Uppsala 76a, no. 30, ff. 26v-27 »Parce, Domine, populo tuo« 3v [J. Obrecht]
Parce, domine, populo tuo, |
Spare, O Lord, your people, |
Entered by Hand B. Motet by Jacob Obrecht (for a list of sources, see the edition of Amiens 162D, f. 18). The bassus sings a Phrygian melody in long note values, which fits the text syllabically. This is either a now unknown plainchant melody or a deliberate imitation of plainchant by the composer. The upper voices are livelier and fill out the gaps in the bassus, The composition may originally have been a ‘motet-chanson’ with a French rondeau cinquain or – more probably – a Flemish or Latin poem as text in the upper voices.
All voices are texted in Uppsala 76a, but in the tenor Hand B wrote the text-incipit only; a later hand completed the text-underlay, in which he used more repetitions of text than we find in the upper voice.