me has abandoned me”), first published in 1554, of which the beginning and end are given in Ex. 15-3.
The text is what is known as a Biblical cento, a patchwork of Bible quotations put together for votive,
possibly even nonliturgical, expressive purposes. Such centos, very common at the time, are enigmatic to
us since we do not really know their purpose. They may have served for votive services in church, or they
may signal the advent of a new genre, made available by music-printing, of “pious chamber music” (as
Joseph Kerman has christened a somewhat later English repertory) meant for performance at home.^11
EX. 15-3A Jacobus Clemens, Qui consolabatur me recessit a me, mm. 1–24