization of the

melody into three parts with each new section containing progres-

sively smaller note values. Concomitantly, each level of acceleration


,2 0 1 1


r n al s . or g





























is accompanied by a decrease in modal stability. The longae of the

chan son , the first level of Ob rech t's schem e, afford the m ost stab le

pitches of the mode: notes 1, 19, 29, 37, 54, 62, and 80 simply oscil-

late between the finalis and confmalis, G and D. The other two

rhythmic levels supply the remaining pitches of the mode. Whimsical

and seemingly inexplicable passages of disjunct motion are the pri-

mary result of Obrecht's experiment, as, for example, in the second

rhythmic section (e. g., pitches 32, 33, 36, and 42). This is even more

true of the third level in which othenvise unaccountable skips of the

sixth are generated (pitches 16, 22, 35, and 38). Finally, there is a

harmonic problem created by this disruption of Heyns's melody.

The last semibrevis of De lous bien plaine — and hence of Obrecht'sreord ered c antu s firmus — is a B-flat. T o m ain tain the c antu s firmus

bearing tenor as the lowest of the three voices would have led to an

awkward final chord built on the B-flat. Voice crossing, already used

by Obrecht in the second rhythmic area, is reintroduced in this con-

cluding section of the Palrem to solve the difficulty. By this means

the anticipated B-flat bass tone is converted to the third of a more

stable triad on G.

Obrecht repeats the procedure in the Et incarnatus est; but therubr ic , ut prius sed dicitur retrograde, signifies that the process is to

be executed in reverse order — that is, Obrecht maintains the rhyth-

mic fragmentation of the song, but each of the three sections is

ordered in retrograde. The simple instruction yields the arrange-

ment shown in Example 2c. Since the first section alternates between

the final and reciting tone, the cancrizans pattern effects no change,

but merely replicates this two-note motive.24 The shift to breves

produces an apparently aimless succession of pitches as in the Pat-rem, but the change to semibreves is most significant, because the

very last semibreve, that is, the first semibreve of Heyns's original

chanson, is the finalis of the mode. To articulate the approach to the

finalis, Obrecht indulges himself by inserting a passing tone that

provides a stepwise descent to the close.

Given the presence of only three voices, the extensive voice cross-

ing, and other internal evidence, Otto Gombosi dated the Missa De

24 Obrecht resorted to the ostinato on o ther occasions as well; an ex ample pa rexcellence is the concluding Agnus Dei of his Missa Malhcur me bat, in which thebass voice is limited to repeated statements of the fourth e-a. A discussion of relatedinterest is R. B. Lenaerts, "Zur Ostinato-Technik in der Kirchenmusik der Nieder-lSnder," in Festschrift Bruno Stablein zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. M. Ru hn ke (Kassel,1967), pp. 157-59.


,2 0 1 1


D




























Te chn ique s in the Masses of Jacobu s O brech t 61

tous bien plaine as early as the 1470s.25

If this dating is correct, one

may infer that Obrecht practiced specialized cantus-firmus tech-

niques relatively early in his career. And he continued to composein this vein even into his late maturity, as can be seen in the fully

developed Missa Fortuna desperata. As in the Missa L'homme armi,

Obrecht draws heavily upon a composition of Busnois, in this case,

the three-voice Fortuna desperata. Ind ee d, the M ass of O bre cht has

been cited as "approximating the parody technique,"2 8

so extensively

does it borrow from Busnois's model. Nevertheless, modifications of

the cantus firmus in the Credo appear to be solely the act of Obrecht,

who once more realized the compositional possibilities inherent in

the preexistent tenor.

Obrecht may well have been inspired by the opening of Busnois's

me lody which presents a sym metrical figure in the form of an as-

cending and descending third. He converted the cantus firmus into

a large-scale palindrome structure that spans two movements of the

Mass. To this end, the center of the melody conveniently offers a rest

(m. 32) surrounded on either side by the pitch F. Obrecht isolates

the first of these to serve as the demarcation between the halves. Two

canons for the Gloria (cancriiat in medio consistit virtus) and theCredo (in medio consistit virtus) call for a sophisticated unfolding

of the cantus firmus that effectively links the two movements. Start-

ing with the Et in terra, the first half (pitch es 1-41) is sta ted in

retrograde, while the second half (43-83) is performed in normal

sequence. The entire process is repeated to conclude the movement.

In the Patrem of the Credo, however, the scheme is reversed: the sec-

ond half is given in retrograde, while the first forty-one pitches are

sung in their original order. The two movements are summarized inthe following diagram, in which a and b symbolize the regular form

of each half, while a' and b' indicate the retrograde order:

A A '

Gloria Credoa'(41-l) b(43-88) a'(41-l) b(43-83) b'(83 43 )

The figure reveals an enormous symmetrical structure consisting of

several palindromes. A primary level of symmetry is the unit b-b'

U Jacob Obrechl, cine itilkrilische Studie (Leipzig, 1925), p. 47.M Giutave Reese, Music in the Renaissance, 2nd rev. ed. (New York 1959), p . 201.


,2 0 1 1


r n al s . or g




























62 T he Musical Qu arterly

which is set w ithin the en tire framew ork an d successfully bind s th e

conclusion of the Gloria to the beginning of the Credo. A second

level is established by the palindrome a'-a that fixes the endpointsof the structure. Finally, taken as a whole, the tenor builds a large-

scale palindrome designated in the diagram as A-A'. Clearly, the two

movements reveal an ingenious display of what Obrecht realized to

be jus t one of the possibilities inh ere nt in cantus-firmus tech niq ue.

To apply Webern's criterion, these movements are informed with a

"particularly intimate unity."27

While such procedures are canonically derived in the Missa For-

tuna desperata, Obrecht freely incorporates "serial" principles with-

out the benefit of verbal instruction in at least one Mass, the Missa

Salve diva parens. Printed in Petrucci 's Misse Obreht of 1503, this

work remains one of his most enigmatic creations, in part because

the exact source for the title is unknown. And, on account of what

appears to be an extensive use of paraphrase in the Mass, the cantus

firmus itself — assum ing that the Mass is in fact cons tructed up o n

one — has not been conclusively identified.28 There are nevertheless

at least two passages that display strict serial ordering. In the bass

voice of the Hosanna, motivic pairs founded upo n inversion and trans-position form a highly structured sequence. The germ cell of this

passage is a six-note patte rn revo lving aro un d the pitch e that out-

lines both f, the upper neighbor of e, and c, the third below e. Fol-

lowing an inverted statement of the same figure, the turn motive is

expanded to a third, as shown in Example 3a, and this new arrange-

ment is then inverted to close the second pair. In the next group the

motive is enlarged to include a skip of the fourth; after this it is

itself inverted. The final pair comprises a new figure, one that spansthe sixth, c'-e. Instead of inverting, Obrecht transposes this a fifth

below, and the passage concludes on A.29

27 At tem pts have been m ad e to view this type of organ iza t ion as symbol ic of the

wh e e l of f o r tu n e . See E d wa r d L o win s k y , " T h e Go d d e s s F o r tu n a in M u s ic , " Th e Musical

Quarterly, XXI X ( i9 4 3 ) , 64-73; a n d Alfred Loeffler, "Fortuna Desperata: a C o n t r i b u t i o n

t o t h e S tu d y of Musical Symbolism in the R e n a i s s a n c e , " Student Musicologists at Minne-

sota, I I I (1968-1969), 13-17.

28 Summ ar ies of recent research a r e f o u n d in L. G. van H o o m , Jacob Obrecht

(The Hague , 1968) , p p . 120-122; a n d M a r t i n S t a e h e l i n , " O b r e c h t i a n a , " p p . 20-23. A

list of m a n u s c r i p t a n d pr in ted sources is s u p p l i e d b y t h e v a lu a b l e b ib l i o g r a p h i c a l

s tu d y , C h r i s M a a s , "T o wa r d s a N e w Ob r e c h t E d i t i o n , a P r e l i m i n a r y W o r k s h e e t , " i n

TVNM, XX VI (1976), 84-109.

29 T h e passage is cited in p a r t in Sylvia Kenney, Walter Frye and the Contenance

Angloise ( N e w Haven, 1964), p . 196.

b y g u e s t on J an u ar y

5 ,2 0 1 1


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Techniques in the Masses of Jacobus Obrecht 63

An intriguing by-product of Obrecht's serial techniques in the

Hosanna pertains to intervallic relationships between nonconsecutive

cellular units. These are bracketed and lettered in Example 3a (por-

tions of the bass that are inversionally related and follow in con-

secutive order bear the same letter, for example, a and a'). Now if

one considers the first and third cells (a and b), it is evident that the

initial interval of a, the half-step e-f, is embedded in b as its first and

last pitches. By this reasoning, a' and b' share a similar organization:

the first interval of a', the descending whole-step e-d, in fact returns

as the extreme pitches of b'. In the same way, b and c, and b' and d

display correlate intervallic constructions for the thirds, e-g and e-c.

It is indeed unusual that such a predictable device occurs betweenunits of the Hosanna that are not serially related. Nevertheless, it

demonstrates once more Obrecht's attempt to organize and unify

the can tus firmus — purposes tha t are directly allied w ith the com-

poser's interest in serial techniques.

r i I I i ^

m ' II U

Ex.3t>. Obn&UMiMSitrtGrtptnm.Cam nncto (tenor)

i i r i i n r i r i - i r i i i i i r p r f

T r ii i i rr r i—r

S i r \ rA second example that combines a strict serial process with se-

quence may be viewed in the Gloria of the same Mass. The tenor

voice of the Cum sancto spirito constitutes a large-scale sequence de-

rived again from a turn figure, a melodic component that permeates

m uch of the M ass (Ex. 3b). W ith each r epe tition of the t ur n, a step-

wise descent from e' is fashioned, so that the passage eventually com-



r n al s . or g




























64 T he Musical Qua rterly

pletes the span of the fifth, e'-a, in this manner: e', e'-d', e'-cf, e'-b,

e'-a. The same process then follows, but in retrograde or inverted

order, and in diminuted rhythmic values as well: a-b, a-c/, a-d', a-e'.

A concluding section then reintroduces the neighbor-note figure be-

fore completing an embellished descent from e' to a. Obrecht's

passage may very well have been imitated by the Isaac pupil, Lud-

wig Senfl, whose Fortuna ad voces musicales (cited in Table 1) illus-

trates an analogous sequential method that incorporates retrograde

m otion as well.

Obrecht 's l i t t le-known Missa Petrus Apostolus provides a poly-

phonic setting of a plainsong cantus firmus that, unlike the case of

the Missa Salve diva parens, can be identified readily — it is a Mag-nificat antiphon for the Octave of Saints Peter and Paul. The version

of this Hypomixolydian chant in the present Liber Usualis is given

in Example 4a. The cantus-firmus treatment is distinguished through-

out the Mass by such great freedom that the antiphon is often

paraphrased rather than repeated in its original form. For example,

in the first Kyrie Obrecht alters substantively the melody by adding

ornamental neighboring tones, interposing a more concrete embel-

lishment, or by omitting several pitches of the plainsong. He alsohas segmen ted the revised cantus firmus into four roughly equal

parts. A com parable m ethod of elaboration may be studied in the

second Kyrie, and here even further melodic transformations occur,

as a cursory investigation will confirm.

It is, however, in the Gloria and Agnus D ei that the com poser

submits the tenor to a stricter regimentation. An inverted form trans-

posed a fifth above is applied in the Qui tollis (Ex. 4b), and the con-

cluding Agnus Dei makes use of retrograde-inversion at the originalpitch level according to the direction, tu tenor cancrisa et per anti-

phrasim canta (Ex. 4c). Quite in contrast to the considerable freedom

of the other movements, these two presentations of the cantus firmus

are derived mo re or less in agreement w ith the written instructio ns.

The main differences are the result of omissions, which are indicated

by asterisks in Examples 4b and 4c. Also important is the rhythmic

ordering of the tenor into longae perjectae (Qui tollis) and longae

(Agnus Dei III). The possibility of rhythmic variety is thereby min-imized by equalizing the duration of the pitches. The choice of a

retrograde form for the concluding movement is an apt one; taken

together with the Kyrie the outer movements betoken a palindrome


5 ,2 0 1 1


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Techniques in the Masses of Jacobus Obrecht 65

E X . 4 L Ant iphon , Ptma Apatoha (Ubrr UmtUt . Toar ro i . 1963 , 1547)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1314 1516 17 18 19 20 21 73 . 23 2425262728 29303132 33 34 35363 7 38 39 40 41 42

P e- U u j A - po-ao-his ,et Pmi- lus Doc-tor gen-t i -om.ip-s i BOS do-cu-e - tual lc-gem tu - enDo-mi-ae.

Ex. 4b. Obteehi, M at Ptma Apottoba, Qui loDii (tenor)

1 I I I 1 I I I I I I 1 I I I

I 1 I I I I I 1 1 I I M8 9 10

n i^ [ ~ r r i i n ^ i13 • IS

20 « 22 • 25

I 1 I I I '1

I " I " 1 I I I 1 I I 130 31 32 • 34

i r i i n I i i i

E x . 4 c . O b c t d i t , Mhm Prlnu Apottoba, A f m a D ei ID '(b«M )

^ nr|̂ T-TBntirgncrT̂ la In in

42 41 40 39 3 8 * 3 6 » 3 4 » 3 2 31 30 29 28 27 26 2 5 » 2 2 » 2 0

V:t, q | n | o | B | • 1 n I• HI

UIu

I°I °I '' 1 1 '' I " 1 • I I ' II19 18 17 16 15 • 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

with respect to the tenor voice, and this is further evidence of the

composer's desire to shape and unify through symmetric construc-

tions and careful calculation.

The contrast between rigid control, accomplished by the meth-

odical ordering of the cantus firmus, and arelative degree of flex-

ibility, as witnessed in the paraphrasing of the original chant, is also

operative in the sixth and final Mass to be discussed, the relatively

obscure and highly problematic Missa Graecorum. Fifteen statements

of the cantus firmus, arranged and ordered in various ways, stand in

stark contrast to sections freely com posed with ou t ten or tha t are



r n al s . or g





























characterized by soaring melismatic passages and plentiful sequences

in parallel tenths (an especially favorite feature of the composer).80

At first glance Obrecht appears to strike a tenuous balance between

the highly rational and the emotional elements of his art, a salient

aspect of his work that has been described before with respect to the

Missa Fortuna desperate31

T h e Missa Graecorum, however, shows

that on this occasion the composer tipped the balance in favor of

somewhat cryptic, intellectual processes. Lewis Lockwood has ob-

served that in the Missa Sub tuum praesidium Obrecht places "con-

siderations of formal structure above considerations of text-design

and text-expression";82

the same statement may be applied with per-

haps greater force to the Missa Graecorum, for it is here that Obrechtassembles his most formidable array of serial techniques.

The very title of the Mass has been a stumbling block for previous

investigations.83

The only known source remains Petrucci 's collec-

tion of Ob rec ht Masses publish ed in Ve nice in 1503, bu t no clue is

found there that might divulge the origin of the cantus firmus.

Furthermore, the melodic structure of the Graecorum tune poses

further perplexity. In all probability, because of the abrupt close

of the melody on C, a fourth above the proper finalis, it is quitelikely that the "cantus firmus" is in fact a fragment (see Ex. 5a). The

last eight pitches, which conclude on the reciting tone D, appear to

have been appended in order to round out the incomplete tune and

fulfill some degree of modal consistency. This addition, however, is

no thi ng oth er than a rep rod uctio n of the first eight pitches of the

cantus firmus, which are added by the composer also to obtain a

harmonic close on G. Obrecht most likely intended the tenor

voice in the first Kyrie to serve as the cantus firmus, incomplete

as it may be. And his selection of the tenor material may be ap-

30 A schem atic diagram of the can tus finnus is offered in B. Me ier, "ZyklUche

Gesamutruktur und TonalitSt ih den Messen Jacob Obrechts," Archiv fur Musikwissen'

schaft, X (1953), 297.

"l See Myroslaw Antonow ytsch, "Re naissance-T enden zen in den F ortuna-desperata-

Messen von Josquin und Obrecht," Die Muiikforschung, IX (1956), 20.3 8

Lewis L ockwood , "A N ote on O brecht's Mass 'Sub tu um praesidium ,' " Revue

Beige de Musicologie, XI V (1960), 39.

8 8 See the Inleiding to A. Smijers' edition in Jacobus Obrecht, Opera omnia(Amsterdam, 1954), I, fasc. II, 69; Andri Pirro, Histoire de la musique de la fin du XlVe

sitcle a la fin du XVIe (Paris, 1940), p. 194; Otto Ursprung, "Alte griechische Einfldsse

und neuer grSzistische Einschlag in der mittelalterlichen Musik," Zeitschrift fur

Musikvissenschaft, XII (1929-1930), 219; and M artin Staeh elin,"Obrechtiana," p p. 23-25.


,2 0 1 1





























Te ch niq ues in the Masses of Jacob us Ob recht 67

preciated more readily if we consider it as a stepping-stone to further

alterations and permutations.

Ei.5«. Otmctit, Mtsu Gmcorum, Kyrfc n (tenor)

r 1 r r r r4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

I * r i r i i r i 1 1 r i r r i r25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47

I f I I I [ F ' 1 * 1 1 1 I I | I f:51 52 S3 S4

A simple analysis of the melody reveals that the tune is divided

into halves (numbered 1-28, and 31-54), the first of which is further

subd ivided into three smaller sections. Th e ascending fifth, the initial

melodic motion, is answered in the third of these subsections by its

obverse, a descending fifth that is unfolded by stepwise motion . W ha t

occurs between the two (pitches 9-19) may be described as a prolonga-

tion of the confinalis D by the third above and below (see Ex. 5a).

In the second half of the cantus firmus the confinalis is prolonged

in a similar way without benefit of a descent to the finalis. A step-wise descent from D to C forms the ambiguous and puzzling close.

The persistent and stable hovering around the reciting tone sug-

gests that a recitation formula may be the origin of the chant. 84

The irregular nature of the Graecorum melody yields rich re-

sources for serial treatment. This may explain why Obrecht elected

to use such a mo dally u nst able fragmen t. As defined by the fifth (g-d')

and the signature of one flat the mode is transposed Dorian. Under

inversion, however, a new pentachord (c-g) is substituted, and theclosing descending whole step (D-C) is recast as an ascending step. If

inversion is com bined w ith a retrog rade orde ring, a similar mo dal

dislocation and irregularity is produced. At the same time the ad-

vantage of these manipulations is that the composer can introduce a

harmonic treatment foreign to the original transposed Dorian. That

is, the incompleteness of the original cantus firmus is an opportunity

for further harmonic experimentation. A strict reordering of the

material effectively charges the contrapuntal flow with a newharmonic vocabulary.

3* In the Missa Graecorum Obrecht does, in fact, cite the Easter prose, Victimae

paschali. See Pirro, loc at., and Arnold Sa lop, "T he M asses of Jacob Obrech t (1450-

1505), Structure and Style" (PhJD. diss., Indiana University, 1959), pp. 49 f.


5 ,2 0 1 1


r n al s . or g




























68 The Musical Quarterly

Obrecht is quick to turn to his advantage the suspension of

modality in movements from the Missa Graecorum with reordered

cantus firmi. Examples of this include the Credo, in which verbalcanons call for rhythmic reordering (similar to that encountered in

the Missa De tous bien plaine), retrograde-inversion, and inversion

in the Palrem, el resurrexit, and et mortuus sections, respectively.

A no the r exam ple is in th e Agnus D ei — here inversion, a transposi-

tion of the prime form, and cancrizans motion are found side by

side in the three sections of the concluding movement. Especially

conspicuous in this movement is Obrecht's evident sacrifice of modal

clarity for the unifying tendency of the reorganization of the cantus

firmus. These examples stand as exceptions to the conventional

op inio n that Ob rech t was a compo ser largely interested in " to na l"

design.88 Rather than establish recurring tonal centers, reordering

of the cantus firmus according to serial principles produces in the

Missa Graecorum just the oppo site effect— the introdu ction of

different cadential areas that temporarily appear to undermine the

stability of the mode.

Ex. 5b. Obrecfit, MISM Grarmmm, Afnin DeiAgniu Dei 1 (tenor)

H J 1,1 j

i " i r lp i " i • i

4Afn us Dei D (superius)

JI- . U J

; P ^

Agntu Dei m (tenor)

- I • " • • ! • » - ! • ^ P I » I ° I •• I e N P I • =3

?T > ° i - i " i i ° I T : I ,I J i

3* See Arnold Salop, "Jacob O brecht and the Early Development of H armo nic Poly-phony," Journal of the American Musicological Society, XV II (1964), 288.


5 ,2 0 1 1


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Te ch niq ue s in the Masses of Jacob us O brech t 69

The Agnus Dei of the Mass illustrates how significantly these

serial experiments may affect the harmonic structure of the composi-

tion (Ex. 5b). Obrecht chooses three different versions of the cantus

firmus that enable him to elide the three sections of the movement.

In the first Agnus Dei, the canon, Qiti se exaltat humiliabitur, et qui

se humiliat exaltabitur, exhorts the performer in metaphorical terms

to apply musical inversion. The pentachord c-g is predominant

throughout the section, but the unexpected and irregular close on d

permits Obrecht to contrive a transposition of the cantus firmus a

fifth above for the central Agnus Dei, which is also contrasted from

the outer sections by the reduction of the texture from four to three

voices. In turn, the final note of this second version, a g, does notprod uce — as one migh t anticipate — a cadence on G bu t rathe r

one on C. This is a deliberate maneuver on Obrecht's part, for the

accompanying return to the c-g pentachord allows him to engage

one final serial operation. The stipulation, in paripathe ypathon

aries vertatur in pisces [sic], informs the performer that he is to begin

on the final note of the cantus firmus (the c, or parhypate hypaton in

the Greek systema teleion) and then proceed in retrograde order.

This artifice returns the movement to its proper final cadence on G.The entire Agnus Dei is a brilliant technical achievement in which

carefully selected serial operations determine in large part the

fundamental structure of the entire movement.

These six Masses of Obrecht demonstrate an important aspect

of late fifteenth-century Netherlander polyphony. In these works,

Obrecht's individual accomplishment was to assign systematically,

and in varied format, serial concepts of cantus-firmus organization

w ithin a large-scale structu re. Of the composers who anteda te Ob rechtand exhibit similar techniques in their works, it appears that only

Busnois approached in degree this type of experimentation. And

with the exception of the L'homme arme Mass, Busnois's efforts

are considerably mo re restricted — at least un til the anonym ous

group of L'homme arm.6 Masses may be conclusively ascribed to

him. Obrecht's Masses display a wide spectrum of serial techniques

and show that if the rigid regimentation of the cantus firmus was a

means of insuring unity within the cyclic Mass, it also often served to

prov ide a mea ns of flexibility with in the polyp ho nic framework.

Composers in the generation after Obrecht continued to use

retrograde, inversion, and retrograde-inversion procedures in their

mu sic; Ta bl e 1 lists only a few works of Jo sq uin , M outo n, Isaac,


5 ,2 0 1 1






























Senfl, and others that chronicle in part this type of cantus-firmus

treatment in the early sixteenth century. A concern for organization

on a large scale, and for the right of the composer to predetermine

rationally, or "serialize," in the general sense, various elements of

the composition are the outstanding features of this repertory. The

music of Jacobus Obrecht occupies a most prominent position in

this development.






























C O M P O S E R

1. Anonymous

2. Anonymous

8. Anonymous

4. Machaut

5. Anonymous

6. Loqueville

7. Domenico da

Ferrara

8. Anonymous

9. Anonymous

C O M P O S I T I O N

Nnsinido

J'ay mis ce rondelet

Tres douls amis

Ma fin est mon

commencement

Amicum quaerit

O flos in divo are / Sacris

pegnoribtts dotata

O dolce conpagno

Credo

Gloria

T A B L E I

(See Table 2 for Abbreviations)

R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S O U R C E

(M S O R P R I N T )

Florence, Biblioteca Mediceo-

Laurenziana, Pluteo 29.1

f. 150'

Strasbourg, Bib. de la Ville222 C. 22 No. 133

Strasbourg, Bib. de la Ville

222 C. 22 No. 131

Paris, B. N. f. fr. 1584, f. 479

Chantilly, Musee Gonde

564 (olim 1047), f . 64'

Bologna, Civico Museo,

Bib. M us. Q 15, f. 25 4'

Oxford, Bodleian MS.

Cano nici mis c 213, f. 135'

London, Br i t i sh Library

Add. MS 57950, f. 77'

London, Br i t i sh Library

Add. MS 4001 IB, f. 1C

C. F.

T E C H N I Q U E

retrograde

R E F E R E N C E

Florence

ret rograde

ret rograde

ret rograde

ret rograde

ret rograde

ret rograde

ret rograde

inversion

Apel I I I ,97-98

Apel I I I ,

145-47

Schrade,

156-57

Giinther ,

23-26

Reaney,

21-23

Stainer,

160-61

Hughes-Bent I

300-306

Bukofzer,

108

nn

ft

InC/l

o

8cr

Ocr

I



o a d e d f r om




























C O M P O S E R

10. Dunstable

11. Dufay

12. Dufay

IS. Caron

1-1. Cornelius

Heyns

15. Anonymous

16. Busnois

17. Busnois

18. Busnois


I'eni snncte spiritus

el einitte

Snnctus papale-

Agmis Dei

Missa L'hotnme armi

Missa Jesus autem

tiansiens

TA BLE I (Cont .)




Trent . Castel lo del Buon

Consiglio, Codex 92, f. 192'

Trent, Castello del Buon

Consiglio, Codex 92, f. 208'

Rom e, Ca pp. Sis. 49, f. 36'

Rome, Capp. Sis. 51, f . 46'

Missa Pour quelque paine

A quoi passerai

In hydraulis

Je suis venu vers mon ami

Conditor alme siderum

Rome, C app . Sis. 51, f. 18'

Lille, Archives ddpartemen-

tales du Nord, MS 4 G

1081, f. 36'

Trent, Castello del Buon

Consiglio, Codex 9 1, f. 70'

Paris, B. N. f. fr. 15123,

f. 127'

Perugia, Bib. Augusta M.

36 (1013), f. 11 3'

C. F.

T E C H N I Q U E

inversion;

retrograde-

inversion

retrograde

retrograde

inversion;

ret rograde

inversion;

ret rograde

inversion

retrograde

inversion

inversion;

retrograde-

inversion

R E F E R E N C E

Dunstable,

92-94

Dufay IV,

45-52

Dufay III, 33-65

Caron, 67-99

Ockeghem II ,

98-116

Wright

DT O VII, 105-11

Brooks III,

283-87

Seay, 231-33

H

ucQuey

b y g u e s

t on J an u ar y 5 ,2 0 1 1


wnl o a d e d f r om




























COMPOSER

19.

20 .

21 .

22.•26.

27 .

28 .

29 .

30 .

Busnois

Busnois

Busnois

Busnois?

Anonymous

Obrech t

Obrech t

Obrech t


J'ai pris amours tout

au rebours

Maintes jemmes

Missa L'homme armi

Missae L'homme armi

Missa L'homme armi

Missa L'homme armi

Missa De tous bien plaine

Missa Fortuna desperata

T AB L E I (Com.)

(See Ta bl e 2 for A bbreviations)

R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S O U R C E C. F.

( MS O R P R I N T )

Petrucci, Odhecaton (1501)

R E F E R E N C E

T E C H N I Q U E

inversion He wit t 1, 305-6

Petrucci, Canti C (1504) retrograde

Ro me , Ca pp . Sis. 14, f. 106' invers ion

Naples, Bib. Naz. MS retrog rade;

VI E 40 inversion;

retrograde-

Bologna, Civico Museo, inversion

Bib. Mus. Q 16, f. 101

Mod ena, Bib. Est. VI H. I, retrograde-

f. 143 inversio n

Vienna, Staatsbib. MS 11883, retro grade

f. 121'

Petrucci, Misse Obreht retrograde

(1503)

Brooks III, 185-90

Feininger 2

Feininger 3

Feininger 1

Obrecht-Wolf,

Missen, Deel 5,

53-96

Obrecht-Wolf,

Missen, Deel 5,157-84

Obrecht-Smijers,

113-69

a

• 5

n

5'5-n

CO

oOa"

I



nl o a d e d f r om




























TA BL E I (Cont .)


C O M P O S E R

31 . O b r e d i t

32 . Obrecht

33 . Obrecht

34 . Obrecht?

35 . J a p a r t

36. J a p a r t

37. Fayrfax

38. Josquin


Missa Petrus Apostolus

Missa Graecorum

Missa Salve diva parens

Missa N'arai je jamais

J'ai pris amours

De tous bien plains

Missa Albanus

Missa Hercules dux

Ferrara



Hicronymus Graphei , Novem

el in sign e opus missarum

\'orinbergae (1539)

Petrucci, Misse Obreht

(1503)

Petrucci, Misse Obreht

(1503)

Berlin, Stiftung Preussicher

Kulturbesitz Mus. MS

40021, f. 138

Petrucci, Canti B (1502)

Petrucci, Canti C (1504)

London, Lambeth PalaceMS 1, f. 33

Petrucci, Missarum Josquin

Liber Secundus (1505)

C. F.

T E C H N I Q U E

retrograde-

inversion

ret rograde;

inversion;

retrograde-

inversion

inversion

inversion

ret rograde

inversion

inversion;ret rograde

ret rograde

R E F E R E N C E

Obrecht-Wolf,

Missen, Deel 3,

189-228

Obrecht-Smijers,

69-112

Obrecht-Smijers,

228-84

Just, 297-338

Hewitt 2, 174-76

Gombosi , Noten-

anhang, 34-35

Fayrfax, 33-63

|nsquin, Missen,

Deel 2, 19-38

TMiac(̂

e

b y g u e s t

on J an u ar y 5 ,2 0 1 1


nl o a d e d f r om




























C O M P O S E R

89 . Josquin

40 . Josquin

41 . Mathur in

Forestier

42 . Mouton

43 . Mouton

44 . Mouton

45 . Pierre de

la Rue

46 . JohannesBeausseron

47 . Matthiae

Gascongne

(See


Missa Fortuna desperata

Missa L'homme artni super

voces musicales

Missa quinque vocum

supra baise moy

Ave Maria gratia plena

De beata virgine

Salve mater satuatoris

Misse Alleluia

Regina caeli

Missa Mon mary ma

diffamee

T A B L E I ( C o n t )

Table 2 for Abbreviations)



Petrucci, Misse Josquin

(1502)

Petrucci, Misse Josquin

Jena, Universiteitsbibliothek.

Chorbuch 4, f . 102'

Bologna, Bib. del Cons. Mus.

G. B. Martini R 141

( b ) , f . 6

C. Heussler, Erotemata musicis

practicae (1568)

Glareanus, Dodecachordon

(1547)


Rom e, C app . Sis. 13, f. 169'


C. F.

T E C H N I Q U E

inversion

ret rograde

ret rograde

inversion

inversion

inversion

retrograde

inversion

ret rograde

R E F E R E N C E

Josquin, Missen,

Deel 1,81-108

Josquin , Missen,

Deel 1, 1-34

Josephson

Shine, 309

Shine, 309

Glareanus I I ,

538-40

Llorens, 73

Llorens, 17

Llorens, 55

T

q nhMa

or-M

<—i

ft)

r>

3Obe

< j

b y g u e s t o

n J an u ar y 5 ,2 0 1 1


l o a d e d f r om




























TA BL E I (Corn.)


C O M P O S E R C O M P O S I T I O N R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S O U RC E C . F . R E F E R E N C E

•18. Isaac Office No . 10, Et agni

49 . Isaac Office No . 20, Alleluia

50 . Isaac Credo on Tmciskin was

jonck51 . Isaac Missa de Martyribus a 5

52 . Senfl Fortuna ad voces musicales

(MS OR PRINT)

Choralis Constantinus II

(1555)

Clioralis Constantinus II

(1555)

Vienna, Staatsbib. MS 1783,

f . 191'

Munich, Bay. Staatsbib. MS

3 f. 148'

Glareanus, Dodecachordon

(1547)

T E C H N I Q U E

retrograde

ret rograde

ret rograde

ret rograde

inversion

DT O XVI, 80

DTO XVI, 153-54

Dixon, 112

Isaac III, 23-63

Glareanus I I ,

222-23

HC D

§Sc

iOce

b y g u e s t o

n J an u ar y 5 ,2 0 1 1


l o a d e d f r om




























Te ch niqu es in the Masses of Jaco bus O brech t 77

T A B L E 2

Ape l Apel, W illi, ed., French Secular Com positions of the Fourteenth

Century, Vol. I ll (1972).

Brooks Brooks, C. V., "A ntoine Busnois as a Com poser of Cha nsons ," 3

vols., (Ph. D. diss. New York University, 1951).

Bukofzer Bukofzer, M anfred , Studies in Med ieval a nd Renaissance Music,

(New York, 1950).

Caron Caron , Philippe (?), Les oeuvres completes, ed. James Thom-

son (New York, 1971), pp . 67-99.

Dixon Dixon, H . M., "T he M anuscript Vienna, Na tional Library

1783," Musica Discipline, X X II I (1969), 105-16.

DTO VII Adler, G., and Roller, O., eds., Sechs Trienter Codices, erste

Auswahl, in Denkm dler der Tonkunst in Osterreich, VII Jg. ,

Vol. XIV (Vienna, 1900).

DTO XVI Isaac, Heinrich , Choralis Constantinus, Zweiter Teil, ed. Anton

von Webern, in Denkm aler der Tonkunst in Osterreich, XVI

Jg., Vol. X X X II (Vienna , 1905).

Dufay Dufay, Gu illaum e, Opera omnia, ed. Heinrich Besseler, Vols. Ill

and IV (Rom e, 1951, 1962).

Dunstable Dunstable , John , Complete Works, ed. M. Bukofzer, 2nd ed.

(London, 1970).

Feininge r 1 Anonym ous, Missa L'homme armi, ed. L. Feininge r (T ren t,

1964).

Feininger 2 Busnois, An toine, Missa super L'homme armi, ed. L. Feininger

(Rome, 1948).

Feininger 3 Anonym ous, Missae super L'homm e armi I-VI, ed. L. Feininger

(Rome, 1957-1974).

Fayrfax Fayrfax, Ro ber t, Collected Works, ed. E. B. Warren, Vol. I

(Rome, 1959).

Florence Fircnze, Biblioteca Mediceo-Laurcnuana, Pluteo 29, 1, ed.

Lu the r Dittmer (Brooklyn, n. d.).

Glarea nus Glareanus, Heinrich, Dodecachordon, ed. and trans. C. A.

Miller (Rome, 1965).

Gombosi Gombosi, Otto , Jacob Obrecht, eine stilkritische Studie (Leip-zig, 1925).

Giin ther Giinther, Ursula, The Mo tets of the Ma nuscript Chantilly

Music Condi 564 (olim 1047) and Mod ena Biblioteca estense

a. M. T . 24 (olim lat. 568) (Rome, 1965).


,2 0 1 1


r n al s . or g




























78 The Musical Quarterly

Hew itt 1 Petr ucti , Ottavia no, Harm onice musices odhecaton, ed. Helen

He witt and Isabel Pope (Cam bridge, Mass., 1942).

Hew itt 2 Petrucci, Ottaviano. Canli B numero cinquanta, ed. HelenHewitt (Chicago, 1967).

Hughes-Be nt Hug hes, A., and Bent, M., edj., The O ld Hall Manuscript

(Rome, 1969).

Isaac Isaac, Hein rich, Opera omnia, ed. E. R. Lerner, Vol. Il l

(Rome, 1974).

Josephson Josephson , N. S., "K anon un d Par odie : zu einigen Josqu in

Nachahmungen ," TVNM, XX V (1975), 24-26.

Josquin Josq uin des Pres, Werhen, ed. A. Smijers (A mste rdam , 1926-1951).

Just Just, M artin, Der Mensitralkodex Mus. ms. 40021 der Stoats-

bibliothek Preu ssischer Kulturbesitz Berlin, 2 vols. (T utzin g,

1975).

Lloren s Llorens, J. M., Capellae Sixlinae Codices Musicis Notis Instructi

(Rome, 1960).

Obre cht- Obre cht, Jacobus, Opera omnia, ed. A. Smijers (Amsterdam,

Smijers 1953).

Obrecht- O bre dn , Jacobus, Werken, ed. Joha nnes Wolf (Amsterdam,

Wolf n. d.).

Ockegheni Ockeghem, Johannes, Collected Works, ed. Dragan Plamenac,

2 vols. (New York, 1947).

Rean ey Rean ey, Gilbert, ed., Early Fifteenth-Century Music, Vol. Il l

(Rome, 1966).

Schrade Schrade, Leo, ed., Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Cen-

tury, Vol. I l l (M onaco , 1956).

Seay Seay, Albe rt, "T he Conditor Alme Siderum by Busnois," Quad-

rivium X II (1971), 225-34.

Shine Shine, J. M., "T he Motets of Jea n M ou ton " (Ph. D. diss., Ne w

York. University, 1953).

Stain er Staine r, J. F. R., ed., Dufay and His Contemporaries (London,

1898).

W righ t W right, Craig, "An Exa mp le of Musical Invers ion from the

Circle of Dufay," Papers read at the Dufay Quincentenary Con-ference, ed. A. W- Atlas (Brooklyn, 197 6), pp . 144-48.


,2 0 1 1


r n al s . or g


























obrecht - larry todd _ retrograde, inversion

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