Entré je suis en grande pensée – Homage to Josquin Desprez – SATB soli a cappella
words set to music by the great Josquin himself
duration around 5′
Imagine yourself walking through the neighborhoods of a medieval city: in turn, we hear, at the turn of an alley, a staircase, a square, the jilted lover, the market and its cries, the amorous duet, the soldier leaving for war, a pretext for verbal games—the humorous mode hoping to exorcise war and thwart death—a public execution, a condensed life whose plot is a procession that suggests a kind of cantus firmus: the lamentation over the death of Josquin des Prez.
We move from one atmosphere to the other thanks to the juxtaposition (or even superposition) of several of Josquin’s scores (quoting not the music but the texts in which we hear Latin and old « Françoy ») which reflect the themes dear to him: love, of course, but also the loss of a loved one, the impossibility of communication. The game lends itself to a theatrical interpretation: the lovers respond to each other in canon, illustrating the echo of their thoughts, the consonants make the drum skins vibrate, the voices « hiccup », the chromaticism illustrating the tears and the heartbreak invades each part, the tongues are loosened: the hungry people cry out: « will we live on the wind? » This incantation, whose political-social message is also addressed to those who govern our countries, is still relevant and strangely modern!
Description
Download the scoreO mors inevitabilis,
Mors amara, mors crudelis,
Plorans ploravit
Josquin des Pres dum necasti,
Illum nobis abstulisti,
Requiem aeternam
Dona ei Domine
Et lux perpetua luceat ei
Propterea tu musicae!
Si j’avoye Marion, helas,
du tout a mon plaisir,
La belle au corps mignon, helas,
que mon cueur a choisi!
je suis la belle au corps mignon
que ton cueur hela a choisi!
Voulez-vous ouyr les cris de Paris?
Où sontilz? Qui l’aira?
Je les vendz, je les donne!
Choux, petits choux tous chaulx!
Fault-il point?
Qui veult du laict?
C’est moy, je meurs de froit! Sa à boyre!
Vin cleret, vin vermeil à six deniers, vin à s’y damner!
Scaramella v’alla guerra
colla lancia e la rotella lo zombero
Baisés moy, ma doulce amye
Par amour je vous en prie
Non feray!
Et pourquoy?
Si je faisoye la folie
ma mére en morrie
Vela de quoy!
Baisés moy c’est folie
Or doncques seroy morri!
Cueurs desolez par toute nation,
Assemblez dueil et lamentation
Ne cherchez plus l’armoniance
Lyre d’Orpheus Pour voz resiouyssance,
Mais plongez vous en desolation
Nymphes des boys, Ô nymphes! déesses des fontaines,
Compères plourez de grosses larmes d’oeil,
Josquin s’en est allé, Compère des prez!
Adieu mes amours, on m’attend,
a Dieu vous command,
Adieu je vous dy jusquez au printemps!
Au Je suis en souci de quoy je vivray
La raison pour quoy je le vous diray:
Je n’ay plus d’argent, Vivray je du vent?
—
If I had Marion, alas,
at all my pleasure,
The beauty with the cute body, alas,
that my heart has chosen!
I am the beauty with the cute body
that your heart, alas, has chosen!
Would you like to hear the cries of Paris?
Where are they? Who will have them?
I sell them, I give them away!
Cabbages, little cabbages all white!
Is it necessary?
Who wants milk?
It’s me, I’m dying of cold! That’s enough to drink!
Clermont wine, six-penny red wine, wine to die for!
Scaramella, go to war
with the spear and the buckler, I’ll zombero
Kiss me, my sweet friend
For love, I beg you
I will not!
And why?
If I did this madness,
my mother would die.
That’s why!
Kiss me, that’s madness
Now, then, I will die!
Hearts desolated throughout the nation,
Gather mourning and lamentation
Seek harmony no more
Lyre of Orpheus For your joy,
But plunge yourselves into desolation
Nymphs of the woods, O nymphs! Goddesses of the fountains,
Compères weep with great tears,
Josquin is gone, Compère des préz!
Farewell my loves, I am expected,
God commands you,
Farewell I bid you until spring!
I am worried about how I will live
The reason why I will tell you:
I have no more money, Will I live on wind?
Pronunciation Principles of Renaissance French
The letters are pronounced more fully than in modern French.
Silent e’s are often pronounced (e.g., « meurs » → [məːʁs]).
« oy » is often pronounced [wɛ] or [waj] (not [wa]).
« ay » → [aj]; « ez » → [e].
« au » → [aw], not [o].
The final « s » is often pronounced if it is written.
The prosody is more melodious, rhythmic, and sometimes accented on the last syllable.
Phonetic reading (approximate) of some passages
« If I had Marion, alas »
[si ʒaˈvɔ.jə ma.ʁiˈõ ɛˈlas]
« at all to my pleasure »
[dy tut‿a mõ plɛˈziːʁ]
« The beauty with the cute body, alas »
[la bɛl‿o kɔʁ miˈɲõ ɛˈlas]
« Whom my heart has chosen »
[kə mõ køːʁ‿a ʃwaˈzi]
« Do you want to hear the cries of Paris? »
[vu.leˈvu‿uˈiʁ le kʁi də paˈʁis]
« Where are they? Who will? » → [u sɔ̃ˈtils | ki lɛˈʁa]
« Cabbage, little cabbages, all hot »
[ʃu | pəˈti ʃu tu ˈʃo]
(Note: « hot » is an old spelling of « hot » → [ʃo])
« Cleret wine, six-penny red wine »
[vɛ̃ kleˈʁɛ | vɛ̃ vɛʁˈmɛj‿a sis dəˈnje]
(“cleret” = light wine; “vermeil” = light red)
“Kiss me, my sweet Amye”
[bɛˈze mwa ma ˈdul.sə aˈmi]
“For love I beg you”
[paʁ‿aˈmuʁ ʒə vu‿z‿ã pri]
“Desolate hearts of every nation”
[køʁ dezɔˈle | paʁ tut‿naˈsjõ]
“Nymphs of boys, oh nymphs, goddesses of fountains”
[nɛ̃f də bwa | o nɛ̃f | de.ˈɛs də fõˈtɛn]
