The Liber selectarum cantionum and the "German Josquin Renaissance"

Abstract

Josquin des Prez's posthumous popularity in mid 16th-century Germany can be traced to the Liber selectarum cantionum quas vulgo mutetas appellant (Augsburg: Grimm & Wyrsung, 1520), a collection of 25 large-scale sacred, occasional, and humanistic motets, including five by Isaac, six by Senfl, and no fewer than seven bearing Josquin's name. Of these, Praeter rerum seriem, Benedicta es,caelorum regina, Miserere mei, Deus, Inviolata, integra et casta es, Maria, and Stabat mater dolorosa would become the most long-lived and widely disseminated of all Josquin's compositions. The interests of Conrad Peutinger, who authored the volume's epilogue, provide insights into the prominence of Josquin's motets within the context of this anthology. His implicit appreciation of Josquin's motets for their fusion of abstract compositional devices and poetic expression would be explicitly stated by commentators of the next generation. The versions of Josquin's motets in the Augsburg print, assiduously prepared by Ludwig Senfl, prove to be reliable and are closely related——and sometimes superior——to readings found in sources nearer to the composer in both time and place. In fact, many posthumous sources for these works, including ones central to the German Josquin renaissance beginning with Ott's Novum et insigne opus musicum, appear to be derived from the Augsburg print