The Missa Mi-mi is a musical setting of the Ordinary of the Mass by Johannes Ockeghem. It is a motto mass based on one of Ockeghem's own chansons, "Presque transi." The mass contains several motives and ideas from this chanson beyond just the head-motive. [1]
The mass is for four voices, and is in the usual parts:
The most authoritative source for this mass is the Chigi codex. Here, the mass appears as 'Mi-mi.' Other early sources are generally untitled, or it is sometimes referred to as "Missa Quarti toni" ( or "Mass in Mode 4"). [2] There has been much debate about what the solmization designation of 'Mi-mi' refers too, and whether this title was given by Ockeghem. Earlier scholars generally assumed that 'Mi-mi' referred to the opening bass motive, which would involve the solmization syllables 'mi' and 'mi' in the normal and soft hexachord, respectively. Rebecca Stewart points out that using the hard hexachord is most likely the way a Renaissance singer would approach this interval, which would avoid the need for mutation. [3] Ross W. Duffin has more recently proposed that 'Mi-mi' is possibly another way to refer to Mode 4 - through defining the solmization of the outer limits of the two hexachords used in the mode. [4]
Josquin Lebloitte dit des Prez was a composer of High Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he was a central figure of the Franco-Flemish School and had a profound influence on the music of 16th-century Europe. Building on the work of his predecessors Guillaume Du Fay and Johannes Ockeghem, he developed a complex style of expressive—and often imitative—movement between independent voices (polyphony) which informs much of his work. He further emphasized the relationship between text and music, and departed from the early Renaissance tendency towards lengthy melismatic lines on a single syllable, preferring to use shorter, repeated motifs between voices. Josquin was a singer, and his compositions are mainly vocal. They include masses, motets and secular chansons.
Johannes Ockeghem was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of early Renaissance music. Ockeghem was the most influential European composer in the period between Guillaume Du Fay and Josquin des Prez, and he was—with his colleague Antoine Busnois—the leading European composer in the second half of the 15th century. He was an important proponent of the early Franco-Flemish School.
Alexander Agricola was a Netherlandish composer of the Renaissance writing in the Franco-Flemish style. A prominent member of the Grande chapelle, the Habsburg musical establishment, he was a renowned composer in the years around 1500, and his music was widely distributed throughout Europe. He composed music in all of the important sacred and secular styles of the time.
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The Chigi codex is a music manuscript originating in Flanders. According to Herbert Kellman, it was created sometime between 1498 and 1503, probably at the behest of Philip I of Castile. It is currently housed in the Vatican Library under the call number Chigiana, C. VIII. 234.
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The Tijdschrift van de Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the music history of the Low Countries. It is published by the Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis and the editor-in-chief is Eric Jas. It was established in 1882 as the Tijdschrift der Vereeniging voor Noord-Nederlandsche Muziekgeschiedenis, renamed "Tijdschrift der Vereeniging voor Nederlandsche Muziekgeschiedenis" in 1909. In 1948 the name was changed again to the more general Tijdschrift voor Muziekwetenschap, but in 1960 this reverted to the previous Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis. The journal obtained its current title in 1995 when the society obtained the right to call itself "Royal". The journal is published in two yearly issues, although these are often combined in one special issue covering a single topic.
Albertus Antonius Smijers, was a Dutch musicologist who served as Professor of Musicology at the University of Utrecht. He was a noted authority on Josquin des Prez—44 volumes of Werken van Josquin des Prez were published in his lifetime, and another 11 after his death.
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