JOSQUIN AS THE SPIRIT OF A (LATER) AGE

Chapter:

CHAPTER 14 Josquin and the Humanists

Source:

MUSIC FROM THE EARLIEST NOTATIONS TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

Author(s):

Richard Taruskin

With few exceptions, the many literary encomiums that form our idea of Josquin’s personality all date, like Luther’s, from after the composer’s death and more likely reflect the ideas and values of the writers than they do Josquin’s own. One exception is a jovial sonnet, “To Josquin, his Companion, Ascanio’s musician,” by Serafino dall’Acquila, a poet who served alongside him in the entourage of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza toward the end of the fifteenth century. It consists of some friendly advice to the composer not to envy finely dressed courtiers, because he has something more valuable than they: namely his si soblime ingegno, his “talent so sublime.”⁷ That may give a hint of what later became more seriously known as the “aristocracy of talent”—something, again, that we are apt to associate with the Beethoven legend—but if so, it is a hint as slight as the mood is light.

Citation (MLA):

Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 14 Josquin and the Humanists." The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press. New York, USA. n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2024. <https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume1/actrade-9780195384819-div1-014003.xml>.

Citation (APA):

Taruskin, R. (n.d.). Chapter 14 Josquin and the Humanists. In Oxford University Press, Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century. New York, USA. Retrieved 12 Oct. 2024, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume1/actrade-9780195384819-div1-014003.xml

Citation (Chicago):

Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 14 Josquin and the Humanists." In Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century, Oxford University Press. (New York, USA, n.d.). Retrieved 12 Oct. 2024, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume1/actrade-9780195384819-div1-014003.xml