Josquin Des Prez Av Maria

“Ave Maria” is a motet, or a short piece of sacred choral music, written by Josquin des Prez in the second half of the 15th century during the Renaissance Era. This motet is a devotional piece to the Virgin Mary which consists of three total parts: a greeting to the Virgin Mary, an overview of the five major events of her life, and the author entreating Mary for mercy at their time of death (Rifkin). The piece exemplifies the ideals and characteristics of Renaissance music through its “syntactic imitation” structure, a rich texture through multiple parts, and chordal harmony (Dickey). The use of lyrical phrases throughout the piece also embodies one of the defining features of the time, vocal music (Kuznetsova). Even from a young age, religion played a major role in the life of Josquin des Prez. …show more content…
Josquin Des Prez was also influenced by his mentor and teacher, Johannes Ockeghem, a member of the Franco-Flemish school of music in the Netherlands. This influence is evident in Josquin des Prez’s “Ave María” though it’s Franco-Flemish polyphonic style (Dobson). Overall, the pious Italian society in the 15th century and his previous occupations influenced Josquin des Prez to compose a devotional piece to a figure of the Catholicism Virgin Mary. This piece by des Prez presents itself with a very celebratory and serene tone. ”Ave María” embodies these tones through its subject matter, the praise and glorification of the Virgin Mary, and the chordal harmony found throughout the entirety of the piece. Josquin des Prez also avoids dissonance throughout the whole of the piece in order to achieve a mood of serenity and religious devotion