L.L. Josquin des Prez- Missa Pange Lingua

This mass if considered to be Josquin's last mass. It was not available to Petrucci for the third and final collection of the works of Josquin, probably due to its compositional proximity to his death. It was probably written in 1515

The music is set to the words of Thomas Aquinas' famous "Pange Linqua Gloriosi." The text is quoted directly at the start of each movement, but then the music takes off with a life of its own, using imitation, homophony, and several major contrapuntal techniques of the day for the development.

The theme from the Kyrie movement, which is "do-re-fa-me-re-do," became the most widely quoted theme of the time, and was a very popular fugal subject for composers from that point forward. Mozart used the theme for the last movement of his final Symphony no. 41, as the fugal subject.

The music is absolutely compelling, and creates a sense of unity and solidity between the different sections of the choir, by the sheer mastery of Josquin's choral style.