Johannes Ockeghem | Deo gratias a 36 (36 voices canon)

"Sometimes the compositional link to the sounds of heaven emerges as the fruit of careful interpretation, as in the example of Johannes Ockeghem’s lavish 36-voice canon, Deo Gratias. In 1969 Edward Lowinsky published an imaginative and compelling study that viewed Ockeghem’s unusual work as a mystical angel concert. Drawing on the traditional notions of angels’ musical attributes – the antiphony of alternating choirs, unending song that is always offered in divine praise with unity of voice – he deftly associates these attributes with the Deo Gratias canon. Ockeghem’s contrapuntal colossus combines four nine-voice canons, each sung by one voice part: a nine-voice treble canon overlaps with a nine-voice alto canon, which in turn overlaps with a nine-voice tenor canon, and so forth. It thus sonically embodies the antiphony of alternating choirs in a musical form – the canon – that is itself inherently circular, and thus potentially unending. Additionally the nine voices of each choir invite an analogy with the nine orders of angels in the celestial hierarchy, as described by pseudo-Dionysius, the Areopagite and others. Lowinsky adds weight to the interpretation by noting the association of a sixteenth-century poem by Nicole Le Vestu that refers to the canon as a “chant mystique” with a famous miniature of Ockeghem and nine chapel singers. Ockeghem’s choir in the miniature is angelic in its number, and before the singers on their lectern is the music to the equally angelic ‘Gloria in excelsis Deo’. Thus, style, scale, and context combine to shape and reinforce the angelic overtones of the work." (Steven Plank, Musica Angelica)

Generally attributed to Johannes Ockeghem, this astonishing canon is divided in four melodies to be singed by four choirs, nine voices each (S1-9, A1-9, T1-9, B1-9). There are potentially many ways to realize it.
In this rendition by Paul Van Nevel no more than 18 voices are singing contemporarily, due to the canonic response that makes upper voices to complete the melody while lower voices start singing. As soon as the first voice of the fourth chorus (B1, on the bass chorus) reaches its final note every voice "freezes" at its current line in melody, eventually bringing the canon to a halt and forming the final chord.

Huelgas Ensemble ‎– Utopia Triumphans - The Great Polyphony Of The Renaissance
Director: Paul Van Nevel

Score editor: Lucio Arese

[TenorCantusFirmus]

Me after having completed the dissertation.

[fabianoroma]

And this is eternal life: that they may know the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3   So those who gladly received his word were baptized; and on that day nearly three thousand souls were added. Acts 2:41

Y esta es la vida eterna: que conozcan al único Dios verdadero ya Jesucristo, a quien tú has enviado. Juan 17:3   Así que los que recibieron su palabra con alegría fueron bautizados; y en ese día se añadieron cerca de tres mil almas. Hechos 2:41

E  a vida eterna é esta: que conheçam a ti só  por único Deus verdadeiro e a Jesus Cristo,   a quem enviaste. João 17:3   De sorte que foram batizados os que de bom grado receberam a sua palavra; e, naquele dia, agregaram-se quase três mil almas. Atos 2:41