In the Summer of 2009, the old town-hall of Middelburg, one of the most

beautiful historical towns in the Netherlands, served as host to a number of

scholars attending the International Josquin Symposium held at Roosevelt

Academy. Its principal goal was to investigate and discover elements in Josquin's

musical style that have won the composer his unequalled reputation,

a reputation that has been described in the most laudatory words from the

beginning of the 16th century onwards.

If Josquin's talent 'has brought all the arts to life' (anonymous distich,

Basilica of S. Sisto in Piacenca, 1514) indeed, if 'his genius is indescribable

and we can be amazed at it more than we can treat it worthily' (Glarean,

Dodecachordon ), and if he truly 'has opened the eyes of all those who rejoice

in his art or who will rejoice in the future' (Cosimo Bartoli, Ragionamenti

accademici ), then we can safely state that many of his compositions must be

nothing less than 'sublime'.

This book presents the Proceedings of the Middelburg symposium. It contains

twelve studies devoted to Josquin's sacred music, secular works, and

to matters of reception. Josquin's compositional crafts are addressed extensively

and attention is paid to e.g. his brilliant treatment of pre-existing

musical material, his unparalleled skill in the quotation of chant, and his

expressive use of modes and musica ficta. But concentrating on particularities

of structure and style as well as on such techniques as parallel motion

and stretta imitation may, as it appears, also inform us about the sublime in

Josquin. Remarkably, the story of sources that gave Josquin his unequalled

reputation in the history of Western music has so far never been told; this

is why these sources are presented as final contribution to this volume in

categories according to the nature of their texts.