Missa de Beata Virgine (Josquin)

The Missa de Beata Virgine is a musical setting of the Ordinary of the Mass, by Renaissance composer Josquin des Prez.

Though formerly believed to have been a late composition on the basis of stylistic analysis (Osthoff asserts 1513), evidence from Burchard’s Diary proves that the mass was written sometime before September 23, 1497.

[3] Since music for two of the movements – the Gloria and Credo – appeared independently in Vatican sources, circulating in 1503 or before, it has been presumed that the mass was assembled later from several parts, and most likely the five-voice portions were composed around 1510.

[3] Distinguishing the last masses, and his late style period in general, was a general simplification and refinement: Josquin left behind the elaborate contrapuntal artifice evident in the masses of the preceding period, such as the two he wrote on the L'homme armé tune, and wrote music in which bringing out the meaning of the text, and having it understood, was more important than any virtuoso display.

Both the Agnus and Sanctus cadence on C.[6] The popularity of this mass in the 16th century may be due to its "sensuously appealing" surface texture, one which foreshadows the music of later composers such as Cristóbal Morales and Nicolas Gombert.