Songs and Ayres, set out to the Lute, the Base Violl the playne way, or the Base by tableture after the leero fashion '; a song from which—'My love bound me with a kisse,' is likewise given in 'Musica Antiqua.' He contributed the madrigal, 'Faire Oriana, seeming to wink at folly,' to 'The Triumphes of Oriana,' published in the same year. In 1607 he published 'The First Set of Madrigals of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 parts, for Viols and Voices, or for Voices alone, or as you please,' and in 1608 'Ultimum Vale, or the Third Book of Ayres of 1, 2, and 4 Voyces.' In 1609 appeared 'A Musicall Dreame, or the Fourth Booke of Ayres; The first part is for the Lute, two voyces and the Viole de Gambo: The second part is for the Lute, the Viole and four voices to sing: The third part is for one voyce alone, or to the Lute, the Base Viole, or to both if you please, whereof two are Italian Ayres.' In 1611 he published 'The Muse's Gardin for delight, or the Fift Booke of Ayres only for the Lute, the basse Violl and the Voyce.' He contributed three pieces to Leighton's 'Teares or Lamentacions' published in 1614. In 1616 Jones, in conjunction with Philip Rossetor, Philip Kingman and Ralph Reeve, obtained a privy seal for a patent authorising them to erect a theatre, for the use of the Children of the Revels to the Queen, within the precinct of Blackfriars, near Puddle Wharf, on the site of a house occupied by Jones. But the Lord Mayor and Aldermen were opposed to the scheme, and procured from the Privy Council an order prohibiting the building being so applied, and by their influence Jones and his fellows were compelled to dismantle their house and surrender their patent.
[ W. H. H. ]
JOSEPH. 1. 'Joseph and his Brethren.' The 8th of Handel's English oratorios; the words by James Miller, the music composed in August 1743. Produced at Covent Garden March 2, 1744. 2. Opéra-comique in 3 acts; libretto by Duval, music by Méhul. Produced at the Théatre Feydeau Feb. 17, 1807. Chiefly known by the romance of Joseph, 'A peine au sortir de l'enfance' ('Ere infancy's bud') and a prayer for male voices, 'Dieu d'Israel.' The romance of Benjamin, 'Ah lorsque la Mort,' is given in the Musical Library, ii. 142. 3. An oratorio in 2 parts; the words selected from the Bible by Dr. E. G. Monk; the music by G. A. Macfarren. Produced at the Leeds Festival Sept. 21, 1877.
[ G. ]
JOSHUA. The 14th of Handel's English oratorios; words by Dr. Morell. The music was begun on July 19 and finished Aug. 19, 1747, and the work was produced at Covent Garden theatre March 9, 1748. The chorus, 'The nations tremble,' is said to have affected Haydn extremely when he heard it at the Antient Concerts.[1] 'See, the conquering hero comes' is originally in Joshua, and was transferred to Judas. The oratorio was revived by the Sacred Harmonic Society June 19, 1839.
[ G. ]
JOSQUIN, or more strictly JOSSE, DESPRÉS,—latinised into Jodocus a Pratis, and Italianised into Giusquino—one of the greatest masters of the Netherland school, the successor of Ockenheim as its representative, and the immediate predecessor in musical history of Lassus and Palestrina, was born about the middle of the 15th century, probably at or near St. Quentin in Hainault. In the collegiate church of that town, according to Claude Hémeré, the 'arte canendi clarissimus infantulus' began his promising career. Here, perhaps, the little chorister would get his pet name Jossekin, which clung to him through life, and in its Latin form Josquinus gives us the title by which as a composer he always has and always will be known. His real name, however, appears in his epitaph and in a legal document discovered by M. Delzaut at Condé.
Of the rest of Josquin's early life we know that he was for some time chapel-master at St. Quentin, and also that he was received as a pupil by Ockenheim, who, himself the greatest living composer, was gathering round him such disciples as he thought worthy the trust of carrying on his labours after him. We can scarcely be wrong in assuming that Josquin stayed with Ockenheim for some years. Long and patient labour could alone make him familiar with all the subtleties of that master's art, and that he had thoroughly learnt all that Ockenheim could teach him before he came to Rome is apparent from his earlier compositions. Had he written nothing else these works by themselves would have entitled him to a name as great as his master's.
Exactly 400 years ago we find Josquin at the Papal court of Sixtus IV (1471–1484) already regarded as the most rising musician of the day, rapidly gaining the proud position of being the greatest composer which the modern world had yet produced, and making that position so secure, that for upwards of sixty years his title remained undisputed. Agricola, Brumel, Gombert, Clemens non Papa, Genet, Isaac, Goudimel, Morales, these are only a few of the names of the great musicians who flourished in this period, and yet where are they, when Baini thus describes the state of music in Europe before the advent of Palestrina? 'Jusquino des Pres … l'idolo dell' Europa … Si canta il solo Jusquino in Italia, il solo Jusquino in Francia, il solo Jusquino in Germania, nelle Flandre, in Ungheria, in Boemia, nelle Spagne, il solo Jusquino.'
Though Josquin's stay at Rome was not a long one, the fruits of his labours there, in the form of several MS. masses, are still preserved and jealously guarded from curious eyes in the library of the Sistine chapel.
It is almost impossible to decide at what times of his life Josquin paid visits to, or received appointments at the respective courts of Hercules of Ferrara, Lorenzo of Florence, Louis XII of France or the emperor Maximilian I. It is certain that all these princes were in their turn his patrons. For the first he wrote his mass
- ↑ Appendix to Shield's 'Introduction to Harmony.'
