O desolatorum consolator

Edition

Translation:

O comforter of the desolate,

liberator of captives,

resurrection of the dead,

light of the blind,

hearing of the deaf,

speech of the mute,

guardian of the shipwrecked,

healer of the impotent and the weak,

refuge of medicine for the wandering,

salvation of all who hope in you,

Blessed Claudius, gracious confessor of God,

implore help from God for us.

This supplicatory motet is the only witness of a work by the French composer Jean Conseil in VatS 55. During his short lifetime (born in Paris 1498, died in Rome 1535) he was highly regarded as a composer which is evidenced by the inclusion of his motets and chansons in the publications by, for example, Pierre Attaingnant (Pater peccavi in Motettorum Book 2 of 1534 and Tous les plaisirs in the 1530 publication of chansons - Vingt et neuf chansons musicales à quatre parties). The motet Effunde iram tuam was very well received with three publications in 1530 (Salminer, Augsburg), 1541 (Petreius, Nuremberg) and 1560 (Berg and Neuber also of Nuremberg).

As a boy he was a member of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris and then became a member of the Papal Chapel in 1513 where he remained until his death. Conseil thus served in the chapels of the Medici popes Leo X (1513-1521) and Clemens VIII (1523-1534) as well as the Boeyens pope Adrian VI (1522-1523) and the Farnese Paul III (1534-1549). Conseil was also a highly regarded member of the chapel where he achieved the post of maestro de cappella in 1534.