Josquin and Netherlandish Art

Donald Macleod and art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon visit the National Gallery in London to build a picture of music and art in Josquin’s age.

The humanist Cosimo Bartoli described Josquin as the Michelangelo of Music. A master of polyphonic choral writing, Josquin was as widely admired in his own lifetime as posthumously. While Josquin was a dominant force in music, the Franco-Flemish area with which he’s associated, also produced some remarkable painters, who, like Josquin and his fellow composers, exported their style, technical accomplishments and influence across Europe. In a series to mark the 500th anniversary of Josquin’s death, Donald Macleod visits the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square with art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon, to build a picture of Josquin’s music and the places he lived and worked, which also stimulated painters to produce equally outstanding Art. To accompany the series the paintings they discuss can be viewed on the Radio 3 website.

Considering his standing, it’s surprisingly difficult to map Josquin’s life. His birthdate was possibly 1450 or perhaps 1455 and it’s thought he was a choirboy at the collegiate church of St. Géry in Cambrai. Documents show he died in 1521, by which time he was probably in his seventies. He spent his last years as provost of the Collegiate church of Notre Dame in Condé sur l’Escaut, a town near Saint Quentin, right on the border with what’s now Belgium. In between times, Josquin may have had an association with the royal courts of King René in Aix-en-Provence and Louis XI of France, before working for the influential Sforza family in Milan and becoming the first maestro di cappella for Ercole d’Este in Ferrara.

Today Donald Macleod considers Josquin’s roots, and the paintings of Jan van Eyck, and other Northern Renaissance artists with Andrew Graham-Dixon at the National Gallery. The paintings they mention are on the Radio 3 website.

Ave Maria …virgo Serena
Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips, director

Missa l’ami Baudichon
Credo
Capella Alamire
Peter Urquhart, conductor

Adieu mes amours
Clare Wilkinson, soprano
Andrew Lawrence-King, harp

Nymphes des Bois, arr. Ariel Abramovich, Anna Maria Friman, John Potter, Lee Santana
John Potter, voice
Anna Maria Friman, voice
Ariel Abramovich, guitar
Hille Perl, viola da gamba

Pater noster
Taverner Consort
Andrew Parrott, director

Producer: Johannah Smith