The five-note theme from Josquin's 1502 Missa La sol fa re mi was borrowed by subsequent composers and used in vocal and instrumental compositions at least until 1626. Examples include vihuelist Diego Pisador's 1552 Fantasia del quarto tono sobre la sol fa re mi, lutenist Albert de Rippe's 1555 Fantasie XVII, Neapolitan composer Rocco Rodio's 1579 Quinta Ricercata, and Girolamo Frescobaldi's 1624 Capriccio sopra la, sol, fa, re, mi. The Bordeney Codex (ca. 1581), an anthology containing instrumental music from the middle of the sixteenth century, contains several anonymous ricercares, one of which uses the Josquin theme. Although the 1581 copy of the Codex does not name the composer of these ricercares, a previously unstudied nineteenth-century copy (Uppsala) attributes them to Neapolitan composer and lutenist Fabrizio Dentice. The case for attributing this ricercare to Dentice is strengthened by the fact that, although the piece is copied in score form (instead of lute tablature), it can be transcribed for lute without adjustment.

Works: Rippe: Fantasie XVII (42-43); Rodio: Quinta Ricercata (42-43); Dentice: Ricercare (37-40, 44-47).

Sources: Josquin: Missa La sol fa re mi (37, 40, 45).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Scott Grieb