the masses of cipriano de rore

The Masses of Cipriano de RoreAuthor(s): Alvin JohnsonSource: Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Autumn, 1953), pp. 227-239Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the American Musicological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/830231 .

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The Masses of Cipriano de Rore

BY ALVIN JOHNSON

C IPRIANO DE RORE'S

role as a madri- galist has been broadly charac-

terized by the late Alfred Einstein in his monumental work on the Italian madrigal. The importance of de Rore's contribution to the Italian secular music of his day prompts an investigation into his activities as a composer of religious music. In this paper attention will be directed to Cipriano de Rore's Masses.

First, however, several items of a purely bibliographical nature must be disposed of. In his Quellen-Lexikon Robert Eitner lists a four-voice Mass by de Rore to be found in de la Hle's collection of Masses dated 1577. Extensive search has brought to light no such collection. There is, however, a book of eight Masses by de la Hale, published in Antwerp in 1578. In this collection de Rore's name appears, but only as the composer of a five-voice motet, In con- vertendo Domino, on which de la Hale modeled one of his Masses. If, indeed, it is to this collection that Eitner is referring, then it is difficult to understand how so many errors could have been made on a single reference: the date of publication is wrong, the number of voices in the composition is wrong, and the composer's name is wrong.

The second bibliographical item can be disposed of with absolute certainty, for in this case we can see where and how the error was made.

F6tis, on the authority of Draudius's Bibliotheca classica, cites a book of

Masses by de Rore for four, five, and six voices, Venice, 1566. This publication has been assumed to be lost. The citation in Draudius had been misread, however, for Draudius re- fers to a Liber Missarum quatuor, quinque et sex vocum, i.e., a book of four Masses for five and six voices, containing works by de Rore, Anni- bale Patavini, and Orlando di Lasso. And, indeed, such a collection appeared in Venice in 1566, published by Antonio Gardano. It contains one five-voice Mass by de Rore and is not a collection of Masses for four, five, and six voices, all by de Rore, as Fetis thought.

In the Library of Congress in Washington there is a transcription of a four-voice Mass attributed to Cipriano de Rore. This transcription is the work of Professor Adolf Thiir- lings and bears the following notation on the title-page: Messa/ a 4. 5. 6. voci tratta da un Corale/ della Ba- silica di S. Marco/ Musica Del M.ro Cipriano Rore Fiammingo/ Anno 1563. At the end of Professor Thiir- lings's transcription is the following note: Questa prima coppia fu tratta da un Corale, che si conserva nella Basilica di Marco. Professor Thiir- lings lent his transcription to Peter Wagner when the latter was prepar- ing his Geschichte der Messe. Pre- served along with the transcription in Washington is a letter of thanks written by Peter Wagner on Decem- ber 8, 1912. In the letter Wagner points out a number of passages in

227



228 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

the transcription which are so obviously faufty that they could not have been the errors of the composer. The errors cited by Wagner are only a representative few of the numerous impossible passages that occur throughout the transcription. In some instances judicious emenda- tion readily clears up the difficulty. But even were there no errors in the score, the style of the Mass is so radically different from that discovered in Cipriano's other Masses that serious doubts must be entertained as to the validity of the attribution of this Mass to de Rore.

An attempt to locate the original manuscript containing the Mass was made in Venice but with negative re- sults. However, one bit of information came to light that warranted further investigation. The Biblioteca Nazionale di S. Marco reported the possession of a four-voice Mass "attributed to Cipriano de Rore"-not a 16th-century manuscript, but a copy made in 1858 by an otherwise uni- dentified Pr. F. Z. A comparison of this transcription with that of Thiir- lings allows no doubt that Thiirlings's transcription is an exact copy of the earlier transcriber's efforts. All of the impossible passages reappear without the slightest deviation, and the place- ment of the text in the Kyrie and Sanctus (where the I6th-century manuscript would have offered no elaborate layout of the text) reveals that Thiirlings had quite obviously copied the transcription of his uni- dentified predecessor.

The certainty that Thiirlings's score is merely a copy of the earlier transcription still leaves the identification of the composer of the Mass in doubt. The problem is not solved by Pr. F. Z., but on the flyleaf of his score he offers some information pertinent to the question and, in ad-

dition, his opinions concerning the possibility of ascribing the work to de Rore: "Questa Messa, e perch il libro, da cui e tratta, / presenta evi- dentamente il carattera del Secolo / XVI, e perche il nome del suo autore " indica- / to con un R., non pub essere che dal Maestro / Cipriano Rore, che resse la Cappella Ducale / dal Maggio 1562 al Dicembre 1564, a ci6 tanto / piia, che in esso libro l'ac- centuazione C tutto / affatto francese, e Rore era fiammingo. . . ." Thiir- lings must have misread or disre- garded the remarks of his predecessor. At any rate, the positive asser- tion of de Rore's authorship and the date of the composition of the Mass were unwarranted assumptions. In defense of Peter Wagner, who ac- cepted the validity of the attribution made by Professor Thiirlings, it should be remembered that he was not familiar with those Masses on which de Rore's fame justly rests.'

The suggestion that the work is of French style and provenance had, at least, the merit of focusing the search for the name of the composer. A study of the music seemed to support the conjecture. A thorough examination of the composition revealed that the work is a parody Mass, and stylistic considerations suggest that the model is a French chanson. A possible solution to the problem therefore was to be found in the identification of the composition on which the Mass is modeled. As I was paging through a collection of French chansons, with the melodic materials of the Mass in mind, a fortuitous association with Jannequin's La Bataille occurred. Jannequin wrote a Mass with this title, published by Moder- nus in the collection Liber decem

xSee Peter Wagner's discussion of the work in question in his Geschichte der Messe (Leipzig, 1913), PP. 198-202.



THE MASSES OF CIPRIANO DE RORE 229

Missarum in I532 and in a second edition dated i540. A quick glance at Jannequin's Mass finally resolved the problem. The composition Thiirlings had improperly ascribed to de Rore is none other than Jannequin's parody Mass on his own famous chanson. A detailed collation of the Jannequin print with Thiirlings's score and the transcription of Pr. F. Z. cleared up all the errors in the transcription and even revealed how they came about.

If we exclude the fictitious Masses brought into account by the errors of Eitner and Fetis and the Jannequin Mass attributed to de Rore by Thiir- lings, only five Masses by de Rore are extant today. Of these, only two were published; the other three are preserved in manuscripts.

The first printed Mass by de Rore appeared in 1555 in a collection of four five-voice Masses, published by Scotto in Venice. The title-page reads as follows:

IL SECONDO LIBRO/ De le Messe a cinque voci./ Composte da Jachet da Man- toa/ MUSICHO ECCEL: ET MAES- TRO/ Della Capella Del Domo di Mantoa./

Messa prima sopra Rex Babilonis Messa seconda sopra La fede unque

deble esse carrotta Messa terza sopra Ego sum Ippolito

Cyera Messa quarta Cipriano Rhore. a voci

pari. MUSICHA NON PIU STAMPATA/ Nuovamente Correte & poste in Luce./ Venetiis apud Hieronymum Scotum./ MDLV.

The models for the two Masses by Jachet and the Mass by Cyera are explicitly named on the title-page. De Rore's Mass, on the other hand, is simply listed as a voci pari. In the partbooks of this print, this designation appears at the head of almost every page of the de Rore Mass. In

the Quintus and Bassus partbooks, however, on some pages in place of the designation a voci pari the words Vus non lares appear. Now this looks like a Latin title, but as such it does not make sense. But since the Mass is quite obviously a parody Mass, it seems certain that in these three words lies the clue to the name of the composition upon which the Mass was built. As it turns out, Vus non lares is a Latin transliteration of the French Vous ne Paurez. Josquin wrote a six-voice chanson on this text, and a comparison of the melodic material of de Rore's Mass and the Josquin chanson reveals that the Jos- quin chanson is, indeed, the model for the de Rore Mass.

The structural framework of the Josquin chanson is a canon between the tenor and the sexta pars. The five short melodic phrases of the tenor are separated from each other by the answer of the sexta pars at the upper fifth. Josquin rarely em- ploys more than three of the six voices simultaneously, with the result that the polyphonic lines are always clear and the texture transparent. Only as the end approaches does the participation of all voices cause the melodic identity of the individual parts to be sacrificed for the density of harmonic texture.

De Rore used the melodic material of Josquin's chanson but dispensed completely with Josquin's technical procedures. The canonic framework is cast aside, and the transparent texture of the chanson is no longer valid in de Rore's stylistic criteria. Merely from the appearance of the score, one is reminded of the critical comparison of the styles of Josquin and Gom- bert made by Hermann Finck in the Practica musica. Finck pointed out that Gombert maintained the con- tinuity of his voice parts, thereby




avoiding the numerous and extensive pauses characteristic of Josquin's compositions. As in Gombert's motets, so it is in this Mass by de Rore. At the beginning of each new section the voices enter singly; but once each part has made its entrance, only short rests interrupt the continuous line of the voice part (see Ex. i).

For some reason the Benedictus and Hosanna sections of the Sanctus were not printed by Scotto. That they were composed by de Rore seems beyond doubt. For, altogether,

this Mass is long, even tedious, and text repetitions are extensive. No attempt at any point appears that would indicate a desire for abbreviation.

The Missa a voci pari is undoubt- edly an early work of de Rore. Al- though published in I555, when de Rore was 39 years old, it is not like the works that were coming from his pen in the 155o's. Rather, it appears to be a work produced in the early 1540's, stylistically antedating the works in the first and second books of motets in 1544 and

1545.

Missa a voci pari (Beginning of Gloria)

Ex. i DE RORE

Scotto, 1555

Et in ter-ra pm h1-

Et in

tc_ ho

_

mi-ni b- us 5 1

t in

Etinte"-ra-pa :!-mi i I I IIbuEtinPer - -! rp:: bo-mi-ni " -' A .. '--

-E --in b Et ip--raa .i ..-mi-ni - r - r bu p 1x Io

....

oerae- p ho-mi-nt - bus b-

- r -u 0c-t- me--

- I-nI

4L-

vI I- I

i- b-us Ein.

ter - maPm o-m i-Z- _b Bo me

N- .4 1 F F

F-,F,

a-, -I F bw --- -m mr h-5u

= •. - • -,•,•--M. bw bo-mav : un

-- I , II ' : fe" IMF1

ga l I I" bd I I I

.--. - -

Vi: f I

lu '-i -

-

w

o-e. . ..m-t -- I I ' e I i I •

'I III I

I mI | i im g=• ~• l ;p I "

- • t•'-• .• - -- It %.- v 1•i - - '

- bus 5o- 1=- u - -ta- us




According to the researches of Walter Weyler,2 Cipriano de Rore was already maestro de cappella in Ferrara in I547-and it is not at all improbable that he arrived in Ferrara in 1546 or even I545. Two Masses testify to de Rore's association with the house of Este, and both Masses- each in a different way-point back to that other great musician Ferrara claimed in the earliest years of the century-Josquin des Prez. The first of the two Masses honoring Ercole II, the ruling duke of Ferrara, is preserved in Music Ms. 9 in the Munich State Library.3 In this manuscript de Rore's Mass appears as the last item, in company with a five-voice Mass by Orlando di Lasso and three five- voice Masses by Ludwig Daser. Al- though the manuscript bears the date 1556 on the cover and one of Lud- wig Daser's Masses is dated June 3, 1557, these dates provide only indi- rect evidence for the dating of the de Rore Mass. Two factors caution us in using these dates to locate in time the writing of the Hercules Mass:

(I) The Mass appears as the last item in the manuscript and may be a later

addition than the works which pre- cede it; and (2) the Mass may have been transmitted from Ferrara to Munich many years after it was composed. Furthermore, stylistic considerations suggest that de Rore may have offered this work to his duke in the early period of his employ- ment in Ferrara.

The five-voice Hercules Mass in this manuscript is built on a soggetto cavato from the words Vivat felix Hercules secundus Dux Ferrariae quartus. By extracting the vowels from this exclamation, in their proper order, and associating them with the solmization syllables, de Rore derived the cantus firmus on which he built the entire composition (see Ex. 2).

Here again, Josquin was the original model for de Rore. Other com- posers had written Masses in honor of the house of Este, using some such device as the soggetto cavato. But the most illustrious composer-and the first-to have so honored the ruler of the Ferrara court was Josquin. He had used as the cantus firmus of his famous Hercules Mass a soggetto

Missa Hercules (5 v.) (Cantus firmus)

Ex. 2 DE RORE

Vi-vat foe-li z ekr-u-le ie-cun-dus duix fer-ra-ri-ae qual-tua MI, A RE MI RE UT RE Re UT UT UT RE FA MI RE PA UT

2 Walter Weyler, "Documenten betreffende de Muziekkapel aan het Hof van Ferrara," in Vlaamsch Jaarboek voor Muziekgeschiedenis I (1939), pp. 81-113. Also published in Bul- letin de l'Institut historique belge de Rome XX (I939), PP. 187-222.

SMonsignor Giovanni d'Alessi of Treviso, Italy, has kindly informed me that this Mass was preserved in the Archivio Musicale del Duomo di Treviso Ms. i. During the recent war this manuscript was among those lost when the library was destroyed by fire.

cavato from the words Hercules Dux Ferrariae (see Ex. 3).

Missa Hercules (Cantus firmus)

Ex. 3 JOSQUIN DES PREZ

Her-Cu- 10 dau fe-ra-ri-se RE UT RE UT RE FA MI RE




Josquin's melody is much shorter than de Rore's, and throughout the Mass Josquin has used his cantus firmus with all possible structural order and symmetry. It rests in three positions--on D, on a a fifth above, and on d an octave above the original position. Josquin's melody is made up of notes of equal value, be they measured in perfect or imperfect breves, in semibreves or minims. Twice Josquin allows his soggetto to appear in retrograde motion-in the "Et in spiritum sanctum" of the Credo and in the first Agnus Dei.

De Rore's soggetto has marked dif- ferences from Josquin's. It is longer, has metrical variety, and takes on a slight rhythmical variation depending on whether the soggetto appears in triple or duple time. But de Rore does not use his theme with the variety of structural emphasis that is so apparent in Josquin's Mass. De Rore's longer theme appears in only two positions-on F and on c. In addition, Josquin's theme appears as such in various voice parts; de Rore reserves the soggetto exclusively for the tenor primus. Nor does de Rore attempt retrograde motion in the statement of his soggetto. Although de Rore does not employ the bicinia technique so typical of the Josquin Mass, there is a striking modification of the polyphonic density that so strongly stamps de Rore's Mass on the Josquin chanson. In the Hercules Mass, the extensive rests in the part bearing the soggetto, the harmonic considerations which so often force the direction of the bass part, and the appearance of non-imitative, contrasting, melodic material in the other parts bring about a reduction in the density of the imitative polyphony (see Ex. 4).

The other Hercules Mass by de Rore is also preserved in a Munich

manuscript.' Here, de Rore is in the company of Palestrina, Crecquillon, Castileti, and Richafort. Although there is no date on the manuscript, a letter from Albert V, Duke of Ba- varia, sent to Ercole II of Ferrara, acknowledging receipt of the Mass, is dated April 25, 1557. In this letter Albert V singles out for praise de Rore's suave harmonies and the rare and new invention of the melodies.5

The de Rore Mass in this manuscript is a seven-voice composition bearing the title Praeter rerum seriem. Throughout the Mass the altus secundus sings the text Hercules secundus dux Ferrariae quartus, vivit et vivet. It is this ever present exclama- tory phrase that identifies this Mass with de Rore's patron at Ferrara. This Mass, unlike the five-voice Her- cules Mass, is not built on a soggetto cavato. It is rather a parody Mass on Josquin's six-voice motet Praeter rerum seriem. Josquin's text and cantus firmus, which date back to the i3th century, may be found in the Wolfenbiittel Ms. 677, commonly known as W1. There on fol. i94v is a two-voice setting of this text, with the cantus firmus that Josquin used in the tenor. The poem and melody follow a sequence-like pattern, cou- pled stanzas being sung to a single melody. In this particular poem there are three pairs of stanzas, each pair having its own melody (see Ex. 5).

It would be absurd to assume that Josquin was familiar with this source of the text and melody of Praeter rerum seriem. A composition that

4 Music Ms. 46. See J. J. Maier, Die musikalischen Handschriften der K. Hof- und Staatsbibliothek in Miinchen (Munich, x879), for a description of this and the other Mu- nich manuscripts referred to in this article.

5 ". . . concentus singularem suavitatem, tune raram et novam melodiae inventionem." Letter quoted in toto in Vander Straeten, La Musique aux Pays-Bas, Vol. VI, pp. 136- 137.




Missa Praeter rerum seriem (Beginning of Gloria)

Ex. 4 DE RORE Munich Mus. Ms. 9

El in lt••r .~o-?ni-

ibu. bo - no vo - Im- tta-tils daI - mtg

Et in tar - - el.ai- bus bo - am v - 1d n tis u-da - mPide

S ll II 4 -W 6 1

VI - _ -V - - r

Et in *- m .- hi mi-ni - busbo- a -un-a - It u- -

Et inter - zr pa he-mi-nibug bo-nemnhta - - - m lmauam to

' "- - -i -

Ci-.nu to a -

do..a.mito •i-fi-.

be-n-di ci-r2ns a a - do-ra - mus t

Ir F

- - icu- = e- cm - ds foe -

ci- m-us

te be ae-di- ci rus to j - do. r, - mus t

be-mb-di - ci-mu st a - do-rO.gmu to glo-

Praeter rerum seriem Ex. 5 Wolfenbiittel Ms. 677 (W1)

"I 7 7 .7 -- ' : '- " .. .

Pre-ter-re-rumm•e-r em parit Do-umr bo~-i-tm vik - go a-er ae viran-cit

vigiDa• uma pro-li o - i-gi -nam ao-vit po.er

vir-tu •sa-ti spi.t.us o-pus I - Jd co-li - tug o - pe'- ra-.a-

I -ni - tus au e-xi- tu pastus tu - i pe-i - tus quis scru-t•

tur

De- i pro-vi-denli- a qu diia -ipo. -i amsi - a am ,

u - a -ve tu-f pu-on- p-ri-.a arn*fer ina mi-s%.ri- a na-tor a -ve




Josquin may have known, however, is the anonymous motet in Verona, Bibl. capitolare, Ms. 755, fols. Iov- o04r. In this four-voice motet the

tenor sings the text and melody Praeter rerum while the remaining voices carry an independent text beginning Incomprehensibilia firme tua sunt fidei. The tenor melody and text have the same schematic form as in W1, while the variants in melody and text are those which are to be

I. Incomprehensibilia firme tua sunt fidei

Que tamen credibilia ex- istunt a patre rei

Sed cuncta visibilia transit immensitas dei

II. In personis est trinitas divinitatis unius

In virgine maternitas cuius deus est filius

Verbo iuncta humanitas quo nil ad mirabilius

III. Maria virgo tum mater Ihesu dei tum hominis

Impetra quia euis pater nos urat igne flaminis

Cum per te noster sit frater qui conregnat in divinis

It will be noticed that in each part of the motet the tenor begins only with the start of the second line of

expected in sources separated by two or three centuries (see Ex. 6). The formal plan of the anonymous motet in the Verona manuscript clearly follows the formal order of its texts. If the text of the tenor is set alongside that of the other parts it becomes apparent that the com-

poser derived his formal scheme from the structure of the texts he was setting:

Preter rerum ordinem parit deum hominem virgo mater

Nec vir tangit virginem nec

prolis originem novit pater

Virtus sancti spiritus opus illud celitus operatur

Initus aut exitus tui partus penitus quis scrutatur

Dei providentia que dis- ponit omnia tam suave

Tua puerperia transfert ad palacia mater ave

the text in the other voices. Thus each

part of the motet begins with a three- voice introitus so common in the iso-

Praeter rerum seriem (Cantus firmus)

Ex. 6 ANONYMOUS Verona, Bib. capitolare, Ms. 755

2re-*rz•e-rum orpdi.n=m p•-1~ i De-um

ho.mi.nm vir-go maq.fer

sevir taglir vir-gim ner pm-lis o -. i- ginm no.vi pa-ter

virnus amIeti pi-ri.- tu . o.pu il- hud c .li-. tus o-pe..ra- tur I. mi-i tus au t -I - i-~u tu pr--tus pe -ni- tus quis ua-ur

De-i pro-vi-de-wi- a Cuedis posi oam-mi-. a tam u -a .va tu-s pu.er- pe-ri- a randurt a ps .1 dci- a ma-ter a -ve




rhythmic motets of the i4th and i5th centuries. Yet in each introitus the tenor cantus firmus is present in one of the three voices: in part one in the contratenor, in part two in the superius, and in part three in the bassus. From the manuscript it is difficult to ascertain what text is to be

sung to the cantus firmus as it appears in the introitus section, for in each instance two texts are supplied. For example, in part one the texts Incom- prehensibilia . .. and Preter rerum

.. . are supplied to the cantus firmus in the contratenor. Likewise in parts two and three of the motet two texts are supplied in each case to the cantus firmus in the introitus. Hence, the first line of each stanza of the poem Incomprehensibilia becomes an introitus to the remaining two lines. But each of the latter two lines becomes the text for a clearly defined section. The division here is the, result of a shift from tempus perfectum to tempus perfectum diminutum. Thus each of the three parts of the motet is subjected to a threefold sec- tional division: (i) first line of stanza, tempus perfectum, three voices; (2) second line of stanza, tempus perfectum, four voices; and (3) third line of stanza, tempus perfectum diminutum, four voices. This schematic, formal organization reminds one immediately of the isorhythmic motet of an earlier day in which the introitus and the main body of the motet were divided into sections based on augmentation or diminution of the basic time values. The important point to bear in mind in making the comparison is that in the anonymous motet in the Verona manuscript the formal plan of the motet is based on the schematic order of the text and is not the result of purely musical invention.

Josquin's motet Praeter rerum seriem is based on the cantus firmus and text of the tenor found in the motet discussed above. Aside from a few slight similarities in the contrapuntal material, which are not suffi- ciently extensive to prove that Jos- quin modeled his work on the motet by the anonymous composer of the Verona manuscript, Josquin has fol- lowed the example of the earlier composer only in the manner of accelerat- ing the motion of each repetition of the cantus firmus. The method of diminishing the values of the cantus firmus in a strict mathematical pro- portion to mark off formal divisions of the composition is the only contact with the old isorhythmic technique that Josquin preserves in this motet. The three lines of the cantus firmus melody, each line of which is re- peated to a new line of text, quite naturally suggests a three-part motet. Josquin, however, divides his motet into two parts-parts that are un- equal in respect to the cantus firmus and text. The secunda pars of Jos- quin's motet encompasses the last four stanzas of the poem in contrast to the two stanzas of the prima pars. This lack of balance is only apparent, not real. By the division of the secunda pars into two sections, marked by a shift from duple to triple rhythm, and by the regulation of the speed of the cantus firmus throughout the entire motet, Josquin achieves a structural order that is at once both firm and flexible. The structural in- genuity and ordered detail of Jos- quin's motet are, unfortunately, as- pects of the motet that had to be dis- regarded when de Rore chose this brilliant motet as the model for his Mass. Those qualities which Albert in Munich recognized in de Rore's Mass-the.suave harmonies and rare melodies-are the rich treasure de




Rore discovered in Josquin's motet. The line of text in honor of Her-

cules, sung by the altus secundus throughout the Mass, is not, we said, a melody derived from the vowels of the text. It is rather the first line of the original melody which had served Josquin as his cantus firmus (see Ex.

7)-

thinner in texture than de Rore's Mass. Where Josquin has seen fit to

present a contrasting, imitative coun-

terpoint in two voices against the cantus firmus, de Rore is not satis- fied with such transparent polyphony. De Rore often adds to such a

passage an additional contrapuntal line that contributes little in the way

Praeter rerum seriem (Cantus firmus)

Ex. 7 JOSQUIN DES PREZ

Her.c-u.-la s-e.tun-du* d~fur .-ri-e

quarus vi-vit E vi-vat

As long as de Rore surrounds this melody with imitative polyphony or material invented as contrasting coun-

terpoint, no serious problem of ac- commodation exists. But when, on the other hand, this same first line of the Praeter rerum cantus firmus re- curs, in juxtaposition to the material conceived by Josquin in relation to the remaining lines of the cantus firmus, de Rore is faced with the ne-

cessity of reworking Josquin's material to a new pattern. Thus in Kyrie II the voice singing the text "Her- cules secundus . . ." (line I of the original cantus firmus) is surrounded

by polyphonic lines related to line 3 of the original melody.

De Rore has succeeded in realizing the implications of the Josquin motet on a grand scale. The recurrent melodic phrase honoring Hercules is

subjected to a variety of proportional time signatures and is the structural focal point of the entire Mass. There are movements in which de Rore omits this cantus firmus theme in this particular form, as in the Christe eleison, but here the theme has been diffused throughout the polyphonic web of the other voices.

Josquin's motet is, again, much

of new melodic material but serves to complete the skeletal harmonic framework of the Josquin polyphony.

But yet, the Praeter rerum seriem Mass of de Rore is not so dense in texture as the earlier Mass on the

Josquin chanson. Now de Rore re- duces the number of voices fre-

quently from the basic seven-voice arrangement to five voices, to four voices, to three voices, and even to two voices. Not only is this reduction effected for entire sections of the Mass, but within the various movements there are frequent passages in which the choir is reduced.

In making such alterations, de Rore and Josquin reveal different purposes. In the Josquin motet, every shift from one group of voices to another contrasting group emphasizes a structural, formal consideration. In the de Rore Mass, the contrast between groups of voices is dictated less by a desire to emphasize form and structure than by a desire to introduce contrasting color effects.

A third Mass by de Rore is also

preserved in a Munich manuscript.6 This is the famous Missa a note negre

6 Music Ms. 45.




for five voices. Ambros's supposition that de Rore had written this Mass in the black notation of the i4th century has long since been set aside. De Rore has merely written this Mass in smaller note values than was custo-

There is no indication in the manuscript that this Mass has a cantus firmus or that it is a parody Mass. However, examination of the composition reveals that the entire Mass is a continuous reworking of a

Missa a note negre (Christe eleison)

Ex. 8 DE RORE Munich Mus. Ms. 45

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mary, and therefore the page pre- sents a picture of many black notes. It is worth mentioning, however, that de Rore made no break with the more conservative notational practices when he came to passages in triple time.

limited number of melodic ideas. All the basic material of the Mass is pre- sented in the Kyrie, the Christe, and the second Kyrie. Whether or not this is borrowed material is difficult to decide. At any rate, this Mass has the appearance of a parody Mass.




The normal five-voice choir in this Mass is set aside once for a four- voice combination, once for three voices, and in the second Agnus Dei a second soprano augments the choir to six voices. More important than these changes in the complement of voices are the frequent shifts of groupings of voices within any given movement. Three high voices will be contrasted with four low voices, or four high voices contrasted suddenly with two low voices. These colorful fluctuations of range and timbre are as important an element in this Mass as the variations and polyphonic com- binations of the thematic material itself (see Ex. 8).

In the Gardano publication of Masses dated 1566, mentioned earlier, de Rore is represented by a five- voice parody Mass on the chanson Douce Memoire. This Mass also is preserved in a manuscript at the Con- servatoire in Brussels.7 In recent years Charles van den Borren has twice had occasion to refer to this composition. In i949 he stated that the model for this Mass is not the four-voice chanson by Sandrin which Orlando di Lasso used as the model of his own four-voice Mass of the same name.s In i95o he apparently made a new

appraisal of the situation and decided in favor of the Sandrin chanson.9

It ought to be an easy matter to decide. Yet, van den Borren's vacillation

is understandable. Throughout the Mass the opening phrase of the chanson is unmistakable; likewise, other motives and melodic fragments are used again and again, as is so custo- mary in a parody Mass. In the second Agnus Dei, however, de Rore augments the choir to six voices by add- ing another tenor. This is done for the purpose of presenting a continuous melody in unison canon between the two tenors. The general contours of this melody suggest that we have here the tenor melody of the original chanson model. But this is not the case. There are phrases of the melody in agreement with the tenor of the Sandrin chanson, but significant and extensive deviations raise a doubt whether the Sandrin chanson is de Rore's model in this Mass.

This Mass has, however, much in common with the Missa a note negre. The emphasis on contrasts of color and timbre and the preponderance of the homophonic treatment are feat- ures that indicate a new approach to choral writing.

In one respect, however, de Rore has returned to a point of departure. In the chanson Vous ne l'aurez Jos- quin utilized a canon as the basic structural element of his composition. In de Rore's parody Mass on Jos- quin's chanson, the canonic scheme was rejected. In the Mass on Douce Memoire de Rore returns to the canon as a structural element in the concluding Agnus Dei.

All in all, the five extant Masses of de Rore show a wide divergence of stylistic characteristics. The rigor- ously methodical imitative polyphony of the Missa a voci pari, i.e., the parody Mass on the Josquin chanson Vous ne l'aurez, may be contrasted with the harmonically controlled polyphony of the Missa a note negre or the Douce Mimoire Mass. These are

7 Ms. 27087, fol. 213V-234r. For a complete description of this manuscript see Charles van den Borren, "Inventaire des manuscrits de musique polyphonique qui se trouvent en Belgique," Acta Musicologica V (1933), pp. '79 ff.

8 Geschiedenis van de Muziek in de Neder- landen, Vol. I, p. 273. "De vijfstemmige mis Douce memoire . . . steunt niet op het vier- stemmig chanson van Sandrin, dat Lassus voor zijn gelijknamige mis gebruikt heeft."

9 La Musique en Belgique, p. 113: ". sa messe Douce m6moire, bitie, comme celle de Lassus de m6me titre, sur une chanson de Sandrin . ."




stylistic poles between which the two Masses in honor of Hercules stand. In the short space of time from about 1540 to 1565, the year of his un- timely death, de Rore made such rapid and radical changes in the con-

cept of polyphony that Monteverdi, years later, could point back to de Rore as the inaugurator of the seconda prattica.

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the masses of cipriano de rore

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