Missus est Gabriel Angelus

The start of Missus est Gabriel Angelus employs what may be presumed to be a liturgical chang no longer contained in present day chant books in the form Josquin may have known. The apparent source text and tune of this chant bears some resemblance to two Vespers Antiphons for the Feast of the Annunciation found in the Liber Usualis. When the text marks the Angelic Salutation, the music traces the familiar Ave Maria antiphon in a graceful and magnificently florid paraphrase. Each of the four voice parts traverses a remarkably wide range and features some breathtaking melismatic passages. These characteristics, combined with an astonishingly inventive use of harmonic cross-relations, aptly recreate in sound that moment of mystery and away when a young girl heard the Angel’s voice and was touched by grace.