Editing Josquin des Prez (section)

===Ferrara===
[[File:Ercole I d'Este.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Ercole d'Este I|Ercole I d'Este]], an important patron of the arts, was Josquin's employer during 1503–1504.]]

Josquin arrived in Ferrara by 30 May 1503, to serve [[Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara]], an arts patron who had been trying for many years to replace the composer and choirmaster [[Johannes Martini]], who had recently died.{{sfn|Merkley|2001|pp=547–548}}{{sfn|Fallows|2020|p=235}} No extant documents record Josquin as having worked in Ferrara before, though his earlier associations with Ercole suggest prior employment there;{{sfn|Reese|1984|p=9}} he signed a deed indicating he did not intend to stay there for long.{{sfn|Fallows|2020|p=238}} Ercole is known to have met with Josquin's former employer Louis XII throughout 1499 to 1502, and these meetings may have led to his service for the Duke.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§5 "France and Italy (1494–1503)"}} Two letters survive explaining the circumstances of his arrival, both from courtiers who scouted musical talent in the service of Ercole.{{sfn|Reese|1984|p=10}} The first of these was from Girolamo da Sestola (nicknamed "Coglia") to Ercole, explaining: "My lord, I believe that there is neither lord nor king who will now have a better chapel than yours if your lordship sends for Josquin [...] and by having Josquin in our chapel I want to place a crown upon this chapel of ours" (14 August 1502).{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§5 "France and Italy (1494–1503)"}} The second letter, from the courtier Gian de Artiganova, criticized Josquin and suggested Heinrich Isaac instead:{{sfn|Fallows|2020|pp=236–237}}

{{blockquote|"To me [Isaac] seems well suited to serve your lordship, more so than Josquin, because he is more good-natured and companionable, and will compose new works more often. It is true that Josquin composes better, but he composes when he wants to and not when one wants him to, and he is asking 200 ducats in salary while Isaac will come for 120—but your lordship will decide."|source=Gian de Artiganova to Ercole I d'Este, 2 September 1502{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§5 "France and Italy (1494–1503)"}}}}

Around three months later, Josquin was chosen; his salary of 200 [[ducat]]s was the highest ever for a ducal chapel member.{{sfn|Reese|1984|p=11}} The Artiganova letter is a unique source for Josquin's personality, and the musicologist Patrick Macey interprets it as meaning he was a "difficult colleague and that he took an independent attitude towards producing music for his patrons".{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§5 "France and Italy (1494–1503)"}} [[Edward Lowinsky]] connected his purportedly difficult behavior with musical talent, and used the letter as evidence that Josquin's contemporaries recognized his genius.{{sfn|Lowinsky|1964|pp=484–486}}{{sfn|Wegman|2000|pp=36–37}} Musicologist Rob Wegman questions whether meaningful conclusions can be drawn from such an anecdote.{{sfn|Wegman|1999|pp=335–337}} In a later publication, Wegman notes the largely unprecedented nature of such a position and warns "yet of course the letter could equally well be seen to reflect the attitudes and expectations of its recipient, Ercole d'Este".{{sfn|Wegman|2000|p=39}}

While in Ferrara, Josquin wrote some of his most famous compositions, including the austere, Savonarola-influenced ''[[Miserere (Josquin)|Miserere mei, Deus]]'',{{sfn|Macey|1998|p=184}} which became one of the most widely distributed motets of the 16th century.{{sfn|Milsom|2000|p=307}} Also probably from this period was the virtuoso motet ''Virgo salutiferi'', set to a poem by [[Ercole Strozzi]], and ''O virgo prudentissima'' based on a poem by [[Poliziano]].{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§6 "Ferrara (1503–4)"}} Due to its stylistic resemblance to ''Miserere'' and ''Virgo salutiferi'', the ''Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae'' is also attributed to this time; it was previously thought to have been written in the early 1480s.{{sfn|Fallows|2020|pp=256–259}}{{sfn|Merkley|2001|pp=578–579}}{{refn|Fallows cites [[Lewis Lockwood]], Joshua Rifkin, [[Jeremy Noble (musicologist)|Jeremy Noble]] and Christopher Reynolds as supporting the later dating, against the "received view" that it was composed much earlier. Its structure has been used to date it to both the 1480s and the early 1500s, depending on whether the rigidity of the tenor was interpreted as a sign of immaturity or mastery. In the end, evidence of style, biography and transmission all point toward 1503/4 as the most likely composition date.{{sfn|Fallows|2020|p=259}}{{sfn|Reynolds|2004}}{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§3 "Milan and elsewhere (1484–9)"}}|group=n}} Josquin did not stay in Ferrara long. An outbreak of the [[plague (disease)|plague]] in 1503 prompted the evacuation of the Duke and his family, as well as two-thirds of the citizens, and Josquin left by April 1504. His replacement, Obrecht, died of the plague in mid-1505.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§6 "Ferrara (1503–4)"}}