Ave maris stella (plainchant)

Among the oldest notated works in Western music are settings of the medieval plainchant Ave maris stella (Hail, star of the sea). The chant seems to have originated as a hymn to the Virgin Mary at least before 800 A.D., though more precise dating has eluded scholars. The 15th-century Franco-Flemish masters Guillaume Dufay and Josquin des Prez, along with their English contemporary John Dunstaple, are only three of many musicians who have written extended masses or meditations on the chant. The general style heard in their settings of Ave maris stella has come to define the early Renaissance: Dufay and Dunstaple trending closer to the medieval belief in staying faithful to the original chant, while Josquin leads the younger generation with experiments in richer and more liberated counterpoint.

(c) Jason Stell