Et in spiritum, which appears in a Vatican manuscript (VatS 154, compiled around 1550) as a mass section--and may be a setting of the missing text, "Et in spiritum," in the Credo from Josquin's Missa L'homme armé super voces musicales--provides an unusual case of musical borrowing in mid-sixteenth century Rome that includes compositional archaism, in contrast with the new mass sections written in contemporary styles far from Josquin. Evidence against Josquin's authorship of Et in spiritum is provided by some features atypical of Josquin, including the repeated text underlay in a single line and the dense texture with close imitation, features that are associated with sixteenth-century compositional characteristics and thus a composer later than Josquin. The differences are not, however, a dramatic departure from Josquin's style. Rather, some correspondences between the Et in spiritum and Josquin?s mass, including structural correspondences in the cantus firmus treatment and a similar use of continuous manipulation of motivic units at various levels, suggest that the composer made a careful study of Josquin's mass and consciously imitated it. This borrowing process reflects an attempt to "complete" and "augment" Josquin's mass, in contrast with the modernizing tendencies in the new mass compositions, thus reflecting interaction between old and new in the mid-sixteenth century papal chapel.

Works: Anonymous, Et in spiritum (VatS 154) (420-35, 438-41).

Sources: Josquin: Missa L?homme armé super voces musicales (424-35, 438-41).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Hyun Joo Kim