Josquin des Prez

c. 1450 – 27 August 1521

Josquin des Prez was a Franco-Flemish composer of the High Renaissance, regarded by his contemporaries and by later historians as the greatest composer of his age. His masses, motets, and chansons perfected the technique of pervasive imitation and were disseminated widely through the new medium of music printing. He served courts and chapels in France, Italy, and the Low Countries.

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Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Josquin des Prez.

Life events

Born in the Franco-Flemish borderlands
c. 1450

Josquin Lebloitte dit des Prez was born around 1450-1455, probably in the county of Hainaut or nearby Picardy; details of his birth are undocumented.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Early service as a singer in Aix-en-Provence
c. 1475

Josquin is first securely documented as a singer in the chapel of René of Anjou at Aix-en-Provence in the 1470s.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Entered the service of the Sforza in Milan
1484

Josquin joined the household of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, connecting him to Milan's brilliant musical establishment.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Sang in the papal chapel in Rome
1489 – c. 1495

Josquin served as a singer in the Sistine Chapel choir under Popes Innocent VIII and Alexander VI; his name is carved into the chapel's choir gallery wall.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Petrucci published the first book of Josquin's masses
1502

The Venetian printer Ottaviano Petrucci issued Misse Josquin, the first printed volume ever devoted to a single composer, followed by two further books of his masses.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Appointed maestro di cappella at the court of Ferrara
1503

Duke Ercole I d'Este hired Josquin at the highest salary in the chapel's history; there he likely wrote the mass Hercules Dux Ferrariae and the motet Miserere mei, Deus.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Left Ferrara and became provost at Condé-sur-l'Escaut
1504

Josquin departed Ferrara, probably fleeing the plague, and took up the provostship of the collegiate church of Notre-Dame at Condé, his post for the rest of his life.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Composed the Missa Pange lingua
c. 1515

In his late years Josquin wrote the Missa Pange lingua, a paraphrase mass on the Corpus Christi hymn, considered a summit of his art.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died at Condé-sur-l'Escaut
27 August 1521

Josquin died on 27 August 1521, leaving an endowment for his motet Pater noster to be sung in processions passing his house.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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