Missa Ave maris stella - Josquin Desprez

The beautiful Missa Ave maris stella is an early work of the composer that is generally considered to be one of the masterpieces of the Franco-Flemish polyphonic repertoire.

The music of Josquin Desprez has been performed, recorded and studied more than any other composer from the Renaissance. Although his numerous masses and motets are now more than 500 years old, they have a place in our contemporary musical canon of masterpieces. Through superlative craft and sublime beauty, this music transcends its time and place and even its original function as sacred music.

The beautiful Missa Ave maris stella is an early work by the composer that is widely acclaimed as one of the masterpieces from the Franco-Flemish polyphonic repertoire. Desprez composed this mass during his years as a chorister at the Cappella Sistina in Rome (early 1490s). The mass is completed with Marian motets by Josquin as well as the Gregorian chants that together form the liturgy of the Annunciation.