Since the time of Pope Innocent III, the Catholic Church had used seven particular psalms to mark moments in the liturgical year of the gravest solemnity and repentance. Among the most evocative of these Penitential Psalms, number 129 in the Vulgate (130 in the English Bible), De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine ("Out of the depths I cry unto thee, O Lord"), speaks of the pervasiveness of exiled Israel's sin, the depths of her degradation, and above all, the shining hope of redemption at the hands of the God of mercy. The Church recited all seven Penitential Psalms as an act of contrition and desire for pardon throughout the season of Lent. "De profundis," with the "Miserere mei, Deus" (Psalm 50/51) also became part of the requiem liturgy and the various funeral offices. Josquin composed two settings of this text. The earlier, for five voices, was apparently intended to memorialize a particular period of mourning; an inscription in a contemporary printed source explains that the triple canon in the piece symbolizes the mourning of all three estates of the realm. Sheer sonic effect, rather than symbolism per se, characterizes the later version, for four voices. The motet's structure and proportions are "classical," proceeding in long-breathed and clearly delineated grammatical segments (the archetypal Josquin motet, in this sense, being his four-voiced Ave Maria). Passages of alternating duets are interspersed with more climactic full textures, often employing imitation to mark the advent of a new textual idea. But within this mature and assured classicism, Josquin presents the text in a deeply emotional fashion. He chooses the most mournful mode (or key) possible in his day, the Phrygian (this mode also appears in such severe pieces as the Missa Pange Lingua and his setting of the other funeral psalm, Miserere mei, Deus). The rhythmic progress of the motet proceeds in an irrevocable duple meter, as if meant for an actual funeral procession. The most striking element is the literal profundity of the vocal ranges. All four voices are written at the bottom of their capacity: the soprano takes a full 20 measures to reach even a middle pitch G (significantly, on the text "hear my cry!"), and the opening melody of the bass drops to the depths of a low G. Only the weeping of King David over his son in the motet Absalon, fili mi comes close to evoking this vocal color. And yet, the Psalm speaks of hope, and Josquin's setting concludes with a "Gloria Patri," which is not merely liturgically correct, but also serves as a powerful acknowledgement on the part of the Church—sung in the fullness of Josquin's contrapuntal texture—of her hope, "World without end, amen."

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