- Fortuna desperata
Fortuna desperata is a secular Italian song, possibly originally by
Busnois , (but others creditAntoine Brumel ). It was used by many other authors in the following 75 years, for both variations andcantus firmus masses, and over 30 such reworkings are known.Words in the original Italian and in English and German are available at Choral Wiki [http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Fortuna_desperata_(Alexander_Agricola)] .The first verse is:'Fortuna desperata:Iniqua e maledecta, maledecta:Che de tal dona electa:La fama hai denigrata.'
translated as
:'Desperate fate,:iniquitous and maledicted:who blackened the good name:of a woman beyond compare.'
Amongst the more well-known versions of the song are the 3-voice version by
Busnois , its reworking for 6 voices byAlexander Agricola , a 3-part instrumental version possibly byJosquin , and a 3-voice version byHeinrich Isaac . See [http://www.areditions.com/rr/rrm/m037.html] for several others.Amongst the mass-settings are those by
Josquin andObrecht .
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