Composers of the Early Renaissance Era

This companion to Part Two: The Renaissance Era is an encyclopedia of composers of the Early Renaissance in chronological order. The playlist below is a selection of pieces by some of the composers covered in this reference guide. The numbers that appear before the names of compositions in the text below refer to their position in the playlist. There are also separate playlists for each composer which contain all of the recordings available on Spotify barring those that are arrangements for modern instruments, instrumental arrangements of pieces originally scored for voices and the like.

Nicolas Grenon (c. 1375 – October 17, 1456) was a French composer of the early Renaissance. He wrote in all the prevailing musical forms of the time, and was a rare case of a long-lived composer who learned his craft in the late 14th century but primarily practiced during the era during which the Renaissance styles were forming.

Grenon’s music shows aspects of both medieval and early Renaissance practice. His secular music is the most up-to-date, and includes examples of each of the prevailing formes fixes, the ballade, the virelai, and the rondeau. The melody is always in the topmost voice, and all are for three voices.

The motets by Grenon are unusual in their use of strict isorhythmic technique, usually in all voices. In some aspects they are similar to motets of Du Fay, except for the strictness of the isorhythmic principle. One is datable to 1414, since it praises the antipope John XXIII, and probably corresponds to the opening of the Council of Konstanz. Grenon also wrote masses, but none survive complete; only a fragment of a Gloria remains, not enough to establish his stylistic technique for this type of composition.

Leonel Power (c. 1380 – 5 June 1445) was an English composer of the late medieval and early Renaissance era. Along with John Dunstaple, he was a dominant figure of 15th century English music. Primarily a composer of sacred music, Power is the best represented contributor in the Old Hall Manuscript. Power was one of the first composers to set separate movements of the Ordinary of the Mass which were thematically unified and intended for contiguous performance.

1. Beata progenies
2. Ave regina celorum
3. Missa “Alma redemptoris mater”: Gloria

Arnold de Lantins (fl. 1420s – before 2 July 1432) was a Netherlandish composer of the late medieval and early Renaissance eras. He is one of a few composers who shows aspects of both medieval and Renaissance style, and was a contemporary of Guillaume Du Fay during Du Fay’s sojourn in Italy.

Lantins’ music was held in high regard, and appears alongside that of Du Fay, Gilles Binchois and Johannes Ciconia in contemporary manuscript collections. In particular, one motet – Tota pulchra es – is found in widely distributed sources; since this was before the advent of printing technology, wide distribution of copies is taken as evidence of a composer’s fame and popularity. Arnold wrote a complete mass, found in Bologna Q15 (all the movements are found in OX 213 although the last two movements are separated – only the first three movements are found in Bologna 2216), as well as several parts of a composite mass in Bologna Q15, augmenting movements written by Johannes Ciconia. Several other examples exist of composers adding movements to partial masses written by other composers, for example Zacara da Teramo, particularly in Bologna Q15. Musically Arnold’s mass movements are fairly simple, using three voices, head motif technique, and avoiding imitative writing. Some of his other sacred music, such as his Marian motets, contain florid melodic writing and some use of imitation. He also wrote secular music, including ballades and rondeaux, all of which are in French, as well as a few shorter sacred pieces.

4. Las, pouray je mon martire celer
5. Tota pulchra es amica mea

John Dunstaple (or Dunstable; c. 1390 – 24 December 1453) was an English composer whose music helped inaugurate the transition from the medieval to the Renaissance periods. The central proponent of the Contenance angloise style, Dunstaple was the leading English composer of his time, and is often coupled with William Byrd and Henry Purcell as England’s most important early music composers. His style would have an immense influence on the subsequent music of continental Europe, inspiring composers such as Du Fay, Binchois, Ockeghem and Busnois.

6. Sanctus, JD 6
7. Credo (Da gaudiorum premia), JD 17
8. Sanctus (Da gaudiorum premia), JD 18

Guillaume Du Fay (5 August 1397(?) – 27 November 1474) was a composer and music theorist of early Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered the leading European composer of his time, his music was widely performed and reproduced. Du Fay was well-associated with composers of the Burgundian School, particularly his colleague Gilles Binchois, but was never a regular member of the Burgundian chapel himself.

Du Fay has been described as leading the first generation of European musicians who were primarily considered ‘composers’ by occupation. His erratic career took him throughout Western Europe, forming a ‘cosmopolitan style’ and an extensive oeuvre which included representatives of virtually every polyphonic genre of his time. Du Fay was deeply influenced by the contenance angloise style of John Dunstaple, and synthesized it with a wide variety of other styles, including that of the famous Missa Caput, and the techniques of his younger contemporaries, Ockeghem and Busnois.

Du Fay composed in most of the common forms of the day, including masses, motets, Magnificats, hymns, simple chant settings in fauxbourdon, and antiphons within the area of sacred music, and rondeaux, ballades, virelais and a few other chanson types within the realm of secular music. None of his surviving music is specifically instrumental, although instruments were certainly used for some of his secular music, especially for the lower parts; all of his sacred music is vocal. Instruments may have been used to reinforce the voices in actual performance for almost any of his works.

9. Par droit je puis bien complaindre et gemir
10. Je me complains piteusement
11. Inclita stella maris
12. He compaignons resvelons nous

Reginaldus Libert (Reginald; also Liebert) (fl. c. 1425–1435) was a French composer of the early Renaissance. He was a minor member of the Burgundian School, a contemporary of Guillaume Dufay, and one of the first to use fauxbourdon in a mass setting.

Four compositions by Libert have been identified. Two are rondeaux, which was the popular type of French chanson at the time. Both rondeaux are for three voices with only the uppermost voice being supplied with a text (instruments were often used for the other parts, especially in the music of the Burgundians).

His most famous composition is a complete setting of the mass, for three voices, which contains some of the earliest use of fauxbourdon. An unusual feature of this mass is that it contains music not only for the Ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei) but the Proper as well; in this regard it resembles the Missa Sancti Jacobi of Guillaume Dufay, which is often considered to be the earliest example of fauxbourdon to which the term was applied by the composer. Libert’s mass uses a plainsong source which permeates all the movements, and migrates from voice to voice. Stylistically, this mass, as well as his other compositions, fit the period around 1430. Libert also wrote a setting of the Kyrie for four voices. Both this Kyrie and the complete mass survive in the Trent Codices.

Johannes Brassart (c. 1400 – before 22 October 1455) was a composer of the early- Renaissance Burgundian school. Survival of music from this age is spotty, and many sources of music from Liège were destroyed when Charles the Bold sacked the city in 1468. Nevertheless, some of Brassart’s music has survived, including 11 motets, 8 introits, and many individual mass movements. The introits are among the earliest known polyphonic settings of this section of the Proper of the Mass.

His music is typical of the early Burgundian style, using fauxbourdon techniques (frequent 6-3 parallelism in two voices singing above the principal melody part in the tenor voice), isorhythm, and the Burgundian under-third cadence. All of his surviving music is sacred, and includes mass movements, introits, and numerous motets; one of his pieces is on a German text, and almost certainly was written during his employment with the Imperial chapel. Often he used cantus firmus techniques, and frequently wrote with the melodic part in the top voice.

The mass movements, all for three voices, most often employ the fauxbourdon style, while the motets are typically isorhythmic. Many of the motets are for four voices. One of the distinguishing features of his motet style is the frequent use of an opening duet for two high voices, after which the remaining voices join in; this was to become a hallmark of the Burgundian style. His most famous motet, O flos fragrans, is modeled on a similar work by Du Fay, and the two composers may have known each other well.

13. Regina coeli
14. Ave Maria gratia plena
15. O rex Fridrice – in tuo adventu

Juan Cornago (Johannes Cornago) (c. 1400 – after 1475) was a Spanish composer of the early Renaissance.

16. Missa de la mapa mundi: Agnus Dei

Gilles Binchois (c. 1400 – 20 September 1460) was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of early Renaissance music. A central figure of the Burgundian School, Binchois is renowned a melodist and miniaturist; he generally avoided large scale works, and is most admired for his shorter secular chansons. He is generally ranked below his colleague Guillaume Du Fay and the English composer John Dunstaple, but together the three were the most celebrated composers of the early European Renaissance.

Binchois’ œuvre includes 28 mass movements, 32 psalms, 28 smaller sacred works, a variety of motets, as well as 54 chansons. Most are written for three voices, although some have four. The Encyclopædia Britannica remarked that “Binchois cultivated the gently subtle rhythm, the suavely graceful melody, and the smooth treatment of dissonance of his English contemporaries”. As a melodist in particular, Binchois is often considered among the finest of the 15th century.

Most commentators agree that Binchois was not a progressive composer. The musicologist Reinhard Strohm concludes that although Binchois “earned his enormous reputation in the one genre in which he excelled as a composer […] this master of melody and courtly performer apparently does not explore the depths of the art”. He utilized a limited range of techniques, favoring older melodic styles that evoked the 12th-century amour courtois (lit. ‘courtly love’) tradition of the troubadours and trouvères. His genre preference was also conservative, eschewing newer voguish forms—such as cyclic masses and cantus firmus masses based on secular tunes—in favor of smaller-scale works. The musicologist Anthony Pryer described him as a “supreme miniaturist”. Only a single large-scale work of his survives, the incomplete isorhythmic motet Nove cantum melodie (1481). Binchois’ progressive use of cadences is an exception: the dominant scale-degree and leading-tone are occasionally treated with a tonal approach of the later common practice period. His use of dissonance was also forward-looking and has incited much conversation; Binchois oftentimes embraced moments of dissonant part writing, even when it was “easily avoided”. Joan A. Boucher also noted that that Binchois’ wide range use of the bass voice was unique for his time. Like Du Fay, Binchois was deeply influenced by the contenance angloise style of John Dunstaple and Lionel Power, which uniquely emphasized the third and sixth intervals and often highlighted duets within larger textures. Although Binchois probably never visited England, the Philip’s court had good relations with the English, and had established both diplomatic and cultural links with their northern neighbor; his court was open to English diplomats, businessmen and musicians. The Renaissance scholar Gordon Campbell notes that Binchois was “ideally placed to absorb and reflect styles from across the channel”. The English influence was such that three settings of antiphons by Power and Dunstable, along with a motet by Standley, were long-misattributed to Binchois. Strohm cautions that this influence was not prevalent enough to consider any of Binchois’ works to be English in style or imitating an English model: “he followed his own, aural version of contenance angloise“.

Binchois is best known for his lyric-driven secular French songs, known as chansons, which were widely transmitted and imitated by fellow composers. During Binchois’ lifetime, the rondeau became the dominant chanson-type of the three formes fixes. This was reflected in Binchois’ body of work: of his 54 chansons, the vast majority (47) are rondeaux and seven are ballades. His songs are almost exclusively in triple time, save for the rondeau “Seule esgaree” in duple meter. Other stylistic tropes include the use of under-third cadences (Landini cadences), the favoring of short phrases and material repetition. Pryer explains that “these superficial repetitions serve to demonstrate Binchois’ flexibility, since it is rare for two phrases to have exactly the same rhythmic or melodic contour, and consecutive phrases rarely end on the same pitch or note-value.” His melodies value simplicity, economy of material and, outside of the codas, minimal rhythmic activity. The musicologist Hans-Otto Korth has noted a resemblance between the melodic character and simplicity of Binchois’ music and that of folk music, emphasizing it is a similarity in effect, not necessarily an influence.

The lyrics Binchois set were often by prominent French poet contemporaries, such as Charles, Duke of Orléans, Alain Chartier and Christine de Pizan. He chiefly prioritized serious courtly subjects, unlike his contemporaries who wrote spoof songs and celebratory songs for May Day and New Year’s Day; the combinative chanson “Filles a marier/Se tu t’en marias”, which cautions against marriage, is an exception. Binchois’ method of text setting was often unique from his peers; his melodies are generally independent of the poem’s rhyme scheme. Scholars note that his tendency to favor musical structure over poetic form has made their combination unpredictable in his works. This is a stark departure from the careful music-text balance of Guillaume Du Fay’s compositions.

In addition to not prioritizing poetic structure, Binchois heavily emphasized musical symmetry. The musicologist Wolfgang Rehm was the first to note that numerous Binchois songs, particularly early works, are symmetrically constructed in their length and the location of their middle cadence. Rehm also observed that in five-line rondeaux, Binchois added a sixth non-texted musical line, so that the music remained symmetrical. In works such as the rondeau “Amours et souvenir”, ABBA poems are offset by an ABAB musical passage. As such, Binchois stands out from other Renaissance composers in that “poetic form of a song cannot always be deduced correctly from the music alone”.

Most of Binchois’ sacred output is individual mass movements, alongside psalm and canticle settings (particularly magnificats) and a variety of smaller sacred works. No complete cyclic mass is extant although a few pairs of movements are known, their unification comes from overarching stylistic similarities, not specific musical material. These mass movements are based around chant; unlike his contemporaries, the chant is used in a forward-looking manner: a starting point, not a strict foundation, allowing for more creative liberty. Conversely the overall mass movement structure is relatively conservative.

It is generally assumed that considerably more of Binchois’ total sacred music survives than secular, creating a “paradoxical image” of a composer best known for the latter. Regardless, the ease at which his secular output can be analyzed—both stylistically and chronologically—does not transfer here. The various church forms are treated distinctly, often without stylistic parallels. There are also departures from Binchois’ secular characteristics: very few Burgundian cadences (octave-leap cadences), less major prolation, more selective tempus perfectum diminutum and less regular symmetry.

Counterpoint was not a priority to Binchois, who instead emphasized text declamation and musical contour. Thus his sacred output is often considered comparatively uninspired and routine. Oftentimes the work’s chant source is harmonized in a basic, “note-against-note” manner, with such harmony in the top voice, akin to the continental standard then. Homophony is his sacred texture of choice, typically in the fauxbourdon style, melodies based on the Parisian rite—a then-fashionable approach in Burgundy.

17. Amoureux suy et me vient toute joye
18. Je ne pouroye estre joyeux
19. Triste plaisir et douleureuse joie
20. Amours mercy de trespout non pooir
21. Dueil angoisseux
22. A solis ortus cardine

Johannes de Quadris (before 1410 – 1457?) was an Italian composer of the early Renaissance. He was one of the first composers of polyphony associated with the basilica of St. Mark’s in Venice, and the earliest known composer to write a polyphonic setting of the Magnificat for four voices.

His musical style is highly varied, and possibly he wrote his surviving pieces over a career of more than the twenty documented years. The motet Gaudeat ecclesia and the Magnificat are stylistically related to the music of the late Middle Ages, with a cantus firmus surrounded by texturally distinct vocal lines; the other works, with their lighter texture, are more characteristic of Italian composers writing later in the century. Clarity of the text is foremost in these works, as is liturgical utility. According to Giulio Cattin, writing in the New Grove: “Taken as a whole, his output developed in a way typical of the 15th century, from a northern late Gothic idiom to the expressive, tuneful simplicity of Italian music.”

23. Ehu Ehu domine (Lament from the Good Friday Procession and Deposition)
24. Sepulto Domino (Responsory from the Good Friday Procession and Deposition)
25. Cum autem venissent (Planctus Mariae from the Good Friday Procession and Deposition)

Conrad Paumann (c. 1410 – January 24, 1473) was a German organist, lutenist and composer of the early Renaissance. Born blind, he became one of the most talented musicians of the 15th century, and his performances created a sensation wherever he went. He is grouped among the composers known as the Colorists.

Paumann, being blind, never wrote down his music, and may have been an improvisor above all. He has been credited with inventing the system of tablature for the lute in Germany; while it cannot be proven, it seems reasonable both because of Paumann’s influence, and because of the ease with which music can be dictated using tablature.

Most of his music is instrumental, and some of it considerably virtuosic. Only one vocal composition survives, a tenorlied Wiplich figur for three voices; stylistically it is so close to the contemporary Franco-Flemish idiom that it follows that Paumann knew the music of the Franco-Flemish composers. Most likely he encountered it on his travels, for instance when he went to Milan.

His Fundamentum organisandi of 1452, an instruction manual for improvisation, was combined with the Lochamer-Liederbuch of approximately the same date; the double source is housed in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek.

John Plummer (c. 1410 – c. 1483) was an English composer who flourished during the reign of Henry VI of England. Not many of Plummer’s compositions survive. The motets Anna mater matris Christi (Anne, mother of the mother of Christ) and Tota Pulchra Es (My Love is Wholly Beautiful) are widely available and recorded. A number of Plummer’s compositions appear in the manuscript Brussels Biliothèque Royale MS 5557. During his own lifetime, knowledge and performance of his works spread at least as far as the present-day Czech Republic, where pieces such as Tota Pulchra Es were copied into the Codex Speciálník (c. 1500). These pieces are unaccompanied sacred vocal music written for use in the great royal and noble chapels of northern Europe.

26. Anna mater matris Christi
27. Tota Pulchra Es

John Hothby (Otteby, Hocby, Octobi, Ottobi, c. 1410–1487), also known by his Latinised names Johannes Ottobi or Johannes de Londonis, was an English Renaissance music theorist and composer who travelled widely in Europe and gained an international reputation for his work.

Surviving compositions include six sacred Latin works and three secular Italian songs. Exactly which works on music theory Hothby wrote is unclear and some older works may have been attributed to him and some contemporary works often given under this name may have been written by another author Johannes de Anglia. Work generally attributed to him includes La Capiopea Legale and Proportiones Secundum. Surviving work suggests that he was a traditionalist, defending the Pythagorean tuning and Guidonian pitch in the face of reforms proposed by Bartolomé Ramos de Pareja, but is chiefly notable for modifications to the pitch system to accommodate sharp and flat notes. His work was widely known in Britain and continental Europe and he may have been the most important figure in communicating musical ideas of the Contenance Angloise between England and the continent.

Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1410 – 6 February 1497) was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of early Renaissance music. Ockeghem was the most influential European composer in the period between Guillaume Du Fay and Josquin des Prez, and he was—with his colleague Antoine Busnois—the leading European composer in the second half of the 15th century. He was an important proponent of the early Franco-Flemish School.

Dating Ockeghem’s works is difficult, as there are almost no external points of reference, except of course the death of Binchois (1460) for which Ockeghem composed a motet-chanson. The Missa Caput is almost certainly an early work, since it follows on an anonymous English mass of the same title dated to the 1440s, and his late masses may include the Missa Ma maistresse and Missa Fors seulement, in view of both his innovative treatment of the cantus firmus and his increasingly homogeneous textures later in his life.

Ockeghem used the cantus firmus technique in about half of his masses; the earliest of these masses use head-motifs at the start of the individual movements, a common practice around 1440 but one that had already become archaic by around 1450. Three of his masses, Missa Ma maistresse, Missa Fors seulement, and Missa Mi-mi are based on chansons he wrote himself, and use more than one voice of the chanson, foreshadowing the parody mass techniques of the 16th century. In his remaining masses, including the Missa cuiusvis toni and Missa prolationum, no borrowed material has been found, and the works seem to have been freely composed.

Ockeghem would sometimes place borrowed material in the lowest voice, such as in the Missa Caput, one of three masses written in the mid-15th century based on that fragment of chant from the English Sarum Rite. Other characteristics of Ockeghem’s compositional technique include variation in voices’ rhythmic character so as to maintain their independence.

A strong influence on Josquin des Prez and the subsequent generation of Netherlanders, Ockeghem was famous throughout Europe for his expressive music, though he was equally renowned for his technical prowess. Two of the most famous contrapuntal achievements of the 15th century include his Missa prolationum, which consists entirely of mensuration canons, and the Missa cuiusvis toni, designed to be performed in any of the different modes, but even these technique-oriented pieces demonstrate his uniquely expressive use of vocal ranges and tonal language. Ockeghem’s use of wide-ranging and rhythmically active bass lines sets him apart from many of the other composers in the Netherlandish Schools, and may be because this was his voice range.

28. Permanent vierge, plus digne que nesune
29. Messe in D: I. Kyrie
30. Missa Mi-Mi: IV. Sanctus
31. Credo
32. Deo gratias

Petrus de Domarto (fl. c. 1445–1455) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance. He was a contemporary and probable acquaintance of Ockeghem, and was the composer of at least one of the first unified mass cycles to be written in continental Europe.

Domarto’s two mass settings, the Missa Spiritus almus and a Missa sine nomine, were famous at the time. The latter of the two may have been one of the earliest cyclic masses composed on the continent, most likely in the 1440s, and imitates some features of contemporary English composers such as Leonel Power. The Missa Spiritus almus, likely dating from the 1450s, is a cantus-firmus mass, with the melody always in the tenor, but with a changing rhythmic profile as it changes mensuration throughout the piece. The procedure was evidently influential on the next generation of composers, for it was still being copied in the 1480s, and Busnois may have based one of his own masses on the same method (the Missa O crux lignum). The theorist and writer Johannes Tinctoris criticized it for exactly the features that inspired other composers. The two surviving secular compositions by Domarto are both rondeaux, formes fixes of the type popular with the Burgundian School.

Gilles Joye (1424 or 1425 – 31 December 1483) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance. A member of the Burgundian school, he was known mainly for his secular songs which were in a lyrical and graceful style.

All of Joye’s surviving music is vocal and secular, and for three voices only. Four of his works are rondeaux, in French (though the text for one rondeau is lost), and one is an Italian ballata, probably written between 1454 and 1459 when he may have been in Italy. Joye’s songs are typical of the Burgundian secular music of the period; they are melodic, clear, and lyrical in style. No sacred music is known for certain to have been written by Joye, but two anonymous masses based on the contemporary lyric O rosa bella have been attributed to Joye for stylistic reasons; in addition, the similarity of O rosa bella to the name of his favorite prostitute, Rosabelle, along with the general irreverent character evident in his life and other work, may support this hypothesis.

33. Ce qu’on fait à quatimini

Johannes Regis (French: Jehan Leroy; c. 1425 – c. 1496) was a Netherlandish composer of the Renaissance. He was a well-known composer at the close of the 15th century, was a principal contributor to the Chigi Codex, and was secretary to Guillaume Du Fay.

Although Regis was associated professionally with Guillaume Du Fay, his music is stylistically independent of Du Fay and is highly creative and technically innovative. Like his exact contemporary, Johannes Ockeghem, Regis liked to explore the low vocal register resulting in a very broad registral palette, and his music also evidences great harmonic and textural variety. Two masses, seven motets, and two secular songs, both rondeaux, by Regis have survived; some other music is mentioned by Tinctoris and other writers but is lost. One of his lost works is a Missa L’homme armé; dating from the 1450s; it is one of the earliest known masses based on this most popular of all tunes for mass composition. In addition to this lost mass, he wrote another based on the same tune, a Dum sacrum mysterium/Missa l’homme armé; this one has survived, and is a contrapuntal tour-de-force which uses up to three pre-existing melodies simultaneously in the four voices. Regis is one of the few composers known to have written more than one L’homme armé mass. Also among Regis’ music for the mass is a single movement, Patrem Vilayge.

Regis’ extended motet, Lux solemnis, Repleti sunt omnes, features a lengthy passage of call and answer bicinia dialogue between the upper two voices and the lower two voices, foreshadowing this technique that was made famous in the following generation by Josquin. Regis is one of the first composers to have written for five voices, a standard grouping in the music of the next generation (for example, in the music of Josquin des Prez). Indeed, his motets for five voices seem to have been used by the next generation, including Loyset Compère, Gaspar van Weerbeke, Josquin, and Jacob Obrecht as models for their own work.

Johannes Pullois (died 23 August 1478) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance, active in both the Low Countries and Italy. He was one of the early generation of composers to carry the Franco-Flemish polyphonic style from its home region in the Netherlands to Italy.

One complete cyclic mass has survived, a Missa sine nomine, for three voices; most likely dating from the 1450s, it is one of the earliest cyclic masses to be written on the continent. It shows such influence of English music that it has been mistaken for the work of an anonymous English composer. The mass displays a complex transmission pattern, which has confused its dating and provenance.

Pullois also wrote a motet for the Christmas season Flos de spina, which is similar stylistically to works by Ockeghem, and may have been written during his time in Italy. One other motet, Victime paschali laudes, and three sacred contrafacta of secular songs have survived. He also wrote 14 secular songs (including the three with contrafactum texts) which appear in various sources from Italy as well as Germany.

Juan de Urrede (c.1430-after 1482, Salamanca, Spain) was a Flemish singer and composer active in Spain in the service of the Duke of Alba and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. He was born Johannes de Wreede in Bruges.

He composed several settings of the Pange Lingua Gloriosi Corporis Mysterium, mostly based on the original Mozarabic melody composed by St. Thomas Aquinas. One of his compositions for four voices was widely performed in the sixteenth century, and became the basis for a number of keyboard works and masses by Spanish composers. Although he wrote sacred songs, he was better known for courtly songs.

Robert Morton (c. 1430 – after 13 March 1479) was an English composer of the early Renaissance, mostly active at the Burgundian court. He was highly regarded at the time. Only secular vocal music, all rondeaux for three voices, survive.

Given the almost complete elimination of 15th century music manuscripts in England, largely by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s, it is not surprising that most of Morton’s music survives in sources from the Continent, and if he was ever active as a musician in his native land, all trace is lost. Eight pieces survive, all rondeaux. One of the most famous of them is the earliest known setting of the tune L’homme armé, which was used by many early Renaissance composers as a cantus firmus for the Mass. This piece, a quodlibet, is probably datable to May 1464; it seems to have been written as a departure gift for another court composer, Simon le Breton.

Another of his rondeaux, Le souvenir de vous me tue, was exceedingly famous, and copies of this piece were widely disseminated in Europe. All of Morton’s surviving music is in French, not surprising since it all dates from his time in Burgundy. Melodically it is somewhat simpler than the music of his contemporaries such as Hayne or Antoine Busnois.

The music theorist and writer Johannes Tinctoris wrote glowingly of Morton, mentioning that he was “world-famous”. Even though much of his music must have been lost—including any sacred music—he seems to have been influential on other composers at the court of Burgundy, and several of his compositions were used as source material for masses by later composers, including Josquin des Prez.

34. Le souvenir de vous me tue
35. Il sera pour vous conbatu/L’homme armé

Antoine Busnois (also Busnoys; c. 1430 – before 6 November 1492) was a French composer, singer and poet of early Renaissance music. Busnois and colleague Johannes Ockeghem were the leading European composers of the second half the 15th century, and central figures of the early Franco-Flemish School. While also noted as a composer of motets and other sacred music, he was one of the most renowned 15th-century composers of secular polyphonic chansons. Between Guillaume Du Fay and Claudin de Sermisy, Busnois was the most prolific and important French composer of songs.

Busnois’ contemporary reputation was immense; he was probably the best-known musician in Europe between Guillaume Du Fay and Johannes Ockeghem. From his output of sacred music wo cantus firmus Masses and eight motets have survived, while many others were most likely lost. He set the Marian antiphon Regina coeli several times. Stylistically, his music can be considered a midpoint between the simplicity and homophonic textures of Du Fay and Binchois, and the soon-to-be pervasive imitative counterpoint of Josquin and Gombert. He used imitation only occasionally but skillfully, created smooth and singable melodic lines and had a strong feeling for triadic sonorities, anticipating 16th-century practice.

According to Pietro Aron, Busnois may have been the composer of the famous tune L’homme armé, one of the most widely distributed melodies of the Renaissance and the one more often used than any other as a cantus firmus in Mass composition. Whether or not he wrote the first Mass based on L’homme armé, his was by far the most influential; Obrecht’s setting, for example, closely parallels that of Busnois, and even Du Fay’s quotes from it directly. But Busnois’ polyphonic chansons (French secular songs) are the works on which his reputation mainly rests. Most are rondeaux, but some are bergerettes; many of them achieved the status of popular songs, and some were perhaps based on other popular songs which are now lost. He probably wrote the words for almost all of his chansons. Some of his tunes were recycled as cantus firmus for Masses composed more than a generation after his death, for instance Fortuna desperata (which was used both by Obrecht and Josquin), though this attribution is controversial. While most of Busnois’s secular songs are set to French words, at least two employ Italian texts and one is in Flemish. Most are for three voices, although there are a few for four.

36. Missa L’Homme armé: Kyrie
37. Noël, noël
38. Regina caeli (I)
39. Bel acueil (rondeau)

Guillaume Le Rouge (fl. 1450–1465) was a Netherlands musician of the Burgundian school. He took a position at the court of Charles d’Orleans, serving in the chapel from 1451 to 1465. One song remains of his compositions, Se je fais duel je n’en ouis mais. An adaptation of Stella celi extirpavit (a prayer for deliverance from the plague) to the melody of the song So ys emprentid (known as a contrafactum) is attributed to Le Rouge.

40. Stella celi extirpavit

Walter Frye (died 1474?). Nothing certain is known about the life of this English composer. Frye wrote masses, motets and songs, including ballades and a single rondeau. All of his surviving music is vocal, and his best-known composition is an Ave Regina, a motet which occurs, unusually, in three contemporary paintings, even including notation. Some of his shorter pieces acquired an extraordinary fame in far-away areas, such as Italy, southern Germany, Bohemia and present-day Austria, including the rondeau Tout a par moy and the ballade So ys emprentid. These songs were often copied, rearranged and plagiarized, and appear in numerous collections in varied forms. Frye’s masses, however, were his most historically significant contribution, for they influenced the music of Jacob Obrecht and Antoine Busnois. Frye’s style in his masses was typical of English music of the period, the Contenance Angloise, using full triadic sonorities, and sometimes isorhythmic techniques; he contrasted full-voiced textures with passages for only two voices, which became a characteristic sound of the polyphony of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Three masses have survived more or less complete: the Missa Flos Regalis (for four voices), Missa Nobilis et Pulchra (three voices), and the Missa Summe Trinitati (also for three voices).

41. Missa Flos Regalis: Gloria

William Horwood, also Horewud (c. 1430 – 1484) was an English polyphonic vocal composer of the early Renaissance. He is one of the earliest composers represented in the Eton Choirbook, with three complete pieces and one incomplete piece. The survival of these large-scale pieces makes Horwood the most important representative we have of the period between Dunstaple and early Tudor composers such as Fayrfax and William Cornysh. Horwood’s “Magnificat secundi toni a 5” bears a strong resemblance to compositions of his near contemporary Josquin des Prez (c. 1440–1521), so much so that he might easily be mistaken for Josquin.

42. Gaude flore virginali

Johannes Tinctoris (c. 1435 – 1511) was an early Renaissance music theorist and composer from the Low Countries. Tinctoris published many volumes of writings on music. While they are not particularly original, borrowing heavily from ancient writers, they give an impressively detailed record of the technical practices and procedures used by composers of the day. He wrote the first dictionary of musical terms (the Diffinitorium musices); a book on the characteristics of the musical modes; a treatise on proportions; and three books on counterpoint, which is particularly useful in charting the development of voice-leading and harmony in the transitional period between Du Fay and Josquin. The writings by Tinctoris were influential on composers and other music theorists for the remainder of the Renaissance.

While not much of the music of Tinctoris has survived, that which has survived shows a love for complex, smoothly flowing polyphony, as well as a liking for unusually low tessituras, occasionally descending in the bass voice to the C two octaves below middle C (showing an interesting similarity to Ockeghem in this regard). Tinctoris wrote masses, motets and a few chansons.

43. Missa sine nomine #1: Kyrie
44. Missa sine nomine # 2: Agnus Dei

Richard Hygons (also Higons, Huchons, Hugo; c. 1435 – c. 1509) was an English composer of the early Renaissance. While only two compositions of this late 15th-century composer have survived, one of them, a five-voice setting of the Salve Regina Marian antiphon, has attracted interest from musicologists because of its close relationship to music being written at the same time on the continent, as well as its high level of workmanship.

The two-voice setting of the Gaude virgo mater Christi, which appears on a single surviving leaf of a choirbook from Wells Cathedral (the enormous majority of music from the 15th century and early 16th century was destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII).

The Salve Regina is unique among English music of the period in that its cantus firmus, drawn from the melisma on the word “caput” in the Sarum antiphon Venit ad Petrum, is the same as that from three earlier Caput masses by composers from elsewhere: Jacob Obrecht, Johannes Ockeghem, and an anonymous composer once thought to be Guillaume Du Fay. Recent research has suggested that this third mass was actually by an unknown Englishman working in the early 15th century, and is the original for the later three works. The Salve Regina, being based on a votive antiphon for Maundy Thursday, was probably intended for use on that day.

The difficulty, complexity, and craftsmanship shown in Hygon’s Salve Regina has suggested that the musical standards at Wells Cathedral at the end of the 15th century were high, and matched those of musical centres across the Channel.

Johannes Martini (c. 1440 – late 1497 or early 1498) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance. Martini wrote Masses, motets, psalms, hymns, and some secular songs, including chansons. His style is conservative, sometimes referring back to the music of the Burgundian School, especially in the Masses. Some stylistic similarity to Obrecht suggests that the two may have known each other, or at the very least Martini may have seen Obrecht’s music. Obrecht was a guest in Ferrara in 1487, and his music is known to have circulated in Italy in the early 1480s.

Some of the earliest examples of the paraphrase Mass are by Martini. His Missa domenicalis and Missa ferialis, which have been tentatively dated to the 1470s at the earliest, use paraphrase technique in the tenor voice – the normal voice for carrying the cantus firmus – but also include the same melodic material in other voices at the start of points of imitation. The paraphrase technique was to become one of the predominant methods of mass composition in the early 16th century.

In addition to his mostly conservative output of masses, he is the first composer known to have set psalms for double choir singing antiphonally. This style, which was to become famous in Venice under the direction of Adrian Willaert seventy years later, seems to have had no influence at the time: yet it was a striking innovation. His secular music is in both French and Italian.

45. Letatus sum
46. Quare fremuerunt gentes
47. Flos virgininum

Edmund Turges (c.1440-after 1501) thought to be also Edmund Sturges (fl. 1507–1508) was an English Renaissance era composer who came from Petworth. He was ordained by Bishop Ridley in 1550, and joined the Fraternity of St. Nicholas (the London Guild of Parish Clerks) in 1469.

Several works are listed in the name of Turges in the Eton Choirbook, which survived Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries between 1536 and 1541. Turges also has a Magnificat extant in the Caius Choirbook, and compositions in the Fayrfax Boke. A Kyrie and Gloria are ascribed to Sturges in the Ritson Manuscript. At least two masses and three Magnificat settings have been lost, as well as eight six-part pieces listed in the 1529 King’s College Inventory.

It is quite possible that his setting of Gaude flore virginali was written with the choir of New College, Oxford in mind, especially since a man by the name of Sturges served as a chaplain in the choir between 1507-08. Its unorthodox vocal scoring for TrTrATB suggests the choral forces found in the college at the time where the boys (16 in total) outnumbered the men (of whom there were likely to have been no more than four).

Juan de Triana (fl. 1460 – 1490, died 28 January 1494) was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance period, active in the second half of the 15th century. Twenty works by Triana have been preserved, all in the Cancionero de la Colombina. Four of the works are religious and the remaining are secular. Three of them also have replicas in the Cancionero de Palacio. One of the religious pieces is a fragment of the Song of the Sibyl in Castilian, and the others are liturgical texts in Latin. The compositions have features that are common to the Iberian musicians of the generation before.

48. De mi perdida esperança
49. Juyzio fuerte – O ascondida verdad
50. ¿Querer vieja yo?

Firminus Caron (fl. 1460–1475) was a French composer, and likely a singer, of the early Renaissance. He was highly successful as a composer and influential, especially on the development of imitative counterpoint, and numerous compositions of his survive.

Caron left both sacred and secular music, including five masses and numerous secular songs. One of the earliest masses based on the famous tune L’homme armé is by Caron, and survives in an early 1460s Vatican manuscript along with L’homme armé masses by several other composers. In Caron’s setting the tune is transposed to Dorian mode and elaborated considerably; the upper voices often sing in two-part imitation.

Most of his secular songs were in French, and for three voices, and most survive from Italian manuscripts. Most are rondeaux, and most are in duple meter. One of his songs, Helas que pourra devenir, was extraordinarily famous, and was the second-most-widely distributed song in manuscript sources of the third quarter of the 15th century (De tous biens plaine, by Hayne van Ghizeghem, was the first). It is unusual among songs of the time in using very close imitation, and it seems to have initiated a trend.

51. Clemens et venigna: Sanctus
52. Accueilly m’a la belle: Agnus Dei
53. L’Homme armè: Kyrie

Guillaume Faugues (fl. c. 1460–1475) was a French composer of early Renaissance music. Very little is known of his life, however, a significant representation of his work survives in the form of five mass settings (a large surviving repertoire for a composer of the time). Faugues holds an important place in the history of the Parody mass because of his use of the technique, particularly in Missa Le serviteur. Faugues’ works were widely admired during his most active period, and he may have had a strong influence on the works of Johannes Martini.

Heinrich Finck (1444 or 1445 – 9 June 1527) was a German composer. He served as Kapellmeister first for Prince Alexander of Lithuania, later King of Poland, before living Poland in 1510. He worked in Stuttgart before becoming a member (and months before his death, the Kapellmeister) the Hofkapell. He was the great-uncle of the music theorist and composer Hermann Finck (1527–1558).

His works, mostly part songs and other vocal compositions, show great musical knowledge, and amongst the early masters of the German school he holds a high position. They are found scattered amongst ancient and modern collections of songs and other musical pieces. The library of Zwickau possesses a work containing a collection of fifty-five songs by Finck, printed about the middle of the 16th century.

54. Wer ich eyn falck – Invicto regi jubilo

Johannes de Stokem (c. 1445 – 1487 or 1501) was a Flemish composer of the Renaissance. He is considered to be part of the post-Du Fay generation in France. He was a friend of Johannes Tinctoris, another composer of the period. His piece, Brunette, was published in the Odhecaton and is an early example of a genre of music commonly known as “little brown-eyed girl.” It is one of the few five-voice works found in the Odhecaton.

Gaspar van Weerbeke (c. 1445 – after 1516) was a Netherlandish composer of the Renaissance. He was of the same generation as Josquin des Prez, but unique in his blending of the contemporary Italian style with the older Burgundian style of Du Fay.

Weerbeke combined the styles of the Italians with some of the older techniques of the Burgundians. He was almost alone among the Franco-Flemish composers in avoiding the smooth, imitative polyphonic style which was developing at the time, best exemplified by the music of Josquin des Prez.

He composed sacred music: masses, motets, motet cycles, a Magnificat setting, and a setting of the Lamentations, as well as a few secular chansons; but the bulk of his work is sacred vocal music. Attribution of the chansons is controversial, and many scholars believe them to have been composed by composers such as Josquin, or Jean Japart.

In style, much of his motet writing is homophonic, incorporating some of the lightness of the contemporary Italian secular music. Most of his masses are based on chanson melodies, which are stated clearly in the tenor voice, and the other voices usually move in a simple, occasionally parallel manner, related to the manner of Du Fay or the other Burgundians. Once in a while Weerbeke uses imitation but never in the paired manner of Josquin or the pervasive manner of the later Franco-Flemish composers; his style of composition of masses is almost archaic in comparison to his contemporaries.

His music was much esteemed, especially in Italy, where it represented perhaps the popular aesthetic as opposed to the contrapuntal, but foreign grandeur of most of the composers from the Low Countries.

Isaiah the Serb was a Serbian Orthodox hieromonk and composer of chants who flourished in the second half of the 15th century. Along with Kir Joakim, Kir Stefan the Serb, Nikola the Serb he faithfully followed Byzantine musical tradition, writing in the late kalophonic style of the 14th and 15th centuries.

Isaiah’s melodies, some syllabic, others more melismatic, show his inventiveness, and his ability to introduce new and original elements, especially from the Serbian tradition, within the compositional framework of the Byzantine chant, thus creating a new and distinctive style: the Serbo-Byzantine school. His works represent two thirds of preserved Serbian Medieval music. He was also immensely popular after his death, with his compositions being copied until the late 18th century. His works are also included in the Anthologion 928 from the National Library of Greece, Athens.

Hayne van Ghizeghem (c. 1445 – from 1472 to 1497) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance Burgundian School. Hayne is principally known as a composer of chansons, and most of these are rondeaux. Two in particular—Allez regrets, and De tous biens plaine—were so famous in late 15th-century Europe that they appeared in 25 separate sources, many dating from before the invention of printing, and they were used as source material for many later compositions by other composers. Almost all of his works are for three voices; they are simple and clear in texture, in the typical manner of the Burgundian school; and the melodic voice is the highest. Eleven pieces can be definitively attributed to Hayne, though numerous similar works classified as “anonymous” may actually be compositions of his.

Hugh Kellyk (fl. c. 1480) was an English composer, whose two surviving works are preserved in the Eton Choirbook. These two works are a five-part Magnificat and a seven-part Gaude flore virginali, which appear to be among the earlier pieces in the choirbook.

Walter Lambe (1450–1? –1504) was an English Renaissance composer. His works are well represented in the Eton Choirbook. Also the Lambeth Choirbook and the Caius Choirbook include his works.

John Browne (1453–c. 1500) was an English composer of the Tudor period, who has been called “the greatest English composer of the period between Dunstaple and Taverner”. Despite the high level of skill displayed in Browne’s compositions, few of his works survive; Browne’s extant music is found in the Eton Choirbook, in which he is the best-represented contributor, and the Fayrfax Manuscript. His choral music is distinguished by innovative scoring, false relations, and unusually long melodic lines, and has been called by early music scholar Peter Phillips “subtle, almost mystical” and “extreme in ways which apparently have no parallel, either in England or abroad.”

All of Browne’s surviving works are found in the earlier folios of the Eton Choirbook, dating from between 1490 and 1500. According to the index of the Choirbook, ten more Browne compositions were originally included; five of these compositions have been lost, while two survive in fragmentary form. The first setting of the Salve regina, and the six part Stabat mater are perhaps best known today. His O Maria salvatoris – unusual at the time of composition in that it is set in eight-part polyphony – was highly regarded during his lifetime, and was placed at the front of the Eton Choirbook.

Browne’s music is notable for its varied and unusual vocal instrumentation; each of his surviving works calls for a unique array of voices, with no two compositions sharing a given ensemble scoring. A prime example of Browne’s penchant for unorthodox groupings is his six-voice antiphon Stabat iuxta, scored for a choir of four tenors and two basses. His choral music often displays careful treatment of the dramatic possibilities of the text and expressive use of imitation and dissonance; the aforementioned Stabat iuxta, in particular, has been noted for its “dense, almost cluster chords” and “harsh” false relations.

Other works have a wide range, with lower voices against soaring soprano lines. Though comparatively few in number compared with his continental contemporaries, Browne’s works are expressively intense and often lengthy, several lasting a quarter of an hour or so to perform. Many of the composers in the Eton Choirbook are represented only in this manuscript, due to the dissolution of the monasteries and widespread destruction of untold numbers of Catholic music manuscripts in Henry VIII’s reign. We may never know the actual output of Browne and his English contemporaries and subsequent English composers of the early 16th century.

Jean Japart (fl. c. 1474–1481) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance, active in Italy. He was a popular composer of chansons, and may have been a friend of Josquin des Prez.

Japart was the composer of 23 chansons which are extant. A lost composition by Josquin, Revenu d’oultrements, Japart is often cited as evidence of a friendship between the two composers; if so, they probably met in Milan after 1481, since Josquin did not go to Italy until around 1484.

Stylistically, Japart’s music is influenced by Busnois, one of the earlier group of Burgundian composers. He was fond of the quodlibet, the combination of several pre-existing tunes in ingenious ways, and he also wrote puzzle canons — compositions which the singers were intended to figure out from clues given in the text. For example, one of his chansons can only be performed correctly by transposing one of the parts down a twelfth and singing it in retrograde motion. (When a puzzle canon is solved correctly, the parts fit together without violation of the prevailing rules of counterpoint, which in the 15th century are described in the works of theorists such as Tinctoris.) Japart’s music was evidently popular, since many of his chansons were reprinted by Petrucci and achieved wide distribution.

Colinet de Lannoy (died before 6 February 1497) was a French composer and singer of the Early Renaissance, active in the late 15th century.^[1] He was a member of the distinguished Milan chapel during the reign of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza and was present at the time of the Duke’s assassination in 1476.^[1]

Very little is known about Lannoy’s life, and some details have been confused with other musicians named “Lannoy” or “Lanoy.” After the Duke’s death, Lannoy and several colleagues, including Jean Japart, Johannes Martini, and Loyset Compère, were permitted to leave Milan, and it is unclear where he went afterward. The presence of a Dutch-language song among his works suggests he may have spent time in the Low Countries.^[1]

Only two compositions are securely attributed to Lannoy, both secular songs: Cela sans plus and Adieu natuerlic leven mijn.^[1] Cela sans plus was especially influential, serving as the basis for mass settings by composers such as Johannes Martini and Jacob Obrecht.^[6] A partial mass for three voices is also possibly by Lannoy, attributed to “lanoy” in its source.^[1]

Lannoy’s music is associated with the influential style of the Milanese chapel in the 1470s, a center for the development of new secular and sacred forms. He had died by early 1497, as noted in Guillaume Crétin’s elegy on Johannes Ockeghem.^[1]

Abertijne Malcourt (also Albertinus or Malcort; died before 1519) was a Franco-Flemish priest, tenor singer, music copyist, and composer active in Brussels at the end of the 15th century.^[1][2] He served at the cathedral of Ste. Gudule in Brussels in 1475 and 1476, and again as choirmaster between 1494 and 1498, though it is unclear if he remained there the entire time.^[1] Malcourt also worked as a music copyist, producing manuscripts for both Ste. Gudule and the church of St. Niklaus in Brussels, the latter between 1486 and 1487.^[1]

He received a pension from Ste. Gudule in 1513 and was recorded as deceased by 1519.^[1] As a composer, the only work attributed to him is the textless rondeau Malheur me bat, credited to “Malcort” in a Ferrarese manuscript. While some scholars have suggested this could refer to Hendrick Malecourt, Abertijne Malcourt is currently regarded as the most likely composer.^[2][3] This chanson became highly influential, serving as the basis for mass settings by Jacob Obrecht, Josquin des Prez, Alexander Agricola, and others.^[3]

Malcourt’s work as a singer, copyist, and composer places him among the notable figures of the Early Renaissance in the Low Countries, though his surviving musical output is extremely limited.

Jacob Godebrye (also Jacotyn Godebrye; born between 1440 and 1450, died 24 March 1529) was a Franco-Flemish singer and composer active in Antwerp during the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

Godebrye was born in Flanders and served as a singer and chaplain at the collegiate church of Our Lady (Onze Lieve Vrouw) in Antwerp from 1479 until 1528, marking a remarkably long tenure and close association with the city’s musical life. He is often identified in contemporary sources as “Jacotin,” though this name was shared by other composers of the period, making some attributions uncertain.

A small number of works are attributed to Godebrye, including the three-voice motet Beati omnes qui timent Dominum, which closes a choirbook associated with Antwerp, the motet O sancta mater Anna (published posthumously in 1553), and a Magnificat septimi toni found in a Leiden choirbook. His music is noted for its use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati, and for a style that reflects the expressive and textural innovations of the period. Some chansons and motets ascribed to “Jacotin” appeared in anthologies from 1519, but not all can be securely attributed to Godebrye due to the commonality of the name.

Godebrye is recognized among the generation of Franco-Flemish composers who contributed to the rich musical culture of Renaissance Antwerp, though his surviving output is small. His works, preserved in a handful of choirbooks and printed anthologies, offer insight into the sacred and secular repertoire of the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century.

References:
– Patrice Nicolas, ‘Jacotin,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘Jacob Godebrye,’ Musicalion
– ‘Jacotin (Jacob Godebrye),’ HOASM
– ‘Jacob Godebrye,’ Wikipedia

Loyset Compère (c. 1445 – 16 August 1518) was a leading Franco-Flemish composer of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, renowned for his innovative motets, chansons, and contributions to the development of Renaissance polyphony.

Born likely in Hainaut or Artois, Compère’s early career included service as a singer in the chapel of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza in Milan during the 1470s, where he worked alongside prominent contemporaries such as Johannes Martini and Gaspar van Weerbeke. After the assassination of the duke in 1476, Compère appears to have returned to France and soon entered the service of the French royal chapel, becoming chantre ordinaire to Charles VIII by 1486. He traveled with the French court during Charles’s Italian campaign in 1494–95, including a stay in Rome. Compère later held church posts in Cambrai (dean of Saint Géry, 1498–1500), Douai (provost at Saint Pierre, 1500–1503/04), and finally at the collegiate church of Saint-Quentin, where he served as canon and chancellor until his death and where he is buried.

Compère’s music bridges the Burgundian tradition and the emerging Italianate style. He was a pioneer of consistent points of imitation and the motet cycle (motetti missales), and his works display both contrapuntal mastery and melodic elegance. His sacred music includes two complete masses (Alles regrets and L’Homme armé), three cycles of motetti missales, and over twenty motets. Compère’s motets are notable for their variety, combining Franco-Flemish contrapuntal technique with Italianate sonority and clarity, and often employ canonic writing and advanced parody technique.

His secular output is equally significant, comprising more than fifty chansons, five motet-chansons, and two frottole. Compère’s chansons range from three-voice Burgundian types to lighter, four-voice pieces influenced by the Italian frottola, and are marked by their lyricism, syllabic text-setting, and rhythmic vitality. Some chansons became popular models for later composers, and he occasionally wrote quodlibets that combine multiple pre-existing tunes. His secular texts often lean toward the witty or suggestive, and he was celebrated by poets and chroniclers such as Molinet and Rabelais.

Compère’s reputation was widespread during his lifetime, and his works were disseminated across Europe. Though sometimes overshadowed by Josquin des Prez, he is recognized as a key transitional figure between the generations of Ockeghem and Josquin, and as an important link in the evolution of Renaissance style.

References:
– Joshua Rifkin and Barton Hudson, revised by Jeffrey Dean and David Fallows, ‘Loyset Compère,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘Loyset Compère,’ Wikipedia
– ‘Loyset Compère,’ Britannica
– ‘Loyset Compère,’ Encyclopedia.com

55. Missa Galeazescha: Ad elevationem. Adoramus te, Christe
56. Paranymphus

Hans Judenkünig (b. Schwäbisch Gmünd, c. 1445–50; d. Vienna, early March 1526) was a German lutenist, composer, teacher, and probably lute maker, recognized as a pioneering figure in the early history of printed lute music in German-speaking lands.

Judenkünig’s family came from Württemberg, and he likely settled in Vienna before 1518, where he became associated with the Corpus Christi confraternity at St. Stephen’s Cathedral. He was well established in Vienna’s historic quarter, and his prominence as a citizen is reflected in the coat of arms and woodcut portraits included in his publications. Judenkünig was closely connected with Vienna’s humanist circles, collaborating with figures such as Petrus Tritonius and engaging with the intellectual community around Conrad Celtis.

He is best known for authoring two of the earliest German self-instruction manuals for the lute: Utilis et compendiaria introductio (Vienna, c. 1515–19) and Ain schone kunstliche Underweisung (Vienna, 1523). These works, written in German tablature, provided practical instruction for beginners and included intabulations of lieder, dances, sacred songs, and works by Tritonius, as well as detailed guidance on lute technique and notation. While viols are mentioned in the titles, the content focuses almost exclusively on the lute. Judenkünig’s books were widely disseminated and played a crucial role in the spread of lute playing among amateurs and professionals alike.

As a composer, Judenkünig contributed to the repertoire of instrumental and vocal music for lute, with pieces that reflect the evolving style of the early German Renaissance. His legacy is further cemented by his influence on later lutenists and his role in the development of printed music for plucked string instruments.

References:
– Wolfgang Boetticher, ‘Hans Judenkünig,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘Hans Judenkünig,’ Encyclopedia.com
– ‘Hans Judenkönig,’ Wikipedia

Alexander Agricola (b. Ghent, c. 1445/6; d. Valladolid, August 15, 1506) was a South Netherlandish composer and singer whose career spanned Italy, France, the Low Countries, and Spain, and who stands as one of the most distinctive and inventive figures of the late 15th century.

Born as Alexander Ackerman in Ghent to Lijsbette Naps and Heinric Ackerman, Agricola was first documented as a singer at Cambrai Cathedral in 1475–76. He subsequently held posts in the chapel of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza in Milan, served briefly in Florence for Lorenzo de’ Medici, and was likely associated with the French royal chapel. By 1500, he had joined the Habsburg Grande chapelle under Philip the Fair, traveling extensively and ultimately dying in Valladolid while in the service of Philip.

Agricola’s music was widely circulated and highly regarded across Europe. He composed in all major sacred and secular genres of his time, including masses, motets, motet-chansons, chansons (often in the formes fixes), and instrumental works. His style is marked by extraordinary complexity, rhythmic vitality, and a penchant for motivic development and sequence. Agricola’s music often features intricate counterpoint, dense textures, and unpredictable formal designs, drawing on the influence of Johannes Ockeghem early in his career and embracing the pervasive imitation characteristic of Josquin des Prez in his later works.

Among his most celebrated works are his eight mass cycles-Petrucci published a dedicated volume of his masses in 1504-including the expansive Missa In minen sin and the polished Missa Malheur me bat. Agricola’s chansons and instrumental variations, such as those on De tous biens plaine, display his flair for ornamental figuration and inventive reworking of popular tunes. His succinct three-voice motet Si dedero became the most-copied work of its generation and a model for other composers.

Contemporaries described Agricola’s music as both “crazy” and “sublime” due to its restless, athletic part-writing, frequent cadences, and playful manipulation of rhythm and mode. His works posed interpretive challenges for performers and were admired for their technical brilliance and originality. Agricola’s legacy lies in his role as a transitional figure between the Burgundian school and the Josquin generation, as well as in his enduring influence on Renaissance polyphony.

References:
– Edward R. Lerner, revised by Rob C. Wegman and Fabrice Fitch, ‘Alexander Agricola,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘Alexander Agricola,’ Wikipedia
– Uncle Dave Lewis, ‘Alexander Agricola,’ AllMusic
– ‘Alexander Agricola,’ Interlude
– ‘Alexander Agricola,’ Flame Tree Pro

Philippe Basiron (b. ?Bourges, c. 1449; d. ?Bourges, shortly before 31 May 1491) was a French composer, singer, and organist of the Renaissance, noted for his innovation, technical mastery, and influence on late 15th-century polyphony.

Basiron entered the Sainte-Chapelle of the royal palace in Bourges as a choirboy in October 1458, together with his younger brother Pierre. He demonstrated exceptional musical talent early on, receiving special instruction in counterpoint and organ, and by 1464 was already assisting in teaching younger choirboys. He became vicarius in 1467 and was elected Master of the Children (magister puerorum) in 1469, a position he held until 1474. After a period of uncertain activity, he returned to Bourges by about 1490 as a vicar at the church of Saint-Pierre-le-Guillard, where he died in 1491.

Basiron was highly regarded by contemporaries such as Crétin, Eloy d’Amerval, Moulu, Gaffurius, and Spataro, and his works were widely copied and circulated throughout Europe. His surviving output includes four masses, three motets, and six chansons, with several additional works of uncertain attribution. Notable among his chansons is the bergerette Nul ne l’a telle, which creatively cites Binchois’s Je ne vis oncques la pareille, and his double chansons based on Ockeghem’s D’ung aultre amer, which reveal his engagement with the leading composers of his time.

Stylistically, Basiron’s music is closely related to that of Ockeghem and Busnoys, but he was notably innovative: he favored long chains of repetition and sequence, and his motet Regina celi is the earliest known work to use pervasive imitation as its sole structural technique. His Missa de Franza is celebrated for its kaleidoscopic textures and structural variety. Basiron’s attention to text setting and pacing, as well as his mastery of large-scale musical form, mark him as a distinctive and forward-looking composer of the Early Renaissance.

Recent scholarship, especially by Paula Higgins, has clarified the details of Basiron’s biography and the forms of his name found in various sources (including P. Basiron, Phelippon, and Philippon de Bourges). His innovative use of canonic imitation, motivic development, and the integration of popular tunes into sacred and secular forms contributed significantly to the evolving style of the Loire Valley chansonniers and the broader Franco-Flemish tradition.

References:
– Jeffrey Dean, ‘Philippe Basiron,’ Grove Music Online
– Paula Higgins, ‘Tracing the Careers of Late Medieval Composers: The Case of Philippe Basiron of Bourges,’ Academia.edu
– ‘Philippe Basiron,’ The Copenhagen Chansonnier

Gilles Mureau (c. 1450 – July 1512) was a French singer, composer, and teacher closely associated with Chartres Cathedral and the refined secular music of late 15th-century France.

Mureau first appears in the records of Chartres Cathedral in 1462 as a boy singer, and by 1469 had become maître des enfants (master of the choirboys). He was named a canon in 1472 and held prebends and lands in central France. Mureau’s career was deeply rooted in the daily musical and educational life of the cathedral, where he served as a singer, teacher of grammar and music, and administrator. He was a member of the confraternity of heuriers, professional singers responsible for daily services, processions, and memorials. His reputation as a musician was matched by his skills in poetry and administration, and he was well connected with other leading composers of his era, including Tinctoris, Brumel, Ockeghem, and Compère.

Mureau made two major pilgrimages: to Jerusalem in 1483 (when the young Antoine Brumel temporarily replaced him at Chartres) and to Santiago de Compostela in 1484. After returning, he briefly served as cathedral organist before resuming his duties as master of the choirboys. He died in Chartres in July 1512.

Only four works by Mureau survive, all rondeaux, attributed to various forms of his name and transmitted in both manuscript and early print sources, including Petrucci’s Odhecaton. His music is typical of the refined French secular style of the late 15th century, featuring balanced phrases, gently syncopated rhythms, clear melodic lines, and occasional imitation. Among his best-known pieces is Je ne fay plus, which was widely copied and sometimes attributed to Busnoys; stylistic and acrostic evidence, however, favors Mureau’s authorship. Grace attendant contains an acrostic of his name, confirming his connection to the work.

Mureau’s stature as a composer is reflected in his inclusion by Eloy d’Amerval among the great musicians of his age in the poem Le livre de la deablerie (1508), despite his small surviving output. His influence was felt both through his compositions and his role as a teacher and performer at Chartres.

References:
– Richard Freedman, ‘Gilles Mureau,’ Grove Music Online
– Peter Woetmann Christoffersen, The Complete Works of Gilles Mureau (c1442–1512): Poet-Musician of Chartres, PWCH Publications
– ‘Gilles Mureau,’ Wikipedia

Robert Wylkynson (b. c. 1450; d. after 1515) was an English composer and choirmaster of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, best known for his contributions to the celebrated Eton Choirbook.

Wylkynson is first documented as a clerk at Eton College in 1496, and by 1500 he had become parish clerk and master of the choristers, a position he held until at least 1515. His responsibilities included training the choirboys, overseeing musical services, and maintaining the college’s music manuscripts. Although little is known about his life outside Eton, records suggest he was a respected figure in the musical life of the college and possibly beyond.

Wylkynson’s surviving music is preserved almost entirely in the Eton Choirbook, one of the most important sources of English sacred music from the period. Seven works are securely attributed to him: two complete settings of the Salve regina, a Magnificat, and four motets, including the monumental nine-part Salve regina and the elaborate Jesus autem transiens. His music is characterized by rich sonority, intricate counterpoint, and a fondness for large-scale structures. Wylkynson’s style reflects the florid, melismatic idiom typical of the late 15th-century English school, with extensive use of imitation and bold harmonic progressions.

The nine-part Salve regina stands as one of the most ambitious and complex works of its time, notable for its grand scale and technical demands. Wylkynson’s works demonstrate both a mastery of traditional English polyphony and a willingness to experiment with texture and form, making him a key figure in the transition from the late medieval to the early Tudor style.

References:
– Andrew Wathey, ‘Robert Wylkynson,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘Robert Wylkynson,’ Wikipedia

57. Salve Regina à 9

Matthaeus Pipelare (c. 1450 – c. 1515) was a South Netherlandish composer, choir director, and possibly a wind player, active primarily in Antwerp and ’s-Hertogenbosch.

Pipelare’s name suggests a family connection to woodwind playing, possibly as town pipers. He spent part of his early life in Antwerp and, unlike many of his contemporaries, appears never to have left the Low Countries. In 1498 he became choir director at the Illustrious Confraternity of Our Lady in ’s-Hertogenbosch, a post he held until 1500.

His surviving oeuvre includes around 25 works-masses, motets, secular songs, and a Credo-mainly preserved in manuscripts associated with the Habsburg-Burgundian court. Pipelare’s compositional style is notably diverse, ranging from dense polyphony to clear homophony, and is characterized by frequent syncopation, sequence, and exploration of low vocal ranges.

Pipelare composed at least eleven complete masses, drawing on both sacred and secular models. Notable examples include the popular Missa Omnium carminum, which incorporates multiple secular tunes, and Missa Fors seulement, based on his own chanson and remarkable for its five-voice texture and duple metre. The Missa Floruit egregius infans Livinus employs material from twenty different chants with a narrative structure, while the Missa Mi mi is unified by recurring motifs and hexachordal symbolism. Other masses, such as Missa Dicit Dominus and Missa de feria, showcase rhythmic complexity and memorable simplicity, respectively. He also wrote a four-voice Missa L’homme armé, a style already considered old-fashioned in his time, with the tune moving from voice to voice but usually in the tenor.

His motets exhibit similar stylistic variety, with works like the five-voice Salve regina and Ave Maria … virgo serena featuring syncopation and canonic writing. The seven-voice Memorare mater Christi symbolically represents the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary, with each voice representing a different sorrow; the third voice even quotes the Spanish villancico Nunca fué pena mayor by Juan de Urrede. His Magnificat demonstrates balanced voice leading and advanced treatment of dissonance.

Pipelare’s secular output, though small, includes influential Flemish-language chansons such as Een vrolic wesen and two settings of Fors seulement, the second of which circulated widely and inspired later compositions. His chansons are found in both French and Dutch, and his music ranges in mood from light secular songs to sombre motets reminiscent of Pierre de La Rue.

Although only a portion of Pipelare’s output survives today, his music was influential among his contemporaries and successors, and his compositions are valued for their technical variety, expressive range, and inventive treatment of both sacred and secular forms.

References:
– Ronald Cross, revised by Honey Meconi, ‘Matthaeus Pipelare,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘Matthaeus Pipelare,’ Wikipedia
– Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance (New York: W.W. Norton, 1954)
– Robert Cummings, ‘Matthaeus Pipelare,’ AllMusic

58. Missa “Fors Seulement” a 5: III. Credo
59. Missa “Fors Seulement” a 5: IV. Sanctus

Franchinus Gaffurius (b. Lodi, 14 January 1451; d. Milan, 24/25 June 1522) was a leading Italian theorist, composer, and choirmaster of the Early Renaissance, renowned for his pivotal role in bridging speculative and practical music and for shaping the musical life of Milan and northern Italy.

Born to an aristocratic family in Lodi, Gaffurius entered the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter in his youth, receiving early musical training and studying mensural music with Johannes Bonadies (Godendach). He was ordained a secular priest in 1474 and sang at Lodi Cathedral. Gaffurius’s early career took him to Mantua and Verona, and in 1477 he was called to Genoa by Doge Prospero Adorno as a music teacher and composer. Political upheaval forced both men to flee to Naples in 1478, where Gaffurius was befriended by Tinctoris, Ycart, and Guarnerius, further expanding his musical horizons.

Returning to Lodi in 1480, Gaffurius taught at the castle of Monticelli d’Ongina and then served as director of music at Bergamo Cathedral (1483–84). In 1484, he was appointed maestro di cappella at Milan Cathedral, a post he held with distinction for the rest of his life. In Milan, Gaffurius reformed the choir, expanded the polyphonic repertory, and left behind the celebrated Gaffurius Codices (Libroni 1–4), which preserve not only his own works but also those of other leading composers. He was active at the court of Duke Lodovico Sforza and taught at the ducal school from 1492. Gaffurius was well connected to the intellectual and artistic elite of Milan, including Josquin des Prez and Leonardo da Vinci, and maintained scholarly exchanges with figures like Giovanni Spataro.

Gaffurius was one of the most influential music theorists of the Renaissance. His major treatises-Theoricum opus (1480), Theorica musicae (1492), Practica musicae (1496), and De harmonia musicorum instrumentorum opus (1518)-synthesized ancient Greek and Latin sources with contemporary practice. He was deeply influenced by Boethius and Tinctoris but developed original perspectives, especially in his discussions of Ambrosian chant, notation, counterpoint, and musical proportions. His Practica musicae is particularly notable for its comprehensive treatment of topics from ancient notation to tempo and tactus, famously equating the tactus to a quietly breathing human pulse (about 72 beats per minute). Gaffurius’s treatises were widely read, pedagogical in intent, and provided essential instruction for young composers throughout Italy and beyond.

As a composer, Gaffurius produced at least 18 masses, 11 Magnificat settings, and over 50 motets and hymns, most preserved in the Milanese choirbooks. His masses, influenced by Josquin and the Franco-Netherlandish style, are characterized by flowing polyphony with Italianate melodic grace, though generally conservative in technique, with limited imitation and frequent syllabic text-setting. Some masses follow the Ambrosian rite, and only one is certainly based on a pre-existing melody. His motets, often addressed to the Virgin, display more variety in texture, mixing block chords, duos, and lively triple-metre passages. Gaffurius’s Magnificat settings primarily use the Roman rite text.

Gaffurius’s legacy is profound: he was the first theorist to have a substantial number of his writings published, influencing musical thought for over a century. His codices and treatises remain essential sources for understanding Renaissance music theory and practice.

References:
– Bonnie J. Blackburn, ‘Franchinus Gaffurius,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘Franchinus Gaffurius,’ Wikipedia
– ‘Franchinus Gaffurius,’ Encyclopedia.com
– Keith Johnson, ‘Franchinus Gaffurius,’ AllMusic

Edmund Sturton (fl. late 15th–early 16th century) was an English composer associated with the Early Renaissance, known for his contributions to English sacred polyphony during a period of significant musical development.

Sturton is chiefly recognized for two large-scale Marian antiphons: Ave Maria ancilla Trinitatis, preserved in the Lambeth Choirbook, and Gaude virgo mater Christi, found in the Eton Choirbook. Both works are scored for six voices, a texture that was ambitious and relatively rare for English composers of the time. Gaude virgo mater Christi is especially notable for its expansive vocal range, spanning more than two octaves, and for its intricate and ornate polyphonic style. Sturton’s music displays elaborate melismatic lines, rich sonorities, and a mastery of large-scale musical architecture, all hallmarks of the so-called “Eton style” of English choral music.

His compositions reflect the influence of contemporaries such as John Browne and Walter Lambe, sharing the expressive and florid qualities that define the Eton Choirbook repertoire. Sturton’s works are characterized by dense textures, passages of imitation, and striking contrasts between imitative and more homophonic writing. The surviving pieces demonstrate his skill in handling complex vocal forces and his sensitivity to the devotional and ceremonial functions of Marian polyphony.

References:
– H. Benham, Latin Church Music in England c.1460–1575 (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1977), pp. 65–66.
– Roger Bowers, Composers of the Eton Choirbook in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press.
– Nick Sandon (ed.), The Eton Choirbook, Volume II: Introduction and Commentaries (London: Stainer & Bell, 1983).

Jacobus Barbireau (1455 – August 7, 1491) was a Franco-Flemish composer from Antwerp, renowned for the exceptional quality and refinement of his small surviving oeuvre. Born to Johannes Barbireau and Johanna van Saintpol, both citizens of Antwerp, he likely received a university education in the early 1470s, as he is documented as a Master of Arts by 1482. Barbireau sought to study with the humanist Rudolph Agricola, and correspondence from Agricola attests to Barbireau’s early activity as a composer by 1484, though his reputation was still emerging at that time.

By 1484, Barbireau had succeeded Antoine de Vigne as choirmaster (zangmeester) at the Church of Our Lady (now Antwerp Cathedral), a post he held until his early death. Though church records mention him mainly in connection with routine duties, he was highly esteemed by his contemporaries. Emperor Maximilian I rewarded Barbireau for teaching the son of one of his equerries and wrote a letter of recommendation for Barbireau’s 1490 visit to the Hungarian court at Buda, where Queen Beatrix hailed him as a musicus prestantissimus and close associate of Maximilian. His death at about age 35 inspired humanist Judocus Beyssel to compose three epitaphs praising Barbireau as a modulator notabilissimus and lamenting the loss of such a gifted musician. He left a daughter, Jacomyne, who survived him by at least two decades.

Barbireau’s extant works are few, in part because the Antwerp cathedral library was destroyed in 1556, likely resulting in the loss of much of his output. What survives-preserved in sources such as the Chigi Codex-includes two complete masses (Missa “Virgo parens Christi” for five voices and Missa “Faulx perverse” for four), a Kyrie Paschale, the four-voice motet Osculetur me, and three secular songs. His sacred music is marked by contrapuntal polish, melodic-harmonic resourcefulness, and a mastery of textural contrast. The Missa “Virgo parens Christi” is a cantus firmus mass notable for its divisi writing-requiring at least ten voices-and its alternation of homophonic and polyphonic textures, as well as motivic imitation and clear tonal focus. The Missa “Faulx perverse”, preserved in a splendid manuscript in the Austrian National Library, is darker and more resonant, with low tessituras reminiscent of the Burgundian court chapel and Ockeghem’s influence.

The motet Osculetur me explores Phrygian modality and dramatic effects such as rests, chordal passages, and rhythmic motifs that underline the text’s emotional intensity. Barbireau’s three surviving secular songs-Een vroylic wesen, Gracioulx et biaulx, and Schoen lief-were widely admired and served as models for masses by Isaac and Obrecht. Een vroylic wesen in particular achieved international popularity, appearing in numerous arrangements across Europe.

Though his career was brief and his output small, Barbireau is regarded as one of the most important creators of polyphony at the end of the Middle Ages, bridging the late medieval style and the emerging High Renaissance. His works are distinguished by their contrapuntal finesse, expressive lyricism, and technical assurance, placing him on a par with contemporaries such as Isaac and Obrecht.

References:
– Rob C. Wegman, ‘Jacobus Barbireau,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘Jacobus Barbireau,’ Wikipedia
– Keith Johnson, ‘Jacques Barbireau,’ AllMusic

Robert Hacomblen (b. London, 1455 or 1456; d. Cambridge, September 8, 1528) was an English ecclesiastic, scholar, and composer, whose long career was closely tied to Eton College and King’s College, Cambridge.

Hacomblen was admitted to Eton College as a King’s Scholar in 1469 at the age of 13, coming from the parish of St Andrew in London. He continued his education at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was admitted as a scholar in 1472 and earned successive degrees: BA (1475/76), MA (1480), BD (1490), and DD (1507). He served as a Fellow of King’s from 1475 until 1509, and as Provost of the college from 1509 until his death in 1528. He also held the vicarage of Prescot in Lancashire from 1493 to 1506.

As Provost, Hacomblen oversaw significant developments at King’s College, including the completion of the chapel’s stained glass windows (he was party to the contract in 1526) and the donation of the large brass lectern still in use today, which bears his name and the college arms. He was buried in the chapel’s south side, in the chantry where his brass memorial survives, inscribed with penitential prayers and his name. Hacomblen’s will was dated October 21, 1528, and he was remembered as a learned man and a benefactor to the college.

Hacomblen’s musical reputation rests on a single extant work: a five-part Salve regina preserved in the Eton Choirbook (where he is listed as “Hacomplaynt”). This setting, composed around 1500, is notable for its formal structure, intricate rhythmic patterns, and resourceful use of imitation. The cantus firmus, likely a hypodorian plainchant, is quoted in both full and reduced-voice sections, sometimes in transposition. The work’s craftsmanship and complexity place it firmly within the distinguished tradition of late medieval English polyphony. A second composition, “Haycomplaynes Gaude” (possibly a setting of Gaude flore virginali or Gaude virgo mater Christi), is cited in a 1529 King’s College inventory but is now lost.

In addition to his musical and administrative work, Hacomblen authored commentaries on Aristotle’s Ethics, which remain in manuscript at King’s College. He was remembered by later generations for his learning and his contributions to the musical and scholarly life of King’s.

References:
– Nicholas Sandon, ‘Robert Hacomblen,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘Robert Hacomblen,’ Wikipedia
– ‘Robert Hacombleyn,’ Monumental Brass Society
– ‘Robert Hacomplaynt,’ The Eton Choirbook Project
– ‘Hacomblen’s Lectern,’ Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge

Arnolt Schlick (b. Heidelberg, c. 1455–1460; d. after 1521, probably Heidelberg) was a pioneering German organist, lutenist, composer, and theorist of the Renaissance, widely regarded as one of the most important early figures in the history of keyboard music.

Blind for much or all of his life, Schlick was active as early as 1482 as court organist for the Electorate of the Palatinate in Heidelberg. He was highly esteemed as both a performer and organ consultant, frequently called upon to examine and inaugurate new instruments throughout the German-speaking lands. Schlick played at major events, including the election of Maximilian I as King of the Romans, and was appointed organist for life at the Palatine court in 1509.

Schlick’s most influential theoretical work is Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Organisten (Speyer, 1511), the first German-language treatise on organ building and playing. This comprehensive manual covers organ construction, pipe scaling, alloys, windchests, bellows, tuning, registration, and placement, and offers detailed advice for both builders and performers. The Spiegel was highly influential in shaping German organ culture throughout the 16th century and remains a crucial source for organological research.

As a composer, Schlick is best known for Tabulaturen etlicher lobgesang und lidlein uff die orgeln un lauten (Mainz, 1512), the first printed collection of German organ music. This volume contains nine works for organ (in three to five parts), a five-part Salve regina, and several pieces for lute, including some of the earliest published lute music. His organ works are remarkable for their sophisticated polyphony, advanced cantus firmus techniques, and extensive use of imitation and sequence. Schlick’s music often requires the use of pedals and demonstrates a command of texture and voice leading that foreshadows later developments in keyboard music. Notably, his Ascendo ad Patrem meum for ten voices is an extraordinary example of large-scale polyphonic writing for organ.

Schlick’s compositions reflect both the older German cantus firmus tradition and the newer imitative styles of the Renaissance. He was grouped among the “Colorists,” a circle of German composers known for their intricate ornamentation and contrapuntal ingenuity. His lute pieces, mostly settings of popular songs, are among the earliest of their kind and show a similar inventiveness.

Schlick’s legacy is that of a foundational figure in German organ and keyboard music, bridging medieval traditions and the innovations of the Renaissance. His treatise and compositions influenced generations of organists and composers, and his works remain central to early keyboard repertoire.

References:
– Hans Joachim Marx, ‘Arnolt Schlick,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘Arnolt Schlick,’ Wikipedia
– Kimberly Marshall, ‘Arnolt Schlick: The First Printed Organ Music,’ Musforum

Paul Hofhaimer (b. Radstadt, Jan 25, 1459; d. Salzburg, 1537) was an Austrian organist, composer, and teacher, widely acclaimed as the leading organist of his generation and a central figure in the musical life of the German-speaking Renaissance.

Hofhaimer’s early musical training is variously attributed to his father, Jacob von Graz, or to studies at the court of Emperor Frederick III, as reported by Conrad Celtis. By 1478, he had entered the service of Archduke Sigmund of Tyrol in Innsbruck, receiving a lifetime appointment as court organist in 1480. His reputation as a virtuoso and improviser quickly spread, and he became a sought-after performer and consultant on organ building and maintenance.

In 1489, Hofhaimer began serving Maximilian I, King of the Romans (later Emperor), while maintaining his Innsbruck post. He traveled extensively with the imperial court, performing at major events such as Maximilian’s coronation and advising on organ construction across Central Europe. Hofhaimer’s skill was so renowned that other courts, including that of the Hungarian queen, attempted to recruit him. He was knighted and ennobled in 1515 by Maximilian and the Polish king, earning the title “First Organist to the Emperor.” After Maximilian’s death in 1519, Hofhaimer became organist at Salzburg Cathedral and to the Archbishop of Salzburg, where he remained until his death.

Contemporary humanists and musicians, including Vadian, Celtis, Cuspinian, and Luscinius, praised Hofhaimer’s extraordinary improvisational abilities-he was said to play for hours without repeating himself, inspiring awe among listeners. His influence as a teacher was profound; his pupils, known as “Paulomines,” disseminated his techniques throughout Central Europe and even into Italy, shaping the development of the German and early Venetian organ schools.

Hofhaimer’s compositional output, though only partially preserved, includes over 60 German lieder, several Latin-texted works, and a small number of organ pieces. His lieder, typically in bar form (AAB), combine clear phrase structure with a tenor melody and contrast polyphonic and chordal sections, helping to define the late medieval German song tradition. The widespread copying and arrangement of his songs for keyboard and lute attest to their popularity and influence. Only two organ works survive in authentic form-Recordare and Salve regina-both displaying his mastery of cantus firmus technique, ornamentation, and the blending of older and newer styles.

In his later years, Hofhaimer became interested in the quantitative setting of Latin verse, setting Horatian odes to music; these were published posthumously as Harmoniae poeticae (1539) by his student Ludwig Senfl. Hofhaimer’s legacy as a performer, composer, and teacher was immense, and he is credited with laying the foundations for the German organ school that flourished in the Baroque era.

References:
– Manfred Schuler, ‘Paul Hofhaimer,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘Paul Hofhaimer,’ Wikipedia
– ‘Paul Hofhaimer,’ Encyclopedia.com
– Robert Cummings, ‘Paul Hofhaimer,’ AllMusic
– ‘Schlaglicht: Life as an Emperor’s Musician,’ musical-life.net

Francisco de la Torre (fl. 1483–1504) was a significant Spanish composer of the Early Renaissance, active during a period of rich musical and cultural development in the Iberian Peninsula.

De la Torre served as a singer in the choir of the Aragonese royal chapel from 1483, earning a substantial annual salary and remaining in royal service for 17 years. In 1488, he was awarded a half-prebend by Ferdinand V, a mark of royal favor. After his tenure at court, he returned to Seville, where he became a curate at Seville Cathedral. In 1503, he was entrusted with the training of choirboys and received a salary increase, though he soon passed this responsibility to the new maestro de capilla, Alonso de Alva. By September 1504, he held the rank of compañero at the cathedral, a position below that of canon or prebendary.

De la Torre’s surviving works are few but notable for their expressive beauty and stylistic variety. His sacred music includes the poignant motet Libera me, which stands out for its emotional depth and refined polyphony. Among his secular compositions, Dime triste, coraçon is especially remarkable for its quotation of the folia bass, an early example of this famous ground bass in Renaissance music. His three-part instrumental alta, based on the Spagna bass, is one of the earliest and most celebrated examples of the Spanish alta danza tradition, showcasing lively rhythms and intricate counterpoint.

De la Torre also composed romances and villancicos that reflect the sober, Phrygian-mode polyphony characteristic of contemporaries like Juan de Urrede. His romance Pascua d’Espíritu Sancto is believed to commemorate the Feast of Corpus Christi following the surrender of Ronda in 1485, possibly drawing on texts by Hernando de Ribera that recount the wars to reclaim Granada from the Moors.

His works are preserved in important Spanish sources such as the Cancionero de Palacio, a key manuscript of secular and sacred music from late 15th- and early 16th-century Spain. De la Torre’s music illustrates the blend of courtly and popular elements that defined Spanish Renaissance music, and his instrumental and vocal pieces remain valued for their historical significance and expressive power.

References:
– Robert Stevenson, ‘Francisco de la Torre,’ Grove Music Online
– Tess Knighton, ‘Francisco de la Torre,’ in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed.
– Cancionero de Palacio (Madrid, Biblioteca Real, MS II-1335)

Juan de Anchieta (b. ?Urrestilla, nr Azpeitia, 1462; d. Azpeitia, July 30, 1523) was a leading Spanish composer of the Early Renaissance, known for his service at the royal courts of Castile and his contributions to sacred and secular music in late 15th- and early 16th-century Spain.

Anchieta was the second son of Martín García de Anchieta and Urtayzaga de Loyola (an aunt of Ignatius Loyola). He may have studied at Salamanca University, where he could have come into contact with other prominent musicians of the time. His musical career began in earnest in 1489, when he was appointed as a singer in Queen Isabella’s court chapel, a position that required frequent travel as the court moved throughout Castile. His salary and responsibilities increased over the years, and in 1495 he was named maestro de capilla to Prince Don Juan. After Isabella’s death in 1504, Anchieta continued in royal service under Queen Joanna, traveling with her court to Flanders and England, where he encountered leading Franco-Flemish composers such as Pierre de La Rue, Alexander Agricola, and Marbrianus de Orto.

From 1507 to 1516, Anchieta served as chaplain and singer to Queen Joanna, earning a substantial annual salary. He also held several ecclesiastical benefices, including rector of S Sebastián de Soreasu in Azpeitia and Abbot of Arbas. In his later years, Anchieta retired to Azpeitia, where he supported a foundation of Franciscan sisters and managed their affairs until his death.

Anchieta’s earliest known composition is the four-part romance En memoria d’Alixandre (1489). His now-lost Missa ‘Ea iudios a enfardelar’ (1492) was based on a popular song, as noted by Francisco de Salinas. Among his best-known secular works is the lively three-voice villancico Dos ánades, which remained popular well into the 17th century and was referenced by both Cervantes and Francisco de Quevedo. His music, while not as varied or technically intricate as that of his contemporary Peñalosa, is praised for its graceful, sonorous qualities and suitability for large choirs, as described by Bermudo in his Libro primero de la declaración de instrumentos (1549).

Anchieta’s sacred output includes masses (such as the Missa [quarti toni] and Missa Rex virginum), Magnificats, motets, and Passion settings. His style favors clear, homophonic textures, frequent use of root-position triads, and repetition of melodic and rhythmic figures. He used imitation sparingly and preferred straightforward harmonies and melodic ornamentation, often quoting chant melodies with minimal elaboration. His Missa [quarti toni] notably incorporates the famous L’homme armé melody in the Agnus Dei, but without the complex contrapuntal devices favored by Netherlandish composers.

Modern scholarship, particularly the work of Samuel Rubio, has expanded the list of works attributed to Anchieta, including a truncated troped Kyrie and several motets found in the Cancionero de Segovia. Four anonymous Passion settings in Valladolid are also likely by Anchieta; these homophonic, responsorial works, based on chant, are among the earliest of their kind in Spain.

Anchieta’s music bridges the late medieval and early Renaissance styles in Spain, reflecting both the influence of the Franco-Flemish school and the distinctively Spanish preference for clarity, grace, and sonority. His works are preserved in important sources such as the Cancionero de la Colombina, Cancionero de Segovia, and Cancionero de Palacio, and continue to be performed and studied for their historical and musical significance.

References:
– Robert Stevenson, ‘Juan de Anchieta,’ Grove Music Online
– Tess Knighton and Álvaro Torrente, Devotional Music in the Iberian World, 1450–1800 (Ashgate, 2007)
– Samuel Rubio, ‘Juan de Anchieta: Su vida y su obra,’ Revista de Musicología 3 (1980), pp. 3–32
– Luis Robledo, ‘Juan de Anchieta,’ in Diccionario de la Música Española e Hispanoamericana (SGAE, 1999)

Robert Fayrfax (b. Deeping Gate, Lincolnshire, April 23, 1464; d. St Albans, October 24, 1521) was the foremost English composer of the early Tudor period, renowned for his innovative cyclic masses and lasting influence on sacred music. Fayrfax’s career flourished under the patronage of Margaret Beaufort and the royal household, and he became the senior singer in the Chapel Royal by 1509, participating in major state events such as the Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520. He was awarded doctorates in music from both Cambridge (1504) and Oxford (1511)-the earliest such degree at Oxford-and was a member of the City Fraternity of St Nicholas, a guild for professional musicians.

Fayrfax’s burial in the presbytery of St Albans Abbey among the local elite attests to his high status at court and in society. His reputation endured well beyond his death, with his music copied and performed throughout the sixteenth century, in contrast to most of his contemporaries whose works quickly faded from use.

His surviving oeuvre includes at least six cyclic masses, two Magnificat settings, ten votive antiphons, eight part-songs, and three instrumental pieces. Early works appear in the Eton Choirbook, while later compositions include the Missa Regali ex progenie, Missa O quam glorifica (his Cambridge doctoral exercise), and the complex Missa Albanus. Fayrfax’s music is marked by clarity, balance, and harmonic sophistication, with frequent use of imitation and rhythmic variety. He often employs a five-voice texture and demonstrates restraint and control, distinguishing his style from the more florid and unpredictable polyphony of earlier English composers.

Most of his masses use a plainchant cantus firmus in the tenor, except for the Missa O bone Jesu, which anticipates the parody mass technique. His Magnificat settings follow English practice by polyphonizing only the even-numbered verses. Fayrfax’s part-songs show refined word-setting and consistent imitation, while his instrumental works include a hexachord fantasia and puzzle canons.

Fayrfax’s influence was profound: he shaped the musical direction of the Tudor Chapel Royal, inspired later English composers such as John Taverner and Thomas Tallis, and remains a central figure in the history of early Tudor music.

References:
– Nicholas Sandon, ‘Robert Fayrfax,’ Grove Music Online
– David Skinner, ‘Of Arms and the Gentleman: Robert Fayrfax and His Family,’ The Antiquaries Journal, 2024
– ‘Robert Fayrfax (1464-1521),’ Golden Age Music
– ‘Robert Fayrfax: Music for Tudor Kings,’ MusicWeb International

Sebastian Virdung (b. ?Amberg, c. 1465; d. after 1511) was a German theorist, composer, priest, and chapel singer, best known for authoring Musica getutscht (1511), the earliest printed treatise devoted exclusively to musical instruments in the West.

Virdung matriculated at Heidelberg University in 1483, where he studied law and sang alto in the chapel of Count Philip, Elector Palatine, alongside notable musicians such as Johannes von Soest and Arnolt Schlick. By 1489, Virdung had become a priest and benefice holder. He later served as chaplain at Stalburg Castle and, from about 1505, was employed at the Württemberg chapel in Stuttgart. In 1507, he was appointed succentor at Konstanz Cathedral, where he taught choirboys singing, composition, and counterpoint, but was dismissed in 1508 for erratic conduct.

Virdung’s most significant legacy is Musica getutscht, published in Basel in 1511. This treatise, written in German and structured as a dialogue, was groundbreaking for its use of the vernacular and its focus on practical instruction. It provides extensive illustrations and descriptions of musical instruments grouped into strings, winds, and percussion, along with rudimentary instructions for playing the clavichord, lute, and recorder. Virdung’s pedagogical approach was empirical and accessible, targeting a broad audience and foreshadowing later trends in music education and the Reformation’s embrace of the vernacular.

The treatise offers valuable insights into instrument construction, notation systems (including German keyboard and lute tablature), and performance practice of the early 16th century. Virdung’s classification of instruments, fingering charts, and performance instructions made Musica getutscht a foundational source for the history of European musical instruments. He also used the treatise to assert his views on music theory, notably engaging in a public controversy with Arnolt Schlick over the interpretation of black keys as musica ficta versus chromatic genus, a debate that became personal and public in subsequent publications.

Virdung’s own compositions are few but include a four-part sacred lied (O haylige, onbeflecte, zart iunckfrawschafft marie) and several secular songs printed in early 16th-century German songbooks. His works exemplify the Tenorlied tradition, featuring both imitation and homophonic textures.

The popularity and influence of Musica getutscht were considerable, inspiring derivative works by Martin Agricola and others in multiple languages. Virdung’s treatise remains a key source for understanding Renaissance instruments, music pedagogy, and the intellectual currents of early 16th-century Germany.

References:
– Beth Bullard, ‘Sebastian Virdung,’ Grove Music Online
– Cambridge University Press, Musica Getutscht (introduction and biography)
– Cultural Heritage Digitisation Service, University of Edinburgh, Musica getutscht digital edition

William Cornysh (c. 1465–1523) was a multifaceted English composer, poet, dramatist, actor, and courtier, best known for his service as Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal under Henry VII and Henry VIII. Although some confusion remains between the works of William Cornysh the elder and the younger, most scholars now attribute the celebrated secular and dramatic works, as well as several sacred compositions, to Cornysh the younger.

Cornysh’s career was deeply intertwined with the English royal court. From the 1490s, he was active in court entertainments, receiving payments for pageants, masques, and music, and was a principal figure in organizing festivities for major events such as the wedding of Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Catherine of Aragon, and the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. As Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal from 1509 until his death, he was responsible for the musical and general education of the royal choristers, leading them in performances at court and on international tours, including celebrated visits to France.

Cornysh was also a poet and dramatist. While imprisoned in the Fleet in 1504, he wrote the allegorical poem A Treatise bitwene Trouth and Enformacion, which cleverly uses musical metaphors to protest his innocence. His dramatic activities included writing and participating in court plays and masques, such as The Golden Arbour (1511), The Dangerous Fortress (1514), and The Triumph of Love and Beauty (1514). He played a key role in establishing the English masque as an art form.

Musically, Cornysh’s output is diverse and influential. His secular partsongs, such as Woffully araid, Yow and I and Amyas, and A robyn, show the influence of the medieval carol and feature canonic writing and inventive textures. His sacred works, including a Stabat mater, Ave Maria mater Dei, and a Magnificat (all found in the Eton Choirbook), are noted for their emotional range, florid polyphony, and dramatic contrasts between ornate and simpler passages. Cornysh’s style is marked by expressive word-painting, rhythmic vitality, and a flair for both brilliance and pathos.

Cornysh’s legacy is that of a true Renaissance man: a composer of both sacred and secular music, a dramatist, actor, and poet, whose work helped shape the artistic and musical life of the Tudor court. His music remained influential and admired well into the 16th century.

References:
– David Greer and Fiona Kisby, ‘William Cornysh,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘William Cornysh,’ Encyclopaedia Britannica
– ‘William Cornysh,’ Wikipedia
– Brian Stableford, ‘William Cornish,’ EBSCO Research Starters

60. A robyn, gentyl robyn
61. Yow and I and Amyas

Pedro de Escobar (b. Oporto, c. 1465; d. ?Évora, after 1535) was a distinguished Portuguese composer of the Early Renaissance, active primarily in Spain and Portugal. He is recognized for his contrapuntal mastery and his role in the development of Iberian polyphony during the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

Escobar began his notable career as a singer in the chapel choir at the court of Isabella I of Castile from 1489 to 1499, where he was the only member described as ‘Portuguese’. During this period, he collaborated with other leading composers of the Spanish royal chapel, including Juan de Anchieta, Peñalosa, Hernández, and Alva, contributing to Lady Masses and other liturgical works.

After his time at the Castilian court, Escobar appears to have returned to Portugal, possibly as part of the musical retinue accompanying the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. However, in 1507, he was summoned back to Spain to serve as magister puerorum (master of the choirboys) at Seville Cathedral. There, he was responsible not only for teaching polyphonic music but also for the welfare of the choirboys. His tenure lasted until 1514, when unsuccessful attempts to secure a salary increase led to his resignation.

Assuming the identification of Pedro do Porto with Escobar is correct, he later served as mestre da capela to Cardinal Dom Affonso, son of King Manuel I of Portugal, in 1521. Gil Vicente’s play Côrtes de Jupiter (1521) describes Pedro do Porto as the leader of a band of singers for a royal wedding celebration, and Escobar’s four-part wedding tribute may be the anonymously copied Ninha era la infanta. By 1535, records indicate Escobar was living in Évora, though in reduced circumstances.

Escobar’s surviving works demonstrate exceptional contrapuntal skill and sensitivity to text. His sacred output includes masses and motets, among which the four-voice motet Clamabat autem mulier Cananea achieved widespread acclaim and was intabulated by Gonzalo de Baena and Alonso Mudarra, as well as praised by João de Barros. Its popularity is further evidenced by its transmission in manuscripts from colonial Guatemala, and the stylistically similar Fatigatus Jesus is also attributed to him. Escobar’s secular music, preserved in the Cancionero Musical de Palacio and other early Portuguese collections, is characterized by a marked popular flavor and accessibility.

Pedro de Escobar stands as one of the earliest and most influential polyphonists of the Iberian Renaissance, bridging Portuguese and Spanish musical traditions and leaving a lasting mark on both sacred and secular repertoire.

References:
– Robert Stevenson, ‘Pedro de Escobar,’ Grove Music Online
– Tess Knighton, ‘Pedro de Escobar,’ in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed.
– Owen Rees, ‘Pedro de Escobar and the Portuguese Polyphonic Tradition,’ Early Music, 1995.
– Cancionero Musical de Palacio (Madrid, Biblioteca Real, MS II-1335)

Richard Davy (c. 1465–1538) was an English composer and one of the most significant contributors to the Eton Choirbook. He is particularly noted for his florid yet structurally clear style, which bridges the late medieval and early Tudor periods.

Davy’s early life is closely associated with Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was likely a scholar from about 1483. By 1490–91, he held the posts of organist and informator choristarum (choirmaster) jointly with William Bernard, and was sole holder of both posts in 1491–92. He left Magdalen by 1494, after which the college paid for the binding of a book containing his songs, masses, and antiphons. The Eton Choirbook records that he composed the antiphon O Domine caeli terraeque in a single day while at Magdalen.

Davy’s career after Oxford is less well documented. A Richard Davy was ordained subdeacon and deacon in the diocese of Exeter in 1491, and is likely the same “Sir Richard Davy” who worked at Exeter Cathedral, mending pricksong books for St Andrew’s, Ashburton, and serving as a vicar-choral from 1494 until at least 1506. By 1512, a Richard Davy was a senior singing-man at Fotheringhay College in Northamptonshire, where he remained until at least 1535, drawing the largest salary among the clerks. His will, dated 31 March 1538, requested burial in the parish side of the church at Fotheringhay.

Davy’s surviving œuvre is almost entirely sacred choral music. Only Robert Fayrfax and William Cornysh have more pieces in the Eton Choirbook than Davy. His music is characterized by elaborate melodic lines and a clarity of structure that suggests he belonged to a slightly later generation than many of his Eton Choirbook contemporaries. His works were widely copied, as evidenced by their presence in multiple Tudor-era manuscripts.

His most historically significant composition is the four-voice Passion according to St Matthew, a rare example of an English polyphonic Passion. This work follows 15th-century precedent by setting the entire Synagoga part, rather than just the voces turbarum as in later Passions. Although the first 11 of its 42 choruses are missing (later reconstructed by editors), and only fragments survive for others, the piece remains a landmark of early English polyphony.

Davy’s output also includes antiphons, Magnificats, and other liturgical works, many of which survive in the Eton Choirbook and other Tudor manuscripts. His music was influential in the development of the English florid style and continued to be copied and performed well into the 16th century.

References:
– David Skinner, ‘Richard Davy,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘Richard Davy,’ Wikipedia
– John Caldwell, The Oxford History of English Music, Vol. 1 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991)

Richard Sampson (fl. c.1516) was an English composer active in the early 16th century, whose identity may be linked to the distinguished cleric and royal official of the same name, though this connection remains unproven.

Two works attributed to “Mr Sampson” are preserved in the British Library manuscript Royal 11 E XI, dated 1516: a lengthy four-voice Latin song, Psallite felices, written in honor of Henry VIII, and a five-voice Marian antiphon, Quam pulcra es, amica mea. These compositions stand out for their use of concise motifs, clear declamation, and a restrained approach to melisma, all of which suggest a familiarity with the polyphonic styles of continental Europe, particularly the Flemish school. This cosmopolitan influence is unusual among English composers of the time.

The most likely candidate for the composer is Richard Sampson, who later became Dean of the Chapel Royal and held several high ecclesiastical offices, including the bishoprics of Chichester and Lichfield. His biography includes extended periods of study and service abroad-in Paris, Perugia, Siena, Antwerp, and Tournai-which could account for his exposure to and adoption of continental musical techniques. However, Sampson’s primary career was in law, diplomacy, and church administration, and there is no direct evidence linking him to musical composition, so if he did compose, it was likely a secondary pursuit.

It is important to distinguish this English Sampson from a continental composer of the same name, whose works appeared in German print collections in the mid-16th century. The English and continental Sampsons are considered separate individuals.

Richard Sampson’s surviving music is significant for its stylistic innovation and as a rare example of early Tudor music reflecting continental trends.

References:
– Roger Bowers, ‘Sampson, Richard,’ Grove Music Online
– David Skinner, ‘The Choirbook Repertory of Tudor England,’ in The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Music, (Cambridge, 2010)
– ‘Psallite felices,’ British Library, Royal MS 11 E XI, British Library Digital Catalogue

Vincenzo Capirola (b. Brescia, 1474; d. after 1548) was an Italian nobleman, lutenist, and composer whose legacy rests primarily on the remarkable Capirola Lutebook, a lavishly illuminated manuscript that stands as a cornerstone of early 16th-century Italian lute music.

Capirola spent most of his life in Brescia, with documented activity there in 1489, 1498, and as late as 1548. Some scholars, notably Gombosi, have suggested he may have been the virtuoso Brescian lutenist who visited the English court of Henry VIII in 1515, though this identification remains uncertain. By 1517, Capirola had moved to Venice, where between 1515 and 1520 one of his students compiled the Capirola Lutebook-a manuscript renowned not only for its music but also for its beautiful illuminations and a preface offering invaluable insights into contemporary lute technique.

The Lutebook is the most significant source for Italian lute music from the period between Petrucci’s early printed lute collections (1507–1511) and the first publications of Francesco da Milano’s works in 1536. It contains a diverse repertoire: 23 intabulations of vocal works (including French chansons, frottolas, motets, and mass movements by composers such as Agricola, Obrecht, Josquin, and Cara), three cantus-firmus dances, three padoane alla francese, a balletto, and 13 ricercares. The ricercares are particularly notable for their length, structural variety, and alternation between brilliant toccata passages and sections of intricate three-voice counterpoint reminiscent of sacred vocal polyphony.

Capirola’s music ranges from pieces suitable for beginners to works demanding high virtuosity, reflecting both pedagogical intent and artistic ambition. The preface to the Lutebook is a treasure trove of practical advice, covering topics such as tenuto and legato technique, fingerings, ornamentation (including tremolos and mordents), lute fretting and stringing, and the importance of choosing an instrument suited to the player.

Through his compositions and pedagogical writings, Capirola made a lasting impact on the development of lute technique and repertoire, bridging the gap between the earliest printed lute music and the later flowering of the Italian lute school.

References:
– Arthur J. Ness, “Capirola, Vincenzo,” Grove Music Online
– Victor Coelho, The Manuscript Sources of Seventeenth-Century Italian Lute Music (New York: Garland, 1995)
– Martin Shepherd, “The Capirola Lutebook: A Window on Early Sixteenth-Century Lute Practice,” Lute Society Journal 31 (1991)

Thomas Ashwell (b. c.1478; d. after 1513) was an English composer whose career bridged the late 15th and early 16th centuries, and who is recognized for his contributions to the English choral tradition during the Early Renaissance.

Ashwell began his musical training as a chorister at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, from 1491 to 1493, indicating a birth year around 1478. By 1502–03, he was serving as a singing clerk at Tattershall College, Lincolnshire, and by 1508, he had become informator choristarum (teacher of the choristers) at Lincoln Cathedral. In 1513, Ashwell was appointed cantor at Durham Cathedral, where his duties included teaching various aspects of church music, playing the organ, singing, and composing masses or similar works annually.

His surviving compositions are few but significant. The only two complete works attributed to Ashwell are the six-voice Missa ‘Ave Maria’ and Missa ‘Jesu Christe’, both preserved in the Forrest-Heyther Partbooks, which were compiled for John Taverner’s choir at Cardinal College, Oxford, in 1526. These masses are notable for their complex polyphony, extended melismatic lines, and large-scale choral textures, all of which are hallmarks of the English Early Renaissance style. Ashwell also composed a mass in honor of St Cuthbert, likely written during his time at Durham.

Ashwell’s teaching and compositional activities suggest he was an influential figure in English musical circles. His possible connection with John Taverner, who may have been a chorister at Tattershall during Ashwell’s tenure, points to a potential teacher-pupil relationship that would have had a lasting impact on English sacred music. Ashwell’s name was later cited by Thomas Morley in his Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke (1597), attesting to his enduring reputation.

A song attributed to Ashwell, She may be callyd a sovrant lady, was included in a collection printed in 1530, though this does not necessarily indicate he was still alive at that time.

Ashwell’s music is generally classified as Early Renaissance. His masses exemplify the English tradition of elaborate choral writing, featuring intricate textures and lengthy, ornate melodic lines. While some features anticipate later stylistic developments, his approach remains rooted in the expansive and melismatic style of late 15th- and early 16th-century English polyphony, rather than the more imitative and text-driven style of the High Renaissance.

References:
– John Bergsagel, ‘Ashwell, Thomas,’ Grove Music Online
– David Skinner, ‘The Choirbook Repertory of Tudor England,’ in The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Music, (Cambridge, 2010)
– Roger Bowers, “Early Tudor Church Music,” in The Oxford History of English Music, vol. 1 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983)

Grégoire (fl. c. 1500) was a French composer known solely through two works published by Ottaviano Petrucci. While little is known of his life, the French origin of his name and the style of his music strongly suggest he was active in France at the turn of the 16th century.

Grégoire’s only surviving sacred work is the motet Ave verum corpus/Ecce panis angelorum/Bone pastor/O salutaris hostia, published in Petrucci’s Motetti B (1503). This four-voice motet is notable for its inventive weaving together of several liturgical chants: the well-known Eucharistic Ave verum corpus and three texts associated with the feast of Corpus Christi, drawn from the Lauda Sion Salvatorem and Verbum supernum prodiens. Grégoire transposed and paraphrased these melodies to fit them into a unified polyphonic texture, demonstrating both technical skill and a sensitivity to liturgical tradition.

His only other extant composition is the chanson Et raira plus la lune, published in Petrucci’s Canti C (1504). This four-part secular song is written in the French chanson style typical of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, and bears stylistic similarities to the works of contemporaries such as Ninot le Petit and Antoine Bruhier. The chanson is preserved only in this collection.

Grégoire’s limited surviving output places him among the lesser-known composers of the early Renaissance, but his works reflect the sophisticated polyphonic practices and stylistic currents of his time.

References:
– Richard Sherr, ‘Grégoire,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘Gregoire (composer),’ Wikipedia

Francesco Spinacino (b. Fossombrone, fl. 1507) was a pioneering Italian lutenist and composer, best known as the author of the first printed books devoted to the lute.

Spinacino’s reputation was already established in his own time, as reflected in contemporary poems that liken him to Orpheus and place him among the most celebrated lutenists of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. His two publications, Intabulatura de lauto libro primo and Intabulatura de lauto libro secondo (Venice, 1507), issued by Ottaviano Petrucci, are historically significant as the earliest printed collections of lute music and the first instrumental music books produced with movable type. These volumes include a basic introduction to lute tablature in both Latin and Italian, a preface reprinted in later lute publications for decades.

Spinacino’s surviving oeuvre consists of 81 pieces: 46 intabulations of vocal works, 27 ricercares, two bassadans, and six duets for two lutes. The intabulations range from straightforward settings to highly ornamented versions, such as his imaginative arrangement of Josquin’s Ave Maria. His ricercares are among the most elaborate of their era, often serving as preludes and marked by abrupt changes of texture, virtuosic passagework, and imitative sections. Some ricercares, like Recercare de tutti li toni, explore all the modes, while others incorporate thematic material from chansons, possibly as preludes to corresponding duets.

The lute duets are especially valuable for understanding early performance practice. Typically, one lute plays an intabulation of the original chanson’s tenor and bass, while the second lute improvises a freely invented counterpoint, traversing the instrument’s full range. This approach offers a glimpse into the collaborative and improvisatory nature of Renaissance music-making.

Spinacino’s music was widely disseminated and admired, with pieces copied into manuscripts as far away as the British Isles and referenced in later sources. His virtuosic style and inventive compositions place him among the finest lutenists of his generation, and his works represent a crucial stage in the emergence of instrumental idioms independent of vocal models.

References:
– Lyle Nordstrom, “Francesco Spinacino,” Grove Music Online
– “Francesco Spinacino,” Wikipedia
– Alan Rinehart, liner notes to The Golden Century: Lute Music from 16th Century Italy (2020)
– Johan van Veen, “16th Century Italian Lute Music” Music Web International

Joan Ambrosio Dalza (fl. 1508, likely Milanese) was an Italian lutenist and composer whose surviving works represent an important milestone in Early Renaissance instrumental music. Little is known about his life beyond his association with Milan and his activity around 1508.

Dalza’s significance rests on his contribution to Ottaviano Petrucci’s Intabolatura de lauto libro quarto (Venice, 1508), the fourth volume in Petrucci’s influential series of lute tablatures. In the preface, Dalza is identified as “milanese.” The preface also notes the accessible style of the music and promises future works for advanced players.

Unlike earlier Petrucci lutebooks, which were dominated by intabulations of Franco-Flemish vocal music, Dalza’s volume emphasizes dance forms and consists largely of original instrumental works. The collection includes 42 dances (three for two lutes), nine ricercares, five tastar de corde (short preludes), four intabulations of vocal pieces, and a piece titled Caldibi castigliano. The dances are grouped in miniature suites, with each pavane followed by a saltarello and a piva, all sharing thematic and harmonic connections.

Dalza’s music is notable for its originality and accessibility. His output is foundational for the later development of Italian instrumental music, but it predates the more complex, polyphonic, and abstract forms of the High Renaissance. The collection is also significant for introducing the pavana to printed music and for providing insight into the grouping and performance of Renaissance dance suites. Spanish influence is evident in pieces like Caldibi castigliano and the calate ala spagnola, reflecting the cultural exchange between Italy and Spain in the early 16th century.

Dalza’s works, together with those of Francesco Spinacino and Vincenzo Capirola, form an essential part of Early Renaissance lute repertoire and remain important sources for the study of instrumental music of the period.

References:
– Joan Wess, revised by Victor Anand Coelho, ‘Joan Ambrosio Dalza’, Grove Music Online
– ‘Joan Ambrosio Dalza’, Wikipedia
Further Reading:
– Arthur J. Ness (ed.), Die Tabulatur, vols. vi–viii (Hofheim am Taunus, 1967)
– Howard Mayer Brown, Instrumental Music Printed Before 1600: A Bibliography (Cambridge, MA, 1965)
– Victor Anand Coelho, The Cambridge Companion to the Guitar (Cambridge, 2003)

62. Poi che volse la mia stella (composed by Bartolomeo Tromboncino, arranged by Dalza)

Franciscus Bossinensis (fl. 1509–1511), known as “Francis the Bosnian,” was a lutenist-composer active in Venice, Italy, in the early 16th century. His origins are uncertain, but his name suggests a possible Bosnian background, though this remains a matter of scholarly debate.

Bossinensis is best known for his two collections of music published by Ottaviano Petrucci in Venice: Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto figurato per cantar e sonar col lauto (1509 and 1511). These volumes together contain 126 frottolas for voice and lute, as well as 46 ricercares for solo lute. The frottolas are arrangements of four-voice models by composers such as Bartolomeo Tromboncino, Marco Cara, Michele Pesenti, Francesco d’Ana, Francesco de Luprano, and Antonio Capriola. Most of these models had already appeared in Petrucci’s earlier frottola publications, with only a few exceptions possibly drawn from lost sources.

In his transcriptions, Bossinensis intabulated the tenor and bass parts for the lute, omitting the altus, while the vocal line was set above the tablature in mensural notation. This approach highlighted the essentially three-part texture of the genre. His intabulations are generally faithful to the originals, with only minor adjustments for musica ficta and occasional added notes. The only notable exception is the strambotto Amiando e desiando by Cariteo, where Bossinensis provided a more florid and idiomatic lute part than the original model.

The two collections also include a series of simple ricercares composed by Bossinensis himself, each associated with a specific frottola by a letter symbol. These ricercares are related to the frottolas by modality but not by thematic content, and were likely intended to be played as introductions or interludes to the songs.

The Italian lute tablature used in the collections is explained in the “Regula per quelli che non sanno cantare,” a guide that appeared in all of Petrucci’s lute publications. Bossinensis’s works provide valuable insight into the performance practice of frottolas and the development of the lute song repertoire in early 16th-century Italy.

References:
– Joan Wess, ‘Franciscus Bossinensis’, Grove Music Online
– ‘Franciscus Bossinensis’, Wikipedia
– Walter Bitner, ‘The Frottolists and the First Lute Songbooks’, Walter Bitner
Further Reading:
– Benvenuto Disertori, La frottola nella storia della musica (Olschki, 1954)
– Howard Mayer Brown, Instrumental Music Printed Before 1600: A Bibliography (Cambridge, MA, 1965)

63. Suspir io temo (composed by Bartolomeo Tromboncino, arranged by Bossinensis)

Sebastian z Felsztyna (c. 1480/90–after 1543), also known as Sebastian de Felstin or Sebastian Herburt, was a Polish composer, music theorist, and priest whose work bridges late medieval and Renaissance traditions. Active during the early 16th century, he is recognized as a pivotal figure in the development of Polish polyphony and music theory.

Born in Felsztyn (modern Skelivka, Ukraine), Sebastian studied at Kraków University from 1507 to 1509, earning a degree in liberal arts. He likely received musical training under Heinrich Finck, who was active in Kraków at the time. Ordained around 1528, he served as a priest in Felsztyn and later in Sanok, supported by the influential Herburt family. By 1536, he became provost of St. Michael’s Church in Sanok, where he established a music school and maintained ties to Kraków’s intellectual circles.

Sebastian authored several treatises, including Opusculum musice compilatum noviter (1517), a guide to Gregorian chant with polyphonic examples; Opusculum musice mensuralis (1517), Poland’s first manual on mensural notation, influenced by Franchinus Gaffurius; and Opusculum musices noviter congestum (1524–25), an updated chant treatise citing over 100 liturgical works. He also wrote Directiones musicae ad cathedralis ecclesiae premislensis usum (1543, lost), a practical guide for church singers.

Only three motets by Sebastian survive: Alleluia ad Rorate cum prosa Ave Maria, Alleluia, Felix es sacra virgo Maria, and Prosa ad Rorate tempore paschali virgini Mariae laudes. These four-voice works feature Gregorian chant in the tenor, blended with imitative counterpoint and homophonic textures. Though stylistically conservative, they mark Poland’s earliest surviving four-part polyphony and reflect Franco-Flemish influences.

Sebastian’s treatises became standard references for Polish church musicians, with Opusculum musices reprinted multiple times. His motets were performed by the Wawel Cathedral’s Capella Rorantistarum, influencing later composers like Marcin Leopolita. As a theorist, he emphasized music’s ethical and therapeutic roles, aligning with Renaissance humanist thought.

References:
Elżbieta Witkowska-Zaremba, ‘Sebastian z Felsztyna’, Grove Music Online
‘Sebastian z Felsztyna’, Wikipedia
Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance (New York: W.W. Norton, 1954)
Further Reading:
H. Feicht, Muzyka staropolska (Kraków: Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, 1966)
W. Domański, ‘Teoria muzyki w traktatach chorałowych Sebastiana z Felsztyna’, Musica medii aevi 7 (1986)

Hans Buchner (b. Ravensburg, 26 October 1483; d. probably Konstanz, 1538) was a German organist, composer, and teacher, recognized as one of the leading figures in early 16th-century German organ music.

Buchner came from a family of organists and organ builders and received his early training from Paul Hofhaimer, one of the most prominent organists of the era. He lived with Hofhaimer for several years and may have served as organist to the imperial court choir during Hofhaimer’s tenure in Passau. According to contemporary accounts, Emperor Maximilian I valued Buchner highly, granting him a salary equal to Hofhaimer’s.

In 1506, Buchner was appointed cathedral organist at Konstanz, a position he held for life from 1512. During the Reformation, when the bishop of Konstanz moved his seat to Meersburg, Buchner followed, though he maintained a residence in Konstanz. He continued to serve as organist and teacher, even as the religious and political climate brought challenges and periods of financial difficulty. Among his notable pupils were his son Hans Konrad Buchner and Fridolin Sicher, who became a respected organist in St. Gallen.

Buchner’s most significant contribution is the Fundamentum (or Fundamentbuch), compiled around 1520. This work is both a theoretical treatise and a practical collection for organists, offering instruction on keyboard technique, fingering, tablature, and the art of arranging vocal music for the organ. The Fundamentum is historically important as the earliest surviving comprehensive collection of liturgical organ music, containing around 50 (and in some sources up to 80) settings of introits, graduals, responsories, sequences, hymns, Magnificats, and mass sections. Many pieces are based on chant melodies, which are treated with contrapuntal techniques such as imitation, canon, and voice exchange. The treatise also provides the first systematic approach to contrapuntal treatment of a cantus firmus for organ.

Apart from the Fundamentum, only a few of Buchner’s works survive in tablature books and manuscripts, including some motets and lieder. His legacy as a teacher, theorist, and composer of organ music places him among the most influential German musicians bridging the late Gothic and Early Renaissance traditions.

References:
– Hans Joachim Marx, ‘Hans Buchner,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘Hans Buchner,’ Wikipedia

Hans Kotter (b. Strasbourg, c. 1485; d. Berne, 1541) was a German organist and composer of the Renaissance, recognized for his pioneering role in early German keyboard music.

Kotter studied organ with Paul Hofhaimer from 1498 to about 1500 under the patronage of the Elector of Saxony. He then served as organist at the Saxon court in Torgau until 1508, after which he spent time in Basel, where he became closely associated with the humanist Bonifacius Amerbach and his family. In 1514, Kotter was appointed organist at the collegiate church of St Nicolas in Fribourg, Switzerland. However, due to his Protestant sympathies-evident in a poem written before 1522-he was expelled from Fribourg at the end of 1530. After unsuccessful attempts to secure positions in Strasbourg and Basel, he settled in Berne, where he worked as a schoolmaster from at least 1534 until his death.

Kotter played a central role in the creation and copying of three important keyboard tablatures for Bonifacius Amerbach. These manuscripts include both his own compositions and his arrangements of vocal works by contemporaries such as Barbireau, Hofhaimer, Isaac, Martini, and Sermisy. His surviving output comprises preludes, organ dances, chorale settings, and intabulations, making him one of the earliest composers of organ chorales in Germany. His freely composed pieces are notable for their individuality and technical skill, marking an early stage in the development of an independent instrumental style. The Amerbach tablatures, likely intended for the clavichord, preserve a significant body of his work, including ten preludes and several arrangements that display both his mastery as a performer and his inventiveness as a composer.

Kotter’s career was shaped by the religious upheavals of his time, and his music stands as a testament to the early flowering of German keyboard repertoire, bridging the traditions of his teacher Hofhaimer and the emerging Protestant musical culture.

References:
– Manfred Schuler, ‘Hans Kotter,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘Hans Kotter,’ Wikipedia
– Jeremy L. Savan, ‘The Cornett and the Orglische Art’, Historic Brass Society Journal

John Redford (d. London, will made 7 October and proved 29 November 1547) was a major English composer, organist, poet, and dramatist of the early Tudor period. He was first recorded as a vicar-choral at St Paul’s Cathedral in 1534, when he signed Henry VIII’s Act of Supremacy. Redford likely became organist at St Paul’s around 1525, succeeding Thomas Hickman, and served as choirmaster (Almoner and Master of the Choristers) from 1531 until his death. In these roles, he was responsible for both the musical and dramatic training of the cathedral’s choirboys, as well as for composing and directing performances.

Redford is notable as one of the earliest English composers to leave a substantial body of written organ music. Prior to his time, organ music in England was largely improvised. His surviving keyboard works—preserved mainly in the Mulliner Book and other Tudor manuscripts—are liturgical in function and based on plainchant melodies, often employing the cantus firmus technique in the lowest or middle voice. Redford’s settings include hymns, antiphons, offertories, and verses from the Te Deum and Magnificat, typically in two or three parts, with some four-part pieces. His music is characterized by inventive treatment of plainsong, contrapuntal skill, and a texture that is instrumental in idiom and largely independent of vocal models.

In addition to his musical achievements, Redford was a poet and dramatist. His best-known literary work is the morality play The Play of Wyt and Science (c. 1530–1550), which survives in a single manuscript (British Library Add. MS 15233) alongside some of his organ music and poetry. The play, likely intended for performance by the St Paul’s choirboys, reflects Redford’s engagement with both music and drama. He also wrote verse, including the poem Nolo mortem peccatoris (later set by Thomas Morley) and The Chorister’s Lament, a vivid complaint about the harsh discipline endured by choirboys.

Redford’s influence extended to later generations of English composers, and his works are cited as models of plainsong treatment by theorists such as Thomas Morley. His legacy is preserved in numerous Tudor manuscripts, with over 30 organ pieces attributed to him in the Mulliner Book alone.

References:
– John Caldwell, ‘John Redford’, Grove Music Online
– ‘John Redford’, Wikipedia
– Polska Biblioteka Muzyczna, ‘Redford, John’, Polish Music Library
Further Reading:
– C.F. Pfatteicher, John Redford. Organist and Almoner of St. Paul’s Cathedral in the Reign of Henry VIII (Kassel, 1934)
– John Caldwell, ‘Keyboard Plainsong Settings in England, 1500–1660’, Musica Disciplina, XIX (1965)
– G. Cox, ‘English organ music to c1700’, in The Cambridge Companion to the Organ, ed. N. Thistlethwaite & G. Webber (Cambridge, 1998)

Mikołaj z Chrzanowa (1485–1562) was a Polish composer and organist of the Renaissance, active primarily in Kraków and recognized as an important figure in early 16th-century Polish church music.

Little is known about his early life, but records show that he was a student at the Kraków Academy in 1507 and received his baccalaureate in 1513. In 1518, he was appointed organist at Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, a prestigious position he held until his death. In addition to his duties as organist, Mikołaj directed the cathedral choir, the Kapela Rorantystów, and played a supervisory role in organ construction projects, including overseeing work in Biecz in 1543.

Mikołaj z Chrzanowa’s only known surviving composition is the motet Protexisti me, Deus, which is preserved in 16th-century Wawel Part-Books in tablature notation. A later organ tablature version of this work appears in the Łowicz Organ Tablature of 1580, where it is attributed to “N.Ch.,” presumed to refer to Mikołaj. His music reflects the liturgical and polyphonic traditions of the Polish Renaissance, and his long tenure at Wawel Cathedral underscores his significance in the musical life of Kraków during this period.

In addition to his musical achievements, Mikołaj was involved in the administration of the cathedral’s musical establishment and was respected as both a performer and supervisor. His work contributed to the flourishing of Renaissance polyphony in Poland.

References:
– ‘Mikołaj z Chrzanowa,’ Wikipedia
– Stefan Śledziński (ed.), Mała encyklopedia muzyki, PWN, Warszawa 1981
– ‘Mikołaj z Chrzanowa. Nowe ustalenia w sprawie losów organisty i kompozytora,’ Biblioteka Nauki
– ‘Mikołaj of Chrzanów; Cracow Cathedral,’ CEEOL

Hugh Aston (b. c.1485; bur. Leicester, 17 November 1558) was an English composer of the early Tudor period, recognized for his innovative sacred vocal and keyboard music. Aston studied at Oxford, where he earned his Bachelor of Music degree in 1510, submitting a mass and an antiphon as his exercise. He likely began his musical training as a chorister at St Mary Newarke College, Leicester, an institution with which he would remain closely associated for much of his career.

By 1525, Aston was appointed magister choristarum (master of the choristers) and keeper of the organs at St Mary Newarke College, Leicester, a prominent royal foundation with an active choral tradition. He held this post until the college’s dissolution in 1548, after which he received a pension until his death. Aston was also consulted on musical matters by other institutions, including advising the collegiate church of St Mary at Warwick on organ purchases. There is evidence that he may have spent time in London and had connections to the royal court in the 1510s and 1520s.

Aston’s surviving sacred music includes several masses and antiphons, notably the five-voice Missa Te Deum and the six-voice Missa Videte manus meas. His antiphon Te Deum laudamus and the Marian imitation Te matrem Dei laudamus are closely related to his mass settings, both in thematic material and style. His music is characterized by vigorous and forceful choral writing, imaginative use of cantus firmus, and a fondness for florid melodic detail. The Gaude mater matris Christi and Ave Maria divae matris Annae are among his most admired antiphons, noted for their bold melodic outlines and expressive imitation.

Aston is also significant as one of the earliest English composers for keyboard. His celebrated Hornepype is praised for its idiomatic keyboard writing and inventive use of variation form, showing a level of technical development ahead of many continental contemporaries. Two other famous early keyboard pieces, My Lady Carey’s Dompe and The Short Measure of My Lady Wynkfyld’s Rownde, have been attributed to Aston on stylistic grounds, though without manuscript confirmation. Hugh Aston’s Maske (also known as Hugh Ashton’s Ground) survives in the Christ Church partbooks and is built on an ostinato pattern, possibly related to a lost mass.

Aston’s music bridges the late medieval English tradition and the emerging Renaissance style, combining energetic full-choir textures with imaginative melodic invention. Though less famous than Taverner or Fayrfax, he is now recognized as a major figure in early Tudor music.

References:
– John Bergsagel, ‘Hugh Aston,’ Grove Music Online
– ‘Hugh Aston,’ Wikipedia
– ‘Hugh Aston [Ashton, Assheton],’ HOASM
– David J. Smith, New Light on Early Tudor Composers. V. Hugh Aston (Music & Letters, 1936)

Robert Carver (b. c.1485–7; d. after 1567) was a Scottish composer and canon regular, widely regarded as the most significant Scottish composer of the 16th century. Carver spent much of his life at Scone Abbey, entering the community around 1503 and remaining there until at least the abbey’s dissolution in 1559. He may have studied at the University of Leuven, reflecting the period’s Scottish tradition of sending musicians to the Low Countries for training. In documents and manuscripts, he is sometimes referred to as “Robertus Carvor alias Arnot,” possibly indicating a connection to the influential Arnot family.

Carver’s works survive primarily in the Carver Choirbook, a lavish manuscript compiled in the first half of the 16th century and likely associated with the Scottish Chapel Royal at Stirling. The choirbook contains both his music and works by continental and English composers, reflecting a broad range of polyphonic styles. Carver’s own compositions are noted for their ornate, highly decorative style, characterized by rich textures, elaborate counterpoint, and a fondness for large vocal forces. His music shows the influence of both the late medieval English tradition (as found in the Eton Choirbook) and the emerging Renaissance idioms of the Franco-Flemish school.

Among Carver’s most celebrated works are the Missa Dum sacrum mysterium for ten voices, a monumental festal mass composed in 1506/1513, and the nineteen-voice motet O bone Jesu, remarkable for its grandeur and complexity. Other notable works include the Missa L’homme armé, the only British setting of this famous cantus firmus, and the Missa Fera pessima, which displays sustained structural imitation and dramatic contrasts between full and solo sections. His later Missa Pater creator omnium (1546) reflects the shift toward a more chordal, syllabic style in response to changing liturgical and aesthetic tastes.

Carver’s music is distinguished by its gradual build-up of ideas, culminating in powerful final passages, and by its technical mastery of both traditional and innovative compositional techniques. While his output is relatively small, it is among the most ambitious and ornate of its time, and his works remain central to the understanding of Scottish Renaissance polyphony.

References:
– Kenneth Elliott, ‘Robert Carver’, Grove Music Online
– ‘Robert Carver (composer)’, Wikipedia
– Kenneth Elliott (ed.), The Complete Works of Robert Carver and Two Anonymous Masses (Musica Scotica, Vol. I), University of Glasgow, 1996
– Isobel Woods Preece, ‘The Carver Choirbook: Dating and Provenance’, Musica Disciplina, 53 (2000), pp. 147–178

64. O bone Jesu

Fridolin Sicher (1490–1546) was a Swiss organist, composer, and scribe whose work provides critical insight into Renaissance liturgical and keyboard practices. Born in Bischofszell, he trained under Martin Vogelmaier at Konstanz Cathedral before studying with Hans Buchner, a pupil of Paul Hofhaimer. Sicher’s career spanned key Swiss institutions, including St. Agnes in Bischofszell, St. Gallen’s collegiate church, and St. Michael’s in Ensisheim, Alsace, where he relocated temporarily during the Reformation.

Sicher’s most significant contribution is the St. Gallen Organ Book (1512–1531), a compilation of 176 keyboard arrangements of sacred vocal works by composers such as Josquin des Prez, Heinrich Isaac, and Jacob Obrecht. This collection, intended for liturgical use, includes his own composition Resonet in laudibus and exemplifies the transition of polyphonic vocal music to the organ repertoire. A manuscript known as the Liber Fridolini Sichery … 1545 (St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 530), contains songs in mensural notation. While its origins are debated, scholarly analysis of script and source materials suggests Sicher may have copied it.

Forced to leave St. Gallen in 1531 due to Protestant reforms, Sicher returned in 1537 as both organist and chaplain. His late career was marred by an unsuccessful surgery in 1545, leading to his death in Bischofszell. Sicher’s transcriptions preserved Franco-Flemish polyphony in Swiss liturgy, cementing his legacy as a bridge between medieval and Renaissance traditions.

References:
Hans Joachim Marx, ‘Fridolin Sicher’, Grove Music Online
‘Fridolin Sicher’, Wikipedia
James Midgley Clark, The Abbey of St. Gall as a Centre of Literature and Art (Cambridge University Press, 1926)
Further Reading:
W.R. Nef, Der St Galler Organist Fridolin Sicher und seine Orgeltabulatur (Schweizerisches Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft, 1938)
H.J. Marx, ‘Neues zur Tabulatur-Handschrift St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 530’, Archiv für Musikwissenschaft (1980)
T. Warburton: ‘Sicher’s “Johannes zela zens Plus”: a Problem in Identity’, AcM , 55 (1983), 74–89

Bernardo Pisano (1490–1548) was an Italian composer and singer whose contributions to early Renaissance music, particularly in the realms of secular song and sacred polyphony, mark him as a significant transitional figure between the frottola and the emerging madrigal tradition.

Born in Florence, Pisano likely acquired his surname during a period spent in Pisa. His musical training occurred at the prestigious church of SS. Annunziata in Florence, and he rose to prominence under Medici patronage. He became chapel master at Florence Cathedral around 1512, and his talents led to a prestigious appointment as a singer in the papal chapel under Pope Leo X in 1514, a position he held until his death. Despite his Roman base, Pisano maintained strong ties to Florence until 1529, when political upheaval led to his imprisonment and torture by anti-Medici factions during the Siege of Florence. After his release, he returned to Rome, where he eventually became director of Pope Paul III’s private chapel alongside Jacques Arcadelt.

At the papal chapel, Pisano’s influence was felt both as a performer and as a composer. He was highly regarded for his vocal skill and his ability to set texts with clarity and expressive nuance. His innovative approach to text setting helped bridge the gap between the simpler, homophonic style of the frottola and the more sophisticated, imitative textures that would become characteristic of the Italian madrigal.

Pisano’s compositional output is notable for both its sacred and secular works. His sacred music includes a set of Holy Week responsories, such as In monte Oliveti and Tenebrae factae sunt, which are characterized by straightforward, homophonic textures and low vocal ranges, emphasizing the solemnity of the liturgical texts. In secular music, Pisano is celebrated for his 1520 collection Musica di messer Bernardo Pisano sopra le canzone del Petrarcha, a landmark publication as the first printed volume devoted entirely to the secular works of a single composer. This collection features settings of Petrarchan poetry and other texts, with careful attention to text declamation, varied textures (from homophonic to imitative), and subtle repetitions that anticipate the later development of the Italian madrigal.

References:
Frank A. D’Accone, ‘Bernardo Pisano’, Grove Music Online
‘Bernardo Pisano’, Wikipedia
Further Reading:
Don Harrán, ‘Pisano, Bernardo’, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed. (London: Macmillan, 2001)
Martha Feldman, City Culture and the Madrigal at Venice (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995), esp. ch. 1

John Taverner (c. 1490–1545), born in Lincolnshire, England, was the preeminent English composer of the early 16th century, celebrated for his sacred music during the transition from late medieval to Renaissance styles. His career unfolded against the backdrop of the English Reformation, though recent scholarship challenges earlier claims of his Protestant sympathies.

Taverner’s early life remains obscure, with no evidence supporting prior assertions of his chorister years at Tattershall. By 1524–25, he served as a lay clerk at Tattershall College, a center of musical excellence. In 1526, Cardinal Wolsey recruited him to lead the choir at Oxford’s Cardinal College (now Christ Church), where he composed many of his major works. After Wolsey’s fall in 1529, Taverner returned to Lincolnshire, joining the prestigious choir of St Botolph’s Church, Boston, supported by the wealthy Gild of St Mary. By 1537, he retired from active music to become a prominent Boston citizen, serving as alderman until his death.

Taverner’s output includes six masses, votive antiphons, Magnificats, and ritual polyphony. His festal masses, such as Gloria tibi Trinitas and Corona spinea, exemplify intricate cantus firmus techniques and expansive polyphony, blending English florid style with continental influences. The Western Wind mass, based on a secular tune, foreshadows later Tudor variations. His smaller antiphons, like Christe Jesu pastor bone, reflect Josquin’s concise imitative style.

Notably, the In Nomine section from his mass Gloria tibi Trinitas became the foundation of a prolific English instrumental genre. Over 140 In Nomine works by later composers, including Christopher Tye and William Byrd, trace their lineage to Taverner’s original, though he likely did not arrange it for instruments himself.

Contrary to John Foxe’s later claim, Taverner did not renounce his Catholic compositions. His membership in Boston’s Gild of Corpus Christi and dealings with dissolved monasteries reflect pragmatic adaptation to Reformation policies rather than doctrinal fervor. Recent legal records confirm his post-1530s focus on civic life, dispelling myths of fanatical Protestantism.

Taverner’s legacy lies in his synthesis of late medieval complexity with emerging Renaissance clarity. As the last great figure of the English florid style, he influenced successors like Thomas Tallis and John Sheppard, bridging traditions until the Chapel Royal’s dominance under the Tudors.

References:
Paul Doe, Roger Bowers, and Hugh Benham, ‘John Taverner’, Grove Music Online
Hugh Benham, John Taverner: His Life and Music (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003)
Chrissie Berryman and Anne-Marie Forbes, ‘The In Nomine of Christopher Tye‘, Context 50 (2024): 9–35
Further Reading:
Frank Ll. Harrison, Music in Medieval Britain (London: Routledge, 1958)
Roger Bowers, English Church Polyphony: Singers and Sources from the Fourteenth Century to the Seventeenth (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999)

65. Missa Corona spinea: Agnus Dei 1
66. Missa Corona spinea: Agnus Dei 2
67. Missa Corona spinea: Agnus Dei 3

Sebastiano Festa (c. 1490–1495 – 31 July 1524) was an Italian composer of the Early Renaissance, active primarily in Rome. Though his life was brief and his output modest, Festa is recognized as one of the earliest figures to cultivate the nascent madrigal, alongside contemporaries such as Bernardo Pisano and Philippe Verdelot. He may have been related to the more famous Costanzo Festa, another pioneer of the early madrigal, but this connection remains unproven.

Born in Villafranca Sabauda, near Turin, Festa likely received his early musical training from his father, Jacobinus, who was active as a musician in Turin during the 1520s. Sebastiano first appears in the historical record in a manuscript compiled between 1516 and 1519, which contains motets by both himself and Costanzo Festa; he may have been involved in the copying of this manuscript.

Festa lived and worked in Rome in the early 1520s, under the patronage of Ottobono Fieschi, a Genoese noble and bishop of Mondovì, who served as protonotary for Pope Leo X. In 1520, Festa was granted a canonicate at Turin Cathedral, but he remained active in Rome until his death in 1524.

His surviving works include four motets and about a dozen madrigals, all for four voices. Most of his secular pieces were published in 1526 in Rome as Libro primo de la croce: canzoni, frottole et capitoli by Pasoti and Dorico. Festa’s madrigals are notable for their simple, chordal textures and syllabic text setting, with occasional pre-cadential melismas. While they retain some features of the earlier frottola, their rhythmic and melodic patterns are more closely aligned with the French chanson, reflecting the growing influence of French music in Italy at the time.

Festa’s most famous madrigal, O passi sparsi, sets a sonnet by Petrarch and was widely circulated in manuscripts and prints throughout the sixteenth century. This work was so admired that Claudin de Sermisy based a parody mass on it, and it was also arranged for lute and vihuela by later musicians.

Despite his limited output, Festa’s music was influential among early madrigalists, and his works were well known in Florence and Rome during the 1520s. His compositions exemplify the transition from the frottola to the early madrigal, combining Italian lyricism with French rhythmic vitality.

References:
James Haar, ‘Sebastiano Festa’, Grove Music Online
‘Sebastiano Festa’, Wikipedia
Further Reading:
Allan W. Atlas, Renaissance Music: Music in Western Europe, 1400-1600 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1998)
Iain Fenlon and James Haar, The Italian Madrigal in the Early Sixteenth Century: Sources and Interpretation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988)

Henry VIII (1491–1547), King of England from 1509 until his death, was a significant patron of music and an active composer whose contributions reflect the vibrant musical culture of the Tudor court. Educated in music from a young age, he played multiple instruments—including the lute, organ, and virginals—and cultivated a court renowned for its musical splendor.

Born in Greenwich, Henry’s early training under monastic tutors prepared him for a life deeply engaged with music. His court employed over 50 musicians by 1547, including foreign virtuosos like Dionisio Memo (Venetian organist) and the Bassano family. The royal inventory of 1547 lists over 400 instruments, from recorders and viols to regals and claviorgans, underscoring his commitment to musical excellence.

Henry composed both sacred and secular works, though most of his sacred music—including two five-voice masses mentioned by chronicler Edward Halle—is lost. The surviving Quam pulchra es, a three-voice motet, demonstrates his grasp of sacred polyphony. His secular works, preserved in the Henry VIII Manuscript (GB-Lbl Add.31922), include songs like Pastyme with good companye and Alac alac what shall I do, blending English lyricism with continental influences. Some pieces, such as Gentil prince de renom, adapt existing melodies from sources like Petrucci’s Odhecaton A, though Henry’s contratenor parts often reveal his technical limitations.

Henry’s compositional style favors parallel 6ths and syllabic text setting, with occasional harmonic irregularities. While his works lack the sophistication of professional contemporaries like William Cornysh, their charm lies in their directness and association with courtly life. The Henry VIII Manuscript also includes textless pieces, such as the King Harry the VIII pavyn, likely intended for viol consort or keyboard.

As a patron, Henry transformed England’s musical landscape, elevating the court’s cultural prestige. His Chapel Royal and household musicians set standards for later Tudor monarchs, while his recruitment of Jewish and Italian instrumentalists enriched England’s musical vocabulary. Though myths like his authorship of Greensleeves persist, his genuine legacy lies in fostering a court where music became central to diplomacy, worship, and leisure.

References:
David Greer, ‘Henry VIII, King of England’, Grove Music Online
‘Henry VIII: The Musician King’, Clef Notes
Further Reading:
John Stevens, Music & Poetry in the Early Tudor Court (London, 1961)
David Fallows, ‘Henry VIII as a Composer’, Sundry Sorts of Music Books (London, 1993)
Peter Holman, Henry VIII: A European Court in England (London, 1991)

Marco Antonio Cavazzoni (c. 1490–c. 1560) was an Italian composer, organist, and singer whose contributions to early keyboard music mark him as a significant figure in the Early Renaissance.

Born in Bologna, Cavazzoni was active in Urbino, Ferrara, Rome, and Venice, serving under prominent patrons and institutions such as Duchess Leonora Gonzaga, Pope Leo X, and St. Mark’s Basilica. His connections to leading figures of Renaissance culture, including Pietro Bembo and Pietro Aretino, underscored his prominence in musical and intellectual circles. Despite noble lineage, financial challenges led him to supplement his income through teaching and ecclesiastical appointments in Brescia and Chioggia.

In 1523, Cavazzoni published Recerchari, motetti, canzoni… libro primo, a landmark collection featuring two ricercares, intabulations of two motets, and four chansons. These ricercares are among the earliest surviving examples of free keyboard compositions, notable for their thematic development and idiomatic keyboard writing. The motets and chansons in the collection are likely arrangements of vocal works, blending imitative polyphony with the rhythmic vitality of the Franco-Flemish chanson. An additional ricercare, Recercada de maca in bologna, survives in a manuscript at Castell’Arquato.

Cavazzoni’s style reflects his dual role as performer and composer. His ricercares, while not yet imitative, exhibit a logical progression of motifs and modulations, influenced by the keyboard traditions of his time. The vocal intabulations are characterized by keyboard virtuosity and ornamentation, rather than strict adherence to polyphonic models. A disputed Mass, Domini Marci Antonii, once attributed to him, is now thought to honor him rather than be his own composition.

Marco Antonio Cavazzoni’s significance lies in his pioneering of idiomatic keyboard writing and thematic development in early ricercares. While he did not directly influence the development of the imitative ricercare or fugue, his works represent an important step in the emancipation of instrumental music from vocal traditions.

References:
H. Colin Slim, ‘Marco Antonio Cavazzoni’, Grove Music Online
‘Marco Antonio Cavazzoni’, Wikipedia
Further Reading:
Knud Jeppesen, Die italienische Orgelmusik am Anfang des Cinquecento (Copenhagen, 1943)
Iain Fenlon, Music and Patronage in Sixteenth-Century Mantua (Cambridge, 1980)

Composers of the High Renaissance Era

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