Richafort’s Requiem: beyond Josquin

All polyphonic Requiem settings have a commemorative purpose, but none is more multi-layered in its memorializing aims and strategies than that by Jean Richafort (c.1480–c.1550). This piece is unique among Renaissance Requiems in drawing its materials and procedures from an earlier composer’s oeuvre: Richafort mined no fewer than three works by Josquin des Prez. Indeed, Richafort’s Requiem is so deeply indebted to Josquin that Gustave Reese suggested it was ‘written on the death of Josquin’ in 1521. This article revisits this exquisite piece of music in order to look more deeply into its commemorative nature and purpose. First, essential musical and textual details germane to its function as tribute are identified, building on John Milsom’s essay ‘Sense and sound in Richafort’s Requiem’ in Early Music, xxx (2002). The association of this Requiem with Josquin’s death is assessed, and other possibilities for the work’s genesis suggested. Finally, ways in which this setting serves a purpose beyond the memorialization of any one individual is explored by situating it within the ritual context of the Funeral Mass, and evidence offered to suggest that certain compositional decisions made by Richafort were designed to commemorate Christ’s redeeming death and resurrection as the key to every Christian’s salvation.