Editing Josquin des Prez (section)

====Rome====
[[File:Josquin des Prez signature.webp|thumb|left|upright=1.3|Josquin's presumed signature (<small>JOSQUINJ</small>) on the [[Sistine Chapel]]'s choir gallery wall]]

From June 1489 until at least April 1494, Josquin was a member of the papal choir in Rome, under [[Pope Innocent VIII]] then the [[House of Borgia|Borgia]] pope [[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]].{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§4 "The papal chapel (1489–1494)"}}{{refn|Until 1997 Josquin was thought to have joined the papal choir in 1486, as he was mistakenly identified with a 'Jo. de Pratis' in papal documents. It is now thought that this refers to the composer [[Johannes de Stokem]] instead, and thus the earliest record of Josquin's employment in the papal choir is from 1489.{{sfn|Fallows|2020|p=139}} See {{harvtxt|Starr|1997}} for further information.|group=n}} Josquin may have arrived there due to an exchange of singers between [[Ludovico Sforza]] and Pope Innocent, where the latter sent [[Gaspar van Weerbeke]] to Milan, presumably in return for Josquin.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§4 "The papal chapel (1489–1494)"}} Josquin's arrival brought much-needed prestige to the choir, as the composers Gaspar and Stokem had left recently and the only other choristers known to be composers were [[Marbrianus de Orto]] and Bertrandus Vaqueras.{{sfn|Fallows|2020|p=141}} Two months after his arrival, Josquin laid claim to the first of various benefices on 18 August.{{sfn|Fallows|2020|pp=139–140}} Holding three unrelated benefices at once, without having residency there or needing to speak that area's language, was a special privilege that Josquin's tenure and position offered;{{sfn|Fallows|2020|p=171}} many of his choir colleagues had also enjoyed such privileges.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§4 "The papal chapel (1489–1494)"}} His claims included a canonry at the [[Notre-Dame de Paris]]; Saint Omer, Cambrai; a parish in the gift of [[Saint-Ghislain Abbey]]; the Basse-Yttre parish church; two parishes near Frasnes, Hainaut; and Saint-Géry, Cambrai.{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§4 "The papal chapel (1489–1494)"}} Surviving papal letters indicate that some of these claims were approved, but he does not appear to have taken up any of the canonries.{{sfn|Fallows|2020|p=171}} The Sistine Chapel's monthly payment records give the best record of Josquin's career, but all papal chapel records from April 1494 to November 1500 are lost, making it unknown when he left Rome.{{sfn|Fallows|2020|p=139}}

After restorations from 1997 to 1998, the name <small>JOSQUINJ</small> was found as a [[graffiti|graffito]] on the wall of the [[Sistine Chapel]]'s ''cantoria'' (choir gallery).{{sfn|Macey|Noble|Dean|Reese|2011|loc=§4 "The papal chapel (1489–1494)"}}{{sfn|Pietschmann|1999|p=204}} It is one of almost four hundred names inscribed in the chapel, around a hundred of which can be identified with singers of the papal choir.{{sfn|Fallows|2020|p=173}} They date from the 15th to 18th centuries, and the <small>JOSQUINJ</small> signature is in the style of the former.<ref name=Sherr2000p2>[[#Sherr Introduction|Sherr 2000]], p. 2</ref> There is some evidence suggesting the name refers to Josquin des Prez; it may be interpreted as either "Josquin" or "Josquinus", depending on whether the curved line on the far right is read as the abbreviation for "us".{{sfn|Fallows|2020|p=173}} Other choristers named Josquin tended to sign their name in full, whereas Josquin des Prez is known to have done so [[mononym]]ously on occasion.{{sfn|Fallows|2020|p=173}} [[Andrea Adami da Bolsena]] notes in his 1711 ''Osservazioni per ben regolare il coro dei cantori della Cappella Pontificia'' that in his time Josquin's name was visibly 'sculpted' in the Sistine Chapel's choir room.<ref name=Sherr2000p2 /> The musicologist Richard Sherr writes that "while this is not a true autograph signature, the possibility that Josquin des Prez actually produced it during his stay in the papal chapel is very high",<ref name=Sherr2000p2 /> and Fallows says that "it hardly counts as an autograph, but it may be the closest we can get."{{sfn|Fallows|2020|p=174}}