Analysing Josquin

Abstract My teacher Josquin ..never gave a lecture on music or wrote a theoretical work, and yet he was able in a short time to form complete musicians, because he did not keep back his pupils with long and useless instructions but taught them the rules in a few words, through practical application in the course of singing. And as soon as he saw that his pupils were well grounded in singing, had a good enunciation and knew how to embellish melodies and fit the text to the music, then he taught them the perfect and imperfect intervals and the different methods of inventing counterpoints against plainsong. Ifhe discovered, however, pupils with an ingenious mind and promising disposition, then he would teach these in a few words the rules of three-part and later of four-, five-, six-part,etc, writing, always providing them with examples to imitate. Josquin did not, however, consider all suited to learn composition; he judged that only those should be taught who were drawn to this delightful art by a special natural impulse. IN this eyewitness account of musical pedagogy in the early sixteenth century we come as close as contemporary sources will allow us-and itis neither as close nor as authoritative as we might wish -to hearing the words Josquin des Prez himself used in order to illuminate the theory and practice of his art. Nothing in the anecdote lies beyond credibility. On the contrary, Josquin emerges as a teacher without obvious idiosyncrasy who adheres closely to the standard tutorial curriculum of the day.