THE LUTHERAN IDENTITY OF JOSQUIN’SMISSA PANGE LINGUA: RENAISSANCE OF A RENAISSANCE MASS

Abstract

In sixteenth-century Germany, both Catholics and Lutherans circulated and performed Josquin’sMissa Pange lingua, even though its model, the hymnPange lingua, was associated with Eucharistic practices that were exclusively Catholic. This source-based study reveals how Lutherans selected theMissa Pange linguafor performance over other available masses and adapted it for their liturgical and pedagogical needs. Two printed sources of the mass offer perspectives on how Lutherans might have negotiated the polemical rituals and theology associated with theMissa Pange linguaalongside an aesthetic interest in the work. The intention of this study is not to de-emphasise the connection between theMissa Pange linguaand its borrowed melody or the initial Catholic identity of the mass. Rather, the Lutheran identity of theMissa Pange linguaprovides an additional layer to the early reception history of this work and a case study of the Lutheran appropriation of Catholic music.