The Missa Di dadi, also known as the Dice Mass or Missa N'aray je jamais mieulx, is a musical setting of the Ordinary of the Mass by Franco-Flemish composer Josquin des Prez, probably dating from around 1480. It uses the chanson N'aray je jamais mieulx by Robert Morton as the source of its cantus firmus, and also contains unique visual and musical references to dice. The latter is thought to be a reference to the popularity of gambling in the court of the Sforza family at Milan, where Josquin wrote it. [1]
The mass is based on the tenor of the chanson N'aray je jamais mieulx , by Robert Morton; the opening of this line is used in the early movements, while the Hosanna and Agnus Dei quote the entire tenor. The early movements, up to the Sanctus, also feature illustrations of pairs of dice, which indicate the speed-ratio between the tenor cantus firmus and the other parts. For example, in the Kyrie, the dice show a ratio of 2:1, and the note-lengths of the original chanson are doubled in order to fit with the other parts. In the Gloria it is 4:1, so the chanson is half as slow again, needing to be slowed down by a factor of four; in the Credo it is 6:1 and in the Sanctus 5:1.
It is speculated that these ratios, and the specific numbers involved, may represent an imaginary "game" of dice, which goes through several drawn rounds until the Sanctus's roll of 5+1=6 ends the game in a sudden victory (a metaphor for the "victory" of Christ over sin in Christian theology) - the sinful gamblers' dice thus disappearing between the end of the Sanctus and the beginning of the Benedictus, a gap during which, in liturgical practice of Josquin's time, the Host was elevated and the holiest portion of the Mass began. [2]
Like most musical settings of the mass Ordinary, it is in five parts:
Josquin des Prez, often referred to simply as Josquin, was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was the most famous European composer between Guillaume Dufay and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and is usually considered to be the central figure of the Franco-Flemish School. Josquin is widely considered to be the first master of the high Renaissance style of polyphonic vocal music that was emerging during his lifetime.
The mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music. Most masses are settings of the liturgy in Latin, the liturgical sacred language of the Catholic Church's Roman liturgy, but there are a significant number written in the languages of non-Catholic countries where vernacular worship has long been the norm. For example, there are many masses written in English for the Church of England. Musical masses take their name from the Catholic liturgy called "the Mass" as well.
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Missa brevis is Latin for "short Mass". The term usually refers to a mass composition that is short because part of the text of the Mass ordinary that is usually set to music in a full mass is left out, or because its execution time is relatively short.
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The Tournai Mass is a polyphonic setting of the mass from 14th-century France. It is preserved in a manuscript from the library of the Tournai Cathedral.
The Toulouse Mass is a polyphonic 14th-century musical setting of the Mass found in a manuscript in the municipal library of Toulouse. It was not composed by a single individual, but is presumed to have been compiled and performed as a unit. The present location of Toulouse does not necessarily mean it was composed there.
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Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis in A minor, ZWV 17, is the vocal-instrumental sacred work, written by Czech Baroque composer Jan Dismas Zelenka. It was completed in 1736 as the first of five "High Mass" compositions he wrote in the last ten years of his life. Last three were also called "Missae ultimae".
The Missa Gaudeamus is a musical setting of the Ordinary of the Mass by Franco-Flemish composer Josquin des Prez, probably composed in the early or middle 1480s, and published in 1502. It is based on the gregorian introit Gaudeamus Omnes and its setting is for four voices.
Missa Brevis is a mass written by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina first published in 1570 in Palestrina's Third Book of Masses and has been Reprinted several times since. The Title can be misleading as Missa Brevis is commonly a short mass. Palestrina likely chose the word Brevis as this was the most adequate word to portray the piece. Missa Brevis is considered to be one of the most performed of Palestrina's repertoire of polyphony.
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