44 Chapter 3
Box 3.2
Arriving at the Phrygian: Part two of Josquin ’ s De profundis.Josquin begins the second part of this motet strongly in the Ionian (C) ( ♪ sound example
3.4a):Josquin first gives a Phrygian cadence on the low E that brings to mind the low D with which
he began ( ♪ sound example 3.4b):Aristotle also notes that some changes happens “ by nature ” while others are “ against
nature ” and occur “ by force [ bia ], ” a word that came to be translated as “ violence [ vio-
lentia ]. ” Thus, a stone thrown upward suffers a “ violent ” motion, compared to its “ natural ”
motion downward, though clearly the stone is not “ violated ” when its natural motion is
thus interrupted.^9 Further, such “ violent ” change happens essentially through the action of
some agent outside the body itself: a hand must throw the stone and likewise some external
artistic force must bend the mode from Dorian to Phrygian. In Aristotle ’ s eyes, such a
modal change is violent: when Philoxenus tried to force a dithyramb into the Dorian, the
song fell back into its “ natural ” Phrygian mode, like throwing a stone whose violent