Proverbes de Salomon, mis en cantiques, & rime francoise, selon la vérité hébraïque: nouvellement composées. (LeRoy & Ballard, Paris, 1558) [RISM J455](tb); Gindron/Rivery, Lausanne, 1556 (s).
When Janequin mentions “unusual chords” (“accords non-usité”) in his dedication to Queen Catherine de Medici of the psalms of 1557 (printed in 1559), new chromatic efftects were in the air, and it is tempting to think that perhaps the Proverbs, written at about the same time, also show signs of this new trend. Unfortunately, the chromaticism in question would have been likely to show up most often in the inner voices, and it is just one of these (the altus) which we lack for the Proverbs. Nevertheless, the tenor voice does exist, and in the reconstructions which follow, serves as a kind of benchmark for the suggested harmonic realizations. The Proverbs are discussed in Chapter 10 of Clément Janequin: French Composer at the Dawn of Music Publishing. See also Proverbs (1558): notes on the transcriptions.
LMN 328 1. Chap I Propos exquis
LMN 329 2. Chap VIII La sapience eleve
LMN 330 3. Chap IX La sapience a basty sa maison
LMN 331 4. Chap IX s. Celuy qui du moquer
LMN 332 5. Chap XI La fausse balance
LMN 333 6. Chap XII Qui ayme la doctrine
LMN 334 7. Chap XIII Le sage enfant
LMN 335 8. Chap XIV La femme sage
LMN 336 9. Chap XV Responce douce
LMN 337 10.Chap XVI L’homme en son coeur
LMN 338 11.Chap XVII Mieux vaut un morceau
LMN 339 12.Chap XXI Au cri du povre delaissé
LMN 340 13.Chap XXII Mieux vaut bonne renommé
LMN 341 14.Chap XXIV N’ensuy le train
LMN 342 15.Chap XXIV s. Passant au champ
LMN 343 16.Chap XXV C’est gloire a Dieu
LMN 344 17.Chap XXVII Mon fils ne te glorifie
LMN 345 18.Chap XXVII s. Des eaux la claire liqueur