Jacquet of Mantua was a Renaissance sacred composer of the generation after Josquin Desprez, a contemporary and friend of Adrian Willaert. Although born in France, he spent almost his whole life in Italy. The comparative neglect of his music has not been due to quality but extramusical factors, including the untimely death of the scholar who was making a modern edition of his music. Based on the music heard here, one might well conclude that he's more enjoyable than Willaert, whose music sometimes plods through sequences of ...
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Jacquet of Mantua was a Renaissance sacred composer of the generation after Josquin Desprez, a contemporary and friend of Adrian Willaert. Although born in France, he spent almost his whole life in Italy. The comparative neglect of his music has not been due to quality but extramusical factors, including the untimely death of the scholar who was making a modern edition of his music. Based on the music heard here, one might well conclude that he's more enjoyable than Willaert, whose music sometimes plods through sequences of points of imitation that differ little from one another. The highlight is the Missa Surge Petre (tracks 2-6), a parody mass based on a motet by Jacquet himself, published in 1535. This motet is properly included at the beginning of the program, and it suffuses the mass in both direct and indirect details. Both are sunny, limpid works in a very Josquin-like style, which is saying a lot. Later in the program come some larger motets written for some ceremonial purpose; these too are...
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