François Rabelais' taste in music extended beyond his well-known praise of Josquin Desprez; he also cited as his favorite work by Alexander Agricola the three-voiced chanson En actendant. In doing so, he voted for a work that nearly stands alone in the composer's oeuvre for its singular sweetness and simplicity. Eight manuscript sources, mostly courtly chansonniers, preserve early copies of En actendant; one poetic source gives the text only. The text itself—a fixed-form rondeau cinquain—conventionally praises the speaker's Beloved; he will live for the grace of his mistress, loyal to her body and soul. Much of the apparent sweetness of Agricola's setting comes from its simplicity: its light, three-voiced texture; sunny F mode; and uncharacteristically (for him) high level of consonance. Also somewhat surprising for this composer is that both sections of the chanson begin with simple syllabic chordal writing, which further contributes both to the airy texture and the brevity of the piece. Subtly powerful gestures of musical affect are nevertheless discernible. An early cadence, marked by coronae (fermatas), arrests Agricola's setting of the first two words, as if evoking the speaker's gaze that is suddenly rapt at the sight of her. A velvety harmonic cross-relation immediately follows, as the harmony melts into an E flat chord underlying the text mentioning the mistress' grace (this "grace" chord returns exactly on the word "dame"). The apparently still waters of En actendant run deep in passion.

© All Music Guide