Kyrie

Right away, Josquin slaps the audience across the face with the Re-Do motive. There are only two voices present, and attention is drawn to the motive by the voicing. In most writing, a slow, steady cantus firmus drones along in an inner voice (almost always the tenor), while the other voices get the more interesting parts. Here, attention goes straight to the cantus, who is holding out long notes above the altus. The bass comes in, but the dominant sound is unmistakeably that of the cantus, singing a very un-cantus-like part.

As soon as the cantus is done with the motive, it is passed along to the tenor (a much more conventional voice for this type of line). This second statement of the motive ends exactly with the end of the first Kyrie section.

The Christe section of the Kyrie is halfway over before the motive makes itself known. Again, the tenor enters with the motive, and again, the section concludes exactly with the release of the last note of the motive in the tenor, who is at this point either suffocating or dead, after five measures of one note. Notice the motive now starts on an A, not a D. This is the motive transcribed up a fifth from its original pitches.

The final Kyrie has an odd connection to the first in that the motive again comes in the cantus and then the tenor. The motive in the cantus, however, is no longer in breves, but now has an element of rhythmic interest. It is faster, much faster. In fact, the entire motive now fits into one note of the breve-based motive. Following this statement of the motive is a sequence of four restatements, each in a successively lower key. While the intervals no longer map out precisely to those of the Re-Do motive, the effect is still a reinforcement of the theme. Following this sequence, the tenor does what he does best,takes a deep breath, and belts out the motive.

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