Really … this is gorgeous!
Josquin Desprez: Nymphes des bois
Cappella Pratensis
From Wikipedia:”Nymphes des bois, also known as La Déploration de Johannes Ockeghem, is a lament composed by Josquin des Prez on the occasion of the death of his predecessor Johannes Ockeghem in February 1497. The piece, based on a poem by Jean Molinet and including the funeral text Requiem Aeternam as a cantus firmus, is in five voices. In the first of its two parts Josquin cleverly mimics the contrapuntal style of Ockeghem. This chanson is one of Josquin’s best-known works, and often considered one of the most haunting and moving memorial works ever penned.”
English translation
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
Wood-nymphs, goddesses of the fountains,
Skilled singers of every nation,
Turn your voices, so clear and lofty,
To piercing cries and lamentation
Because Atropos*, terrible satrap,
Has caught your Ockeghem in her trap,
The true treasurer of music and master,
Learned, handsome and by no means stout.
It is a source of great sorrow that the earth must cover him.
Put on the clothes of mourning,
Josquin, Pierre de la Rue, Brumel, Compère,
And weep great tears from your eyes,
For you have lost your good father.
May they rest in peace.
Amen.
