Josquin Des Prez Vandalized Stuff (!)

HEN I WAS STUDYING musicology in graduate school, the professor hurried into class one day and exclaimed gleefully: “Josquin vandalized things!”

Then she spoke of an article she read which described how someone discovered Josquin’s name “etched onto the back of a pew, proving he was a singer at the Vatican.” At that time, I wondered how we could be certain it was Josquin des Prez (d. 1521) who created the vandalism and not somebody else. (But I admit it’s more fun to assume it to be authentic and not a forgery!)

My professor must have been talking about marker 1:12 in this stunningly well-produced video:

Unfortunately, that’s pretty much all I remember from graduate studies!

P.S.

Sometimes it’s hard to remember the famous Renaissance composers were not hired as such—they were hired as singers.

Sorry to change subjects, and sorry to be random, but I discovered something yesterday. It turns out Ted Marier was not infallible. Examine carefully the bottom of this page:

Marier says the translation was by “anonymous”—but unless I’m mistaken, this translation was produced by Fr. Caswall.