Emblem of a Musical Renaissance: Reassessing Josquin Des Prez’s Miserere mei, Deus
- Emma Lucas
- Aug 27, 2025
- 2 min read
Author Bio:
Emma is a second-year student at the University of Edinburgh reading Music, soon to undertake a year abroad at the University of California, Berkeley. With a keen interest in the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence and music, her research explores unconventional and often controversial moments in music history. She believes that by challenging, questioning and examining music’s history, we can gain a clearer understanding of music’s future. Her recent article published in The Student Newspaper points to a musically homogenised future and questions future evolution in music. By nitpicking the definition of a musical Renaissance in this essay, she aims to reconsider how we think about innovation, influence and the cyclic nature of musical change.
Essay Abstract:
This essay reassesses Miserere mei, Deus by Josquin des Prez (c.1503) as a case study for interrogating the idea of a "musical Renaissance." Drawing on Reinhard Strohm’s distinction between musical “evolution” and “revival,” it explores how Josquin’s motet embodies both continuity and innovation during a period of significant intellectual and artistic transformation. Through close analysis of rhetorical and structural devices—such as ostinato, imitation, caesura, and modal harmony—the essay examines how Josquin engages with humanist ideals of emotional expression, individuality, and textual clarity. While many features suggest a stylistic rebirth in opposition to medieval ritualism, others reveal a gradual evolution from earlier traditions, including the cantus firmus and modal tuning systems. Ultimately, the essay argues that Miserere mei, Deus occupies a liminal space between past and future, complicating any straightforward claim that Josquin’s work is emblematic of a Renaissance in music. Instead, the motet reflects the transitional character of its time—both a culmination of medieval techniques and a foundation for the ars perfecta of later polyphonic writing.
Read the full essay here:
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