Josquin des Prez

Josquin des Prez was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was widely considered to be the first master of the high Renaissance style of polyphonic vocal music. Little is known of his early life, and virtually nothing is known about his personality. His music is considered one of the most important of the 16th century.

About Josquin des Prez in brief

Josquin des Prez was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was widely considered to be the first master of the high Renaissance style of polyphonic vocal music. Little is known of his early life, and virtually nothing is known about his personality. He wrote both sacred and secular music, and in all of the significant vocal forms of the age, including masses, motets, chansons and frottole. His only surviving work which may be in his own hand is a graffito on the wall of the Sistine Chapel, and only one contemporary mention of his character is known, in a letter to Duke Ercole I of Ferrara. His original name is sometimes given as Josquin Lebloitte and his later name is given under a wide variety of spellings in French, Italian, and Latin, including Iosquinus Pratensis and Iodocus a Prato. Theorists such as Heinrich Glarean and Gioseffo Zarlino held his style as that best representing perfection. He died in Paris on 27 August 1521, and is buried in the Cimetière de Saint-Quentin-en-Provence, France. He is considered the most famous European composer between Guillaume Dufay and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and the central figure of the Franco-Flemish School. His music is considered one of the most important of the 16th century, and he is one of only a handful of composers to have had a lasting impact on the music of the era.

His life and works have been largely forgotten, but some of his music is still widely anthologized. He left a legacy of more than 370 works, many of which have been attributed to him by copyists, probably to increase their sales. Some of these attributions were challenged, and revealed as mistaken, on the basis of stylistic features and manuscript evidence. The remaining music represents some of the best-known and enduring works of the Italian Renaissance. Josquin was long mistaken for a man with a similar name, Josquin de Kessalia, born around the year 1440, sang in Milan to 1474, dying in 1498. According to an account by Claude Hémeré, a friend and librarian of Cardinal Richelieu, a late friend of Josquin’s, he was probably a choirboy at the church of Saint Mouton in Flemish-speaking Hainaut. Their will gives Josquin Desprez as their heir, but his actual surname is Le Bloitte d’Orléans. He also had an uncle and aunt, Jacque Bannene d’Antonio, who died in 1466, perhaps the year 1466. His father was named by his father on death of his father, who was named Girolamo Leblon d’ Antonio d’Orsi. He had a son, Jean-Mouton, who became a composer and friend of the royal family of France.

Related posts:

Renaissance music Renaissance Medieval music Bal des Ardents