Josquin des Prez (1450-1521)

Josquin des Prez grew up in Northern France in Duchy of Burgundy which is present day Belgium. He is considered one of the most widely recognized composers of western music. Martin Luther had this to say of Josquin des Prez:

"He alone is the master of the notes; they have to do as he bids them."

Josquin des Prez served at several courts in his early adulthood years. He served at the court of Cardinal Ascanio Sforzo in the. He then served Duke Ercole d’Este in Ferrara and more than likely King Louis VII of France. In 1489, he served in the papal choir in Rome.

Josquin’s time in France and Italy both influenced his musical style. He often used the traditional cantus firmus form (use of a Gregorian chant as the foundation element), but he evolved the form by adding emotion and depth through more elaborate dynamics. He used imitation (melody line presented and then repeated in another voice overlapping each other) by alternating sections that were textually clear with sections that were very textually dense. His often used 4 voices to create the polyphonic (multiple melody lines) imitation and subtle text changes to create feeling. Josquin composed a large body of work that varied from technically complex to serenely and simple and included masses, motets (polyphonic and polytextual vocal music), and chansons (French polyphonic song about courtly love).