Josquin des Prez

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Josquin des Prez

Aliases: Josquin Des Pres; Josquin Desprez; Josquin Despres; Dezprez a Prato; Iosquinus Pratensis; Lebloitte dit Desprez; Josse Lebloitte – given name in 1520s Condé archives is "Josse Lebloitte". "Lebloitte dit Desprez" is used in his uncle's will

Life

Born: between 1450 and 1455, according to recent research

Died: 27 August 1521

Biography Although Josquin has sometimes been confused with a Josquin de Kessalia who sang in Milan from 1459 to 1474 and died in 1498, the earliest surviving document shows he was a singer at the chapel of René, Duke of Anjou, in Aix-en-Provence as of 19 April 1477, and a birthdate of circa 1450 is now generally accepted. There are numerous gaps in his biography and seems to have traveled widely, but Josquin was headquartered in Milan 1483-89, was a member of the papal choir 1489 to 1495 (and left a recently discovered graffito in the Sistine Chapel), served Louis XII after 1499, Duke Ercole I of Ferrara 1503-4, become provost of the collegiate church of Notre-Dame at Condé-sur-l'Escaut on 3 May 1504, and added a post at Saint Quentin in 1509.

The reputation of the princeps musicorum can hardly be overstated; one contemporary even calls Michelangelo the Josquin of sculpture. The list of conflicting and dubious attributions is correspondingly great.

See also some elegies at ChoralWiki:Josquin quincentenary

View the Wikipedia article on Josquin des Prez.


List of works

Sacred works

Secular works

Other works not listed above (See Template:CheckMissing for possible reasons and solutions)

Works not represented above


Click here to search for this composer on CPDL

Publications

References

  • Macey, Patrick. 1993. Josquin as Classic: 'Qui habitat, Memor esto', and Two Imitations Unmasked. Journal of the Royal Musical Association 118(1):1-43.

External links