Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1410, Saint-Ghislain, Belgium – February 6, 1497, Tours, France) was the leading composer of the 2nd generation of the Netherlandish school. Ockeghem is typically considered a first composer between Dufay and Josquin Des Prez.

Recent the food and drug administration has shown that Ockeghem was natural in the town of Saint-Ghislain; numerous older life history state that he was either natural in the town of his title or even in the neighboring town of Dendermonde in East Flanders (now a share of modern Belgium), part of the Duchy of Burgundy. Details of his early life come lacking: possibly his birth date is unknown, & is normally inferred from either a comment per poet Crétin, at the period of his dying, that "it was a great shame that a composer of his talents should die before 100 years old". Rather numbers of composers therearound cycle, he began his musical career when chorister, & a number one record of his musical activity comes from either a cathedral of Notre Dame in Antwerp, where he was listed around 1443 and 1444. Between 1446 and 1448 he served Charles, Duke of Bourbon, in Moulins (France). In 1452 he moved to Paris where he served as master di cappella to the French court, besides when becoming financial officer of the St. Martaround cathedral in Tours. Additionally to serving at a French court—each for Charles VII and Louis XI—he held posts at Notre Dame Cathedral and St. Benoît. He is known to keep around traveled to Spain in 1470, as section of an attempt to arrange the marriage between Isabel of Castille and Charles, Duke of Guyenne (the brother of king Louis XI). When a dying of Louis XI (1483), not very much is known sure enough astir Ockeghem's whereabouts, though these are known that he attend Bruges and Tours, and he probably died in the latter town since he left the might there.

Ockeghem probably deliberate by owning Gilles Binchois, and at a super least was closely associated sustaining him at a Burgundian court. Since Antoine Busnois wrote a motet inside honor of Ockeghem old prior to 1467, it is likely that people ii were acquainted too; & writers of the period typically hyperlink Dufay, Busnois & Ockeghem. Although Ockeghem's musical genre differs substantially from either either either that of a older generation, these are likely that he acquired his basic system from the babies, & per se may be seen as a directly hyperlink from the Burgundian style to the next generation of Netherlanders, like Obrecht and Josquin.

Super pack of his works use at times survived: a bit of Fourteen masses and a Requiem mass, 9 motets & the song motet (a deploration on the dying of Binchois), and Twenty-one chansons. Thirteen of Ockeghem's masses are preserved in the late Fifteenth century Flemish manuscript known as a Chigi codex. His Missa in favour Defunctis is the earliest living case of the polyphonic requiem mass. Additionally to his microscopic surviving output, a few of a works attributed to him use at times been questioned: e.g. the amazing technical indicator tour-de-click for 36 voices, Deo gratias is very in all likelihood by individual else, however this remains in questiin; & many of his chansons & motets come anon. in the sources, however attributed to him on stylistic evidence.

The hard influence in Josquin Des Prez, Ockeghem was famous throughout Europe for his expressive music & his technical indicator mastery. His technical indicator art is demonstrated virtually all clearly in the astonishing Missa Prolationum, which consists totally of mensuration canons, and a 'Missa cuiusvis', to exist as performed within different modes, however possibly these system-oriented masterpieces demonstrate his insightful apply of vocal ranges & unambiguously expressive tonal language. Existence the celebrated bass singer himself, certainly his have of complex bass lines sets him apart from either a more composers in the Netherlandish Schools.

To commemorate his demise, Josquin Des Prez composed the motet La déploration diamond state la mort first state Johannes Ockeghem, the setting of the verse form Nimphes des bois by Molinet.

Further Reading

Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. Future York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. (ISBN 0393095304) Article "Johannes Ockeghem." A Just released Grove Lexicon of Music & Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. Xx vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. (ISBN 1561591742)