Josquin established the patterns for Renaissance sacred music, creating rich vocal textures of long, arching phrases in which consistent imitation between voices creates a sense of both unity and progression. Polyphony came of age with Josquin, who consolidated the achievements of his great predecessors Dufay and Ockeghem. For this reason, contemporaries compared Josquin to Michelangelo.
Josquin des Prez, a singer and composer of the Franco-Flemish school of polyphony, lived from 1450 to 1521. His name, originally "Jossequin Lebloitte, dit Desprez," was sometimes spelled Des Prés, Després, and Desprez. Josquin is derived from the Flemish "Josken". He was considered the most important composer of the Renaissance and worked mainly in France and Italy.
Josquin's music is known for its transparent and structured composition, where the music is closely linked to the text. In the mid-15th century, he was a leading figure in a new style of chanson that used the techniques of canon and counterpoint in secular songs. In his compositions, the text was always the starting point, in contrast to earlier composers who made the melody more important. As a result, the text in Josquin's music is easily understood by the listener. He rarely used full four-part harmony.
Josquin's works can be divided into three types: motets, masses, and chansons. Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer, praised Josquin's music, calling him "the master of the notes, who must do as he pleases; other composers must do as the notes please.
The details of Josquin's life are uncertain, but it is believed that he was born in a French-speaking area of Flanders and was educated at the Cathedral of Cambrai or taught by Johannes Ockeghem. In 1477, he was a member of the choir of René of Anjou and served Louis XI of France. In the 1480s he toured Italy with Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, serving Popes Innocent VIII and Alexander VI in Rome, Louis XII in France, and Ercole I d'Este in Ferrara. Many of his works were published by Ottaviano Petrucci in the early 16th century, and he produced some of his most famous works during his last years in Condé.
Josquin is considered one of the first composers to achieve posthumous fame and was one of the first composers to have his music printed and published. Although his reputation was overshadowed during the Baroque era by the Italian composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, he continues to be studied by music historians and theorists. During the early music revival of the 20th century, Josquin's music was reevaluated, and he continues to be widely celebrated and recorded in the 21st century.
The "Missa L'homme armé super voces musicales" is one of two settings of Josquin Desprez's Ordinary Mass and uses the well-known melody "L'homme armé" as its source material. Although instruments were largely forbidden within the papal circle in Rome, the mass was probably performed in various places and times and was also adapted for instruments. The earliest print of the Mass, published by Petrucci in 1502, indicates a wider distribution.
Listen to: Cantar Lontano and Capella de la Torre (The 'Missa L’homme armé super voces musicales' is mixed with some other pieces from the same period).