A comparison of several intabulations of Josquin's Mille regretz explains why Narváez's version is still the best known. Josquin's chanson is particularly apt for instrumental performance because of its points of imitation, use of themes and sequences, and rich contrast of textures. Several intabulations for lute show the wide range of styles from bland to highly ornamented versions. The frequent use of running sixteenth or thirty-second notes in the intabulations by Gerle and Neusidler, for example, show their intent to stimulate rather than satisfy the listener. Other intabulations were written for a more practical or theoretical purpose. For example, the intabulations found in MS 266 and MS 272 from the Bavarian State Library in Munich follow the vocal model more closely and show a greater sensitivity to the original texture. Narváez's intabulation of the chanson remains the finest because of several strong characteristics: a greater harmonic interest, rhythmically independent lines, and a textural complexity. His intabulation also uses motives that are repeated until they become an integral part of the original music. Narváez's creative exploration of harmony, rhythm, texture and motives shows his superior skills as an intabulator.

Works: Intabulations of Mille regretz by Gerle, Neusidler, Narváez, Phalèse, Intabulations of Mille regretz from MS 266 and MS 277, Bavarian State Library, Munich (32-52).

Sources: Josquin: Mille regretz (20-22).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Jir Shin Boey