There is nothing like this in any earlier polyphonic sacred music, although Ockeghem, too, enjoyed
jacking up the level of rhythmic activity as the final close loomed (often dubbed his “drive to the
cadence”). Without any real justification Obrecht’s rhythmic athleticism is often cited as evidence of
“secularization” and tied in with the overriding myth of the musical “Renaissance.” It is perhaps more
simply, and more plausibly, viewed as another instance of virtuosity both in the making and in the
performing of an exceedingly elite musical repertory, the highest of the high.
THE MAN AT ARMS
The noblest and most copious dynasty of all was the long line of Masses based on a cantus firmus derived
not from a church chant but from a secular (folk? popular?) song called L’Homme Armé (“The Man at
Arms”). More than forty such Masses survive in whole or part, by authors of practically every Western
European nationality (Flemish, French, Italian, Spanish, Scottish, German). The earliest was composed
some time after 1454, and the latest, a colossal affair for three choirs plus organ, is somewhat doubtfully
attributed to the Roman composer Giacomo Carissimi (1605–74). Practically every composer mentioned
by Tinctoris, including Tinctoris himself, wrote at least one Missa L’Homme Armé, as did their pupils
and their pupils’ pupils. The principle of emulation, thus applied on such a massive scale, produced the