Editing Josquin des Prez (section)

== Music ==
{{see also|List of compositions by Josquin des Prez}}
[[File:Josquin Domine ne in furore.svg|thumb|upright=1.9|Josquin's four-voice motet ''Domine, ne in furore'' was written {{circa|1480}}.{{sfn|Finscher|2000|p=273}} It includes one voice presenting a short motive, which is subsequently imitated by other voices.]]

After [[Guillaume Du Fay|Du Fay]] died in 1474, Josquin and his contemporaries lived in a musical world of frequent stylistic change,{{sfn|Planchart|2004|loc=§2 "Posthumous reputation"}} in part due to the movement of musicians between different regions of Europe.{{sfn|Reese|1954|pp=184–185}} A line of musicologists credits Josquin with three primary developments:

1) The gradual departure from extensive [[melisma]]tic lines, and emphasis instead on smaller [[Motif (music)|motif]]s.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§10 "Works: canon and chronology", § para. 7}} These "motivic [[Cell (music)|cell]]s" were short, easily recognizable melodic fragments which passed from one voice to another in a [[counterpoint|contrapuntal]] texture, giving it an inner unity.{{sfn|Godt|1977|pp=264–292}}

2) The prominent use of [[Imitation (music)|imitative]] [[polyphony]], equally between voices, which "combines a rational and homogeneous integration of the musical space with a self-renewing rhythmic impetus".{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§10 "Works: canon and chronology", § para. 7}}

3) A focus on the text, with the music serving to emphasize its meaning, an early form of [[word painting]].{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§10 "Works: canon and chronology", § para. 7}}

The musicologist [[Jeremy Noble (musicologist)|Jeremy Noble]] concludes that these innovations demonstrate the transition from the earlier music of Du Fay and Ockeghem, to Josquin's successors [[Adrian Willaert]] and [[Jacques Arcadelt]], and eventually to the late Renaissance composers [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina]] and [[Orlande de Lassus]].{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§10 "Works: canon and chronology", § para. 7}}
Josquin was a professional singer throughout his life, and his compositions are almost exclusively vocal.{{sfn|Milsom|2011|loc=§ para. 5}} He wrote in primarily three genres: the [[mass (music)|mass]], [[motet]], and [[chanson]] (with French text).{{sfn|Milsom|2011|loc=§ para. 5}} In his 50-year career, Josquin's body of work is larger than that of any other composer of his period, besides perhaps Isaac and Obrecht.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§10 "Works: canon and chronology", § para. 5}} Establishing a chronology of his compositions is difficult; the sources in which they were published offer little evidence, and historical and contextual connections are meager.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§10 "Works: canon and chronology", § paras. 5–7}} Few manuscripts of Josquin's music date from before the 16th century, due to, according to Noble, "time, war and enthusiasm (both religious and anti-religious)".{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§10 "Works: canon and chronology", § para. 5}} Identifying earlier works is particularly difficult, and later works only occasionally offer any more certainty.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§10 "Works: canon and chronology", § para. 5}} The musicologist [[Richard Taruskin]] writes that modern scholarship is "still nowhere near a wholly reliable chronology and unlikely ever to reach it", and suggests that the current tentative models "tell us more about ourselves, and the way in which we come to know what we know, than they do about Josquin".{{sfn|Taruskin|2010|loc=§ "What Josquin Was Really Like"}}

=== Masses ===
[[File:Josquin Missa BV Kyrie.jpg|thumb|upright=2.1|Manuscript showing the opening Kyrie of the ''[[Missa de Beata Virgine (Josquin)|Missa de Beata Virgine]]'', a late work. ''Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Capp. Sist. 45, ff. 1v-2r''.]]

The [[mass (liturgy)|mass]] is the central rite of the Catholic Church, and polyphonic settings of the [[ordinary (liturgy)|ordinary]] of the mass—the [[Kyrie]], [[Gloria in excelsis Deo|Gloria]], [[Credo]], [[Sanctus]] and [[Agnus Dei]]—increased in popularity in the 14th century. From the 15th century, composers treated it as a central genre in [[Western classical music]] in accordance with greater demand.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses"}} By Josquin's time, masses were generally standardized into substantial, polyphonic five-movement works, making it difficult for composers to satisfy both liturgical and musical demands. Previous examples in the genre by composers such as Du Fay and Ockeghem were widely admired and emulated.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses"}}

Josquin and Obrecht led an intensive development of the genre.{{sfn|Lockwood|Kirkman|loc=§ para. 7}}{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses"}} Josquin's masses are generally less progressive than his motets—though he is credited with numerous innovations in the genre.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses"}} His less radical approach may be explained by most of the masses being earlier works, or the structural and textual limitations of the genre.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses"}} Almost all are for four voices.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§ "Works"}}

The ''Josquin Companion'' categorizes the composer's masses into the following styles:{{sfn|Sherr|2000|p=ix}}
* [[Canon (music)|Canonic]] masses, which contains one or more voices derived from another via strict imitation;
* ''[[Cantus firmus]]'' masses, in which a pre-existing tune appears in one voice of the texture, with the other voices being more or less freely composed;
* [[Paraphrase mass]]es, based on a popular [[monophonic]] song which is used freely in all voices, and in many variations;{{sfn|Sherr|2001|loc=§ para. 1}}
* [[Parody mass]]es, based on a polyphonic song, which appears in whole or in part, with material from all voices in use, not just the tune;{{sfn|''Grove''|2001}} and
* [[Solmization]] masses, named [[soggetto cavato]] by Zarlino, in which the base tune is drawn from the syllables of a name or phrase.{{sfn|Lockwood|2001|loc=§ para. 1}}

Josquin began his career at a time when composers started to find strict ''cantus firmus'' masses limiting.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}} He pioneered paraphrase and parody masses, which were not well established before the 16th century.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}} Many of his works combine the ''cantus firmus'' style with paraphrase and parody, making strict categorization problematic.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}} Reflecting on Josquin's masses, Noble notes that "In general his instinct, at least in his mature works, seems to be to extract as much variety as possible from his given musical material, sacred or secular, by any appropriate means."{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}}

==== Canonic masses ====
[[File:Missa Sine Nomine - Kyrie I - Incipit.svg|thumb|upright=1.9|Opening of Josquin's ''[[Missa sine nomine (Josquin)|Missa sine nomine]]''[[File:Missa Sine Nomine - Kyrie I - Incipit Midi.midi]]]]

Josquin's predecessors and contemporaries wrote masses based on canonic imitation. The canonic voices in these masses derive from pre-existing melodies such as the "L'homme armé" song ([[Guillaume Faugues|Faugues]], Compère and [[Mathurin Forestier|Forestier]]), or chant ([[Antoine de Févin|Fevin]] and [[Pierre de la Rue|La Rue]]'s ''Missae de feria'').{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|p=196}} Josquin's two canonic masses are not based on existing tunes, and so stand apart from the mainstream. They are closer to the ''[[Missa prolationum]]'' written by Ockeghem, and ''Missa ad fugam'' by [[Marbrianus de Orto|de Orto]], both of which use original melodies in all the voices.{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|p=196}}

Josquin's two canonic masses were published in Petrucci's third book of Josquin masses in 1514; the ''[[Missa ad fugam]]'' is the earlier of the two. It has a head-motif consisting of the whole first Kyrie which is repeated in the beginning of all five movements.{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|p=197}} The canon is restricted to the highest voice, and the [[pitch interval]] between the voices is fixed while the temporal interval varies between only two values; the two free voices generally do not participate in the imitation.{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|pp=197–198}} The precise relationship of Josquin's mass to de Orto's is uncertain, as is Josquin's authorship of the mass.{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|pp=198, 202}}{{sfn|Urquhart|2012}}

No questions of authenticity cloud the ''[[Missa sine nomine (Josquin)|Missa sine nomine]]'', written during Josquin's final years in Condé.{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|p=204}} In contrast to the inflexibility of the canonic scheme in the ''Missa ad fugam'', the temporal and pitch interval of the canon, along with the voices that participate in it, are varied throughout.{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|p=204}} The free voices are more fully integrated into the texture, and frequently participate in imitation with the canonic voices, sometimes preemptively.{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|p=206}}

====''Cantus firmus'' masses====
Prior to Josquin's mature period, the most common technique for writing masses was the ''cantus firmus'', a technique which had been in use for most of the 15th century. Josquin used the technique early in his career, with the ''Missa L'ami Baudichon'' considered to be one of his earliest masses.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}} This mass is based on a secular tune similar to "[[Three Blind Mice]]". Basing a mass on such a source was an accepted procedure, as evidenced by the existence of the mass in Sistine Chapel part-books copied during the papacy of [[Pope Julius II|Julius II]] (1503–1513).{{sfn|Blackburn|2000|p=72}}

Josquin's most famous ''cantus firmus'' masses are the two based on the "[[L'homme armé]]" ({{lit|the armed man}}), a popular tune for mass composition throughout the Renaissance.{{sfn|Taruskin|2010|loc=§ "The Man At Arms"}} Though both are relatively mature compositions, they are very different.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}} ''Missa L'homme armé super voces musicales'', is a technical tour-de-force on the tune, containing numerous [[prolation canon|mensuration canons]] and contrapuntal display.{{sfn|Blackburn|2000|pp=53–62}} Throughout the work, the melody is presented on each note of the natural hexachord: C, D, E, F, G and A.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}} The later ''[[Missa L'homme armé sexti toni]]'' is a "fantasia on the theme of the armed man."{{sfn|Blackburn|2000|p=63}} While based on a ''cantus firmus'', it is also a paraphrase mass, for fragments of the tune appear in all voices; throughout the work the melody appears in a wide variety of tempos and rhythms.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}} Technically it is almost restrained, compared to the other ''L'homme armé'' mass, until the closing Agnus Dei, which contains a complex canonic structure including a rare retrograde canon, around which other voices are woven.{{sfn|Blackburn|2000|p=64}}

====Paraphrase masses====
{{Quote box|width=300px|bgcolor=#E0E6F8|align=right|quote=
'''Paraphrase masses by Josquin'''{{sfn|Planchart|2000|p=89}}
<hr/>
: ''Early works''
* ''Missa Ave maris stella''
* ''[[Missa Gaudeamus]]''
<hr/>
: ''Later works''
* ''[[Missa de Beata Virgine (Josquin)|Missa de Beata Virgine]]''
* ''[[Missa Pange lingua]]''
|salign = left
}}

The [[paraphrase mass]] differed from the ''cantus firmus'' technique in that the source material, though still monophonic, could be (by Josquin's time) highly embellished, often with ornaments.{{sfn|''Grove''|2001}} As in the ''cantus firmus'' technique, the source tune may appear in many voices of the mass.{{sfn|Planchart|2000}} Several of Josquin's masses feature the paraphrase technique, such as the early ''[[Missa Gaudeamus]]'', which also includes ''cantus firmus'' and canonic elements.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}} The ''Missa Ave maris stella'', also probably an early work, paraphrases the [[Marian antiphon]] of the [[Ave Maris Stella|same name]]; it is one of his shortest masses.{{sfn|Planchart|2000|p=109}} The late ''Missa de Beata Virgine'' paraphrases plainchants in praise of the Virgin Mary. As a [[Lady Mass]], it is a votive mass for Saturday performance, and was his most popular mass in the 16th century.{{sfn|Noble|1980|loc=§ "Works"}}{{sfn|Planchart|2000|pp=120–130}}

The best known of Josquin's paraphrase masses, and one of the most famous mass settings of the Renaissance, is the ''Missa Pange lingua'', based on [[Pange lingua gloriosi corporis mysterium|a hymn]] by [[Thomas Aquinas]] for the [[Vespers of Corpus Christi]]. It was probably the last mass Josquin composed.{{sfn|Planchart|2000|pp=130, 132}} This mass is an extended [[Fantasia (music)|fantasia]] on the tune, using the melody in all voices and all parts of the mass, in elaborate and ever-changing polyphony. One of the high points of the mass is the ''et incarnatus est'' section of the Credo, where the texture becomes homophonic, and the tune appears in the topmost voice. Here the portion which would normally set—"Sing, O my tongue, of the mystery of the divine body"—is instead given the words "And he became incarnate by the Holy Ghost from the Virgin Mary, and was made man."{{sfn|Planchart|2000|p=142}} Noble comments that "The vigour of the earlier masses can still be felt in the rhythms and the strong drive to cadences, perhaps more so than in the ''Missa de Beata Virgine'', but essentially the two contrasting strains of Josquin's music—fantasy and intellectual control—are so blended and balanced in these two works that one can see in them the beginnings of a new style: one which reconciles the conflicting aims of the great 15th-century composers in a new synthesis that was in essence to remain valid for the whole of the 16th century."{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}}

====Parody masses====
{{Quote box|width=300px|bgcolor=#E0E6F8|align=right|quote=
'''Parody masses by Josquin'''{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|p=152}}
* ''[[Missa Di dadi]]'' ([[Robert Morton (composer)|Morton]])
* ''Missa D'ung aultre amer'' ([[Johannes Ockeghem|Ockeghem]])
* ''Missa Faisant regretz'' ([[Walter Frye|Frye]])
* ''Missa Fortuna desperata'' (?{{refn||name=Busnois|group=n}})
* ''Missa Malheur me bat'' ([[Johannes Martini|Martini]] or [[Abertijne Malcourt|Malcourt]])
* ''Missa Mater Patris'' ([[Antoine Brumel|Brumel]])
|salign = left
}}

Du Fay was one of the first to write masses based on secular songs (a parody mass), and his ''Missa Se la face ay pale'', dates to the decade of Josquin's birth.{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|p=151}} By the turn of the 16th century, composers were moving from quoting single voice lines, to widen their reference to all voices in the piece.{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|p=151}} This was part of the transition from the medieval ''cantus firmus'' mass, where the voice bearing the preexisting melody stood aloof from the others, to the Renaissance parody masses, where all the voices formed an integrated texture.{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|pp=151–152}} In such masses, the source material was not a single line, but motifs and points of imitation from all voices within a polyphonic work.{{sfn|''Grove''|2001}} By the time Josquin died, these parody masses had become well established and Josquin's works demonstrate the variety of methods in musical borrowing during this transition period.{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|p=151}}

Six works are generally attributed to Josquin which borrow from polyphonic pieces,{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|p=152}} two of which also include canonic features.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}} One of these—the ''[[Missa Di dadi]]'', which includes a canon in the "Benedictus"—is based on a chanson by [[Robert Morton (composer)|Robert Morton]] and has the rhythmic augmentation of the borrowed tenor part indicated by [[dice]] faces, which are printed next to the staff.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}}{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|pp=152–153}} Canon can also be found in the "Osanna" of the ''Missa Faisant regretz'' which is based on [[Walter Frye]]'s ''Tout a par moy''.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}} The ''Missa Fortuna desperata'' is based on the popular three-voice Italian song ''[[Fortuna desperata]]''.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}}{{refn|The song survives anonymously in most sources. The attribution to Busnois, which exists in a single late source, is not generally accepted.{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|p=165}}|name=Busnois|group=n}} In this mass, Josquin used each of the Italian song's voices as ''cantus firmi'', varying throughout the work.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}} A similar variation in the source material's voices is used in the ''Missa Malheur me bat'', based on a chanson variously attributed to Martini or [[Abertijne Malcourt]].{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}} The dating of ''Missa Malheur me bat'' remains controversial, with some scholars calling it an early composition, and others a later one.{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|p=185}} The ''Missa Mater Patris'', based on a three-voice motet by [[Antoine Brumel]], is probably the earliest true parody mass by any composer, as it no longer contains any hint of a ''cantus firmus''.{{sfn|Reese|1954|p=240}} ''Missa D'ung aultre amer'' is based on a popular chanson of the same name by Ockeghem, and is one of Josquin's shortest masses.{{sfn|Bloxam|2000|pp=159–160}}{{refn|Both the ''Missa Mater Patris'' and the ''Missa D'ung aultre amer'' may be spurious works; they were both rejected by Noble, but accepted by the editors of the ''New Josquin Edition''.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§ "Works"}}|group=n}}

====Solmization mass====
A solmization mass is a polyphonic mass which uses notes drawn from a word or phrase.{{sfn|Lockwood|2001|loc=§ para. 1}} The style is first described by Zarlino in 1558, who called it ''soggetto cavato'', from ''soggetto cavato dalle parole'', meaning "carved out of the words".{{sfn|Lockwood|2001|loc=§ para. 1}} The earliest known mass by any composer using solmization syllables is the ''Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae'', which Josquin wrote for Ercole I.{{sfn|Merkley|2001|pp=578–579}}{{sfn|Noble|1980|loc=§ "Works"}} It is based on a ''cantus firmus'' of musical syllables of the Duke's name, 'Ercole, Duke of Ferrara', which in Latin is 'H'''e'''rc'''u'''l'''e'''s D'''u'''x F'''e'''rr'''a'''r'''ie''''.{{sfn|Lockwood|2001|loc=Ex. 1}}{{sfn|Taruskin|2010|loc=§ "What Josquin Was Really Like"}} Taking the solmization syllables with the same vowels gives: {{nobreak|Re–Ut–Re–Ut–Re–Fa–Mi–Re}}, which is {{nobreak|D–C–D–C–D–F–E–D}} in modern nomenclature.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}}{{sfn|Blackburn|2000|p=78}} The ''Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae'' remains the best known work to use this device and was published by Petrucci in 1505, relatively soon after its composition.{{sfn|Taruskin|2010|loc=§ "What Josquin Was Really Like"}}{{sfn|Lockwood|2001|loc=§ para. 2}} Taruskin notes that the use of Ercole's name is Josquin's method of memorialization for his patron, akin to a [[portrait painting]].{{sfn|Taruskin|2010|loc=§ "What Josquin Was Really Like"}}

The other Josquin mass to prominently use this technique is the ''[[Missa La sol fa re mi]]'', based on the musical syllables contained in '{{lang|fr|laisse faire moy}}' ("let me take care of it").{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§9 "Reputation"}} Essentially the entire mass's content is related to this phrase, and the piece is thus something of an [[ostinato]].{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§12 "Masses: (ii) Complete masses"}} The traditional story, as told by Glarean in 1547, was that an unknown aristocrat used to order suitors away with this phrase, and Josquin immediately wrote an "exceedingly elegant" mass on it as a jab at him.{{sfn|Blackburn|2000|p=78}} Scholars have proposed different origins for the piece; Lowinsky has connected it to the court of Ascanio Sforza, and the art historian Dawson Kiang connected it to the Turkish prince [[Cem Sultan]]'s promise to the pope to overthrow his brother [[Bayezid II]].{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§9 "Reputation"}}

=== Motets ===
[[File:Ave Maria... Virgo serena.png|thumb|upright=2.2|The opening passage from Josquin's motet ''[[Ave Maria ... Virgo serena]]'', showing imitative counterpoint between the four voices]]

Josquin's motets are his most celebrated and influential works.{{sfn|Milsom|2011|loc=§ para. 5}} Their style varies considerably, but can generally be divided into [[Homophony|homophonic]] settings with [[block chord]]s and syllabic text declamation; ornate—and often imitative—contrapuntal fantasias in which the text is overshadowed by music; and [[psalm]] settings which combined these extremes with the addition of rhetorical figures and [[Word painting|text-painting]] that foreshadowed the later development of the [[madrigal]].{{sfn|Milsom|2011|loc=§ para. 5}}{{sfn|Finscher|2000|p=251}} He wrote most of them for four voices, which had become the compositional norm by the mid-15th century, and descended from the four-part writing of [[Guillaume de Machaut]] and [[John Dunstaple]] in the late Middle Ages.{{sfn|Finscher|2000|p=249}} Josquin was also a considerable innovator in writing motets for five and six voices.{{sfn|Milsom|2000|p=282}}

Many of the motets use compositional constraint on the process;{{sfn|Milsom|2000|p=284}} others are freely composed.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§11 "Motets"}} Some use a ''cantus firmus'' as a unifying device, some are canonic, others use a motto which repeats throughout, and some use several of these methods. In some motets which use canon, it is designed to be heard and appreciated as such; in others a canon is present, but difficult to hear.{{sfn|Milsom|2000|p=290}} Josquin frequently used imitation in writing his motets, with sections akin to [[Fugue|fugal]] [[Exposition (music)|expositions]] occurring on successive lines of the text he was setting.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§11 "Motets"}} This is prominent in his motet ''Ave Maria ... Virgo serena'', an early work where each voice enters by restating the line sung before it.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§11 "Motets"}}{{refn|name=Ave|group=n}} Other early works such as a ''Alma Redemptoris mater/Ave regina caelorum'' show prominent imitation,{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§11 "Motets"}} as do later ones such as his setting of ''Dominus regnavit'' ([[Psalm 93]]) for four voices.{{sfn|Reese|1954|p=249}} Josquin favored the technique throughout his career.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§11 "Motets"}}

Few composers before Josquin had written polyphonic psalm settings,{{sfn|Reese|1954|p=246}} and these form a large proportion of his later motets.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§11 "Motets"}} Josquin's settings include the famous ''Miserere'' ([[Psalm 51]]); ''Memor esto verbi tui'', based on [[Psalm 119]]; and two settings of ''De profundis'' ([[Psalm 130]]), which are often considered to be among his most significant accomplishments.{{sfn|Reese|1954|p=249}}{{sfn|Milsom|2000|p=305}} Josquin wrote several examples of a new type of piece developed in Milan, the [[motet-chanson]].{{sfn|Litterick|2000|p=336}} Though similar to 15th-century works based on the ''formes fixes'' mold which were completely secular, Josquin's motet-chansons contained a [[Gregorian chant|chant]]-derived Latin ''cantus firmus'' in the lowest of the three voices.{{sfn|Litterick|2000|p=336}} The other voices sang a secular French text, which had either a symbolic relationship to the sacred Latin text, or commented on it.{{sfn|Litterick|2000|p=336}} Josquin's three known motet-chansons are ''Que vous madame/In pace'', ''A la mort/Monstra te esse matrem'' and ''Fortune destrange plummaige/Pauper sum ego''.{{sfn|Litterick|2000|p=336}}

===Secular music===
{{listen|type=music
 | filename     = Josquin El grillo sung by the dwsChorale.ogg
 | title        = ''El grillo''
 | description  = Sung by the dwsChorale
}}

Josquin left numerous French chansons, for three to six voices, some of which were probably intended for instrumental performance as well.{{sfn|Litterick|2000|pp=335, 393}} In his chansons, he often used a ''cantus firmus'', sometimes a popular song whose origin can no longer be traced, as in ''Si j'avoye Marion''.{{sfn|Brown|1980}} In other works he used a tune originally associated with a separate text, or freely composed an entire song, using no apparent external source material. Another technique Josquin used was to take a popular song and write it as a canon with itself, in two inner voices, and write new melodic material above and around it, to a new text: he did this in one of his most famous chansons, ''Faulte d'argent''.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§13 "Secular Works"}}

Josquin's earliest chansons were probably composed in northern Europe, under the influence of composers such as Ockeghem and Busnois. Unlike them, he never adhered strictly to the conventions of the ''formes fixes''—the rigid and complex repetition patterns of the [[rondeau (forme fixe)|rondeau]], [[virelai]], and [[ballade (forme fixe)|ballade]]—instead he often wrote his early chansons in strict imitation, as with many of his sacred works.{{sfn|Noble|1980|loc=§ "Works"}} He was one of the first to write chansons with all voices equal parts of the texture, and many contain points of imitation, similar to his motets. He also used melodic repetition, especially where the lines of text rhymed, and many of his chansons had a lighter texture and faster tempo than his motets.{{sfn|Noble|1980|loc=§ "Works"}}{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§13 "Secular Works"}} Some of his chansons were almost certainly designed to be performed with instruments; Petrucci published many of them without text, and some of the pieces (for example, the fanfare-like ''Vive le roy'') contain writing more idiomatic for instruments than voices.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§13 "Secular Works"}} Josquin's most famous chansons circulated widely in Europe; some of the better-known include his lament on the death of Ockeghem, ''Nymphes des bois/Requiem aeternam''; ''Mille regretz'', an uncertain attribution to Josquin;{{refn|See {{harvtxt|Fallows|2001|pp=214–252}} and {{harvtxt|Litterick|2000|pp=374–376}} for information on the attribution issues surrounding ''Mille regretz''|group=n}} ''Nimphes, nappés''; and ''Plus nulz regretz''.{{sfn|Fallows|2020|p=351}}

Josquin also wrote at least three pieces in the manner of the [[frottola]], a popular Italian song form which he would have heard during his years in Milan. These songs include ''Scaramella'', ''El grillo'' and ''In te domine speravi''. They are even simpler in texture than his French chansons, being almost uniformly syllabic and homophonic, and they remain among his most frequently performed pieces.{{sfn|Noble|1980|loc=§ "Works"}}{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§13 "Secular Works"}}