Josquin des Prés

(ca. 1440-1521)

   composer

   The most influential and highly regarded composer of the Renaissance, Josquin des Prés (Latin, Jos-quinas Pratensis) was born in Beaucevoir, picardy. Musician for the court of Milan (1459), then the pontifical chapel in Rome (1486), he spent time in France at the court of King louis xii (1501), then again as musician for Ercole i, duke of Ferrara (1503). About 1505, he became provost of the church in Condé-sur-l'Escaut in Burgundy, where he died. Known during his lifetime as the "prince of music," he had a considerable effect on the evolution of church music, his masses serving as models for all composers for most of a century. His 32 masses encompass all the techniques of his era, from the strict, structurally ingenious four-part style of the medieval period to late-Renaissance techniques of close melodic imitation, choral writing, and free variations. in his 80 secular compositions, he applied mostly polyphonic French chansons, or songs, and a range of techniques, from simple chordal to highly imitative style. Among Josquin des Prés's most important works are Messe Hercules dux Ferrariae; Messe L'Homme armé; Messe Pange lingua; and Miserere.