Josquin des Prez - Biography
Josquin Des Prez (his name is generally always given in full and is alphabetized under J) was born circa 1450 probably in Hainaut in Flanders and died on August 27th 1521 in Conde –sur Escaut Flanders .Josquin is generally considered the greatest composer of the early Renaissance. Not much is known of his earlier years since record keeping in the mid Fifteenth Century was primitive. Flanders is now part of Belgium. Josquin is said to have received his early music education as a choir boy at the collegiate church of Saint -Quentin and received his later education from Okeghem one of the great composers of the previous generation. We can assume from Okeghem he gained the mastery of what was then known of contrapuntal technique. His personal activities in his twenties and early thirties are historically obscured. In his earlier years there is some evidence that he was a visiting musician at various ducal courts in Italy. We know that he enters the Choir of the Sistine Chapel in 1486 as a music master and remains there till 1594. He also seems to have been in the service of the influential Cardinal d'Ascanio.
After leaving the papal chapel Josquin has moved to France to become a musician in the court of Louis the Twelfth. He may well have been a choir director of the Cambrai Cathedral either prior or simultaneous to service at court. Legend has it that the king was not giving to Josquin his agreed upon compensation and he set words from the 119thpsalm which speaks of living up to ones promises and performed it in the king’s presence as a not to subtle hint. Once the king lived up to his bargain Josquin wrote a motet in gratitude. There is evidence that he composed a motet in two parts to be sung by the king and Josquin.
Josquin seems to have visited Italy in the early 1550’s to offer some service to a music loving ally the Duke of Ferrara. He around that period gravitated back to Flanders and became the music master at his boyhood church of Saint-Quentin. In 1516 he became the music director of the very prominent Flemish collegiate church of Conde. On the 27th of August 1521 Josquin died and was buried under the choir loft of Conde. Curiously upon his death bed he requested that he be registered as a foreigner on his death certificate which has raised speculation that he may have been born in France or alternately he may have wanted to spare his family death taxes incurred by a Flemish citizen.
A large amount of Joaquin’s music survive, they fall into three basic categories, settings of the Catholic Mass, Motet settings of portions of the Bible and many secular Chansons (songs). Perhaps the best known of his compositions is a Chanson he wrote in memory of his teacher La Deploration de Johan Okeghem. Other prominent compositions include the Missa L’Homme Arme, Missa Pange Lingue, Missa Hercules dux Ferrariae, Misse La sol fa me re and the Missa de Beate Virgine.
Though Josquin was quite famous in musical circles during his life he became forgotten accept by musicologists in centuries following his death. His music was rediscovered in the late eighteenth century and was given his due by the great music historian Charles Burney in his famous 1794 History of Music. Josquin music is often quite emotive, particularly when focusing on key words in the text repeating them with powerful emphasis. In many ways he is the link between medieval music and the music of the High Renaissance as typified by Monteverdi.
From the 1960’s on there have been many splendid recordings of Josquin’s music starting with the pioneering recordings on the Archiv label and the brilliant performances of his secular music by David Munrow.
