Where did josquin des prez live

He was the most famous European composer between Guillaume Dufay and Palestrina, and is usually considered to be the central figure of the Franco-Flemish School. As a master of Renaissance music, des Prez became known internationally, especially for his sacred music. These sacred works, numbering many Masses, motets and vocal pieces influenced many composers who praised him for his understanding of the partnership between God and man.

As with many composers of his era, Josquin's sacred music was born out of a conviction of faith and as such, music was not meant to be primarily concerned with technical expertise, but rather to foster a propensity for achieving a sense of spiritual fulfillment and inspiration. As a member of the papal choir in Rome during his formative years, it would have been required of Josquin to adhere to strict attitudes regarding character and musicianship.

What instrument did josquin des prez play

As music historian, Robert Stevenson points out, "A singer need not be on the holy orders but must be a man of honor and of good repute. When a new singer is proposed [for the papal choir], his character shall be first examined, and then he shall be brought to the musical examination conducted by the choir members themselves. During the sixteenth century, Josquin gradually acquired the reputation as the greatest composer of the age, possessing a mastery of technique and expression universally to be imitated and admired.

Writers as different as Baldassare Castiglione and Martin Luther wrote about his reputation and fame; theorists such as Gioseffo Zarlino held his style as that best representing perfection. Yet in spite of Josquin's colossal reputation, which endured until the beginning of the Baroque era, and revived again in the twentieth century, his biography is shadowy, and next to nothing is known about his personality.

The only surviving work in his own hand is a possible 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. The lives of dozens of minor composers of the Renaissance are better documented than the life of Josquin. Josquin wrote both sacred and secular music, and in all the significant vocal forms of the age, including masses , motets , chansons, and frottole.

During the sixteenth century he was praised both for his supreme melodic gift as well as his use of ingenious technical devices. In modern times scholars have attempted to ascertain the basic details of his biography, and have also tried to define the key characteristics of his style in order to correct misattributions, a task which has proven difficult because of his inventiveness and refusal to repeat himself.

Josquin liked to solve compositional problems different ways in successive compositions, rather as did Stravinsky more than years later.