Josquin des Prés

Josquin des Prez (French: [ʒɔskɛ̃ depʁe]; c. 1450–1455 – 27 August 1521; born Josquin Lebloitte) was a French composer of high Renaissance music. The central figure of the Franco-Flemish School, Josquin is widely considered the first master of the complex Renaissance style of polyphonic which emerged during his lifetime. His career spanned France and Italy under the patronage of the House of Sforza, two popes, Louis XII and Ercole I d'Este among others, yet the details of his activity is shadowy, and almost nothing is known about his personality. More than 370 works are attributed to him; it was only after the advent of modern analytical scholarship that some of these attributions were challenged and revealed as mistaken, on the basis of stylistic features and manuscript evidence. Regardless, he was among the most innovative and well-known composers of his time, exerting a profound influence on both his contemporaries and subsequent composers. Josquin wrote both sacred and secular music, and in all of the significant vocal forms of the time, including masses, motets, chansons and frottole. During the 16th century, he was praised for his melodic gift and his use of technical devices. In modern times, scholars have attempted to ascertain the basic details of his biography, and have tried to define the key characteristics of his style to correct misattributions. This has proven difficult, as Josquin sometimes wrote in an austere style devoid of ornamentation, and at other times he produced music requiring considerable virtuosity. Heinrich Glarean wrote in 1547 that Josquin was not only a "magnificent virtuoso" (the original Latin may be translated also as "show-off") but capable of being a "mocker", using satire effectively. While the focus of scholarship in recent years has been to remove music from the "Josquin canon" (including some of his most famous pieces) and to reattribute it to his contemporaries, the remaining music represents some of the most famous and enduring of the Renaissance.

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