Josquin Desprez

Acknowledged  by his contemporaries to be the finest composer of his time, Josquin Desprez consistently lives up to that reputation in his music as shown in the tiny sampling of his work below.

He was probably born in Picardy in the early 1440s since he was already an adult singer in Milan Cathedral in 1459, the first definitive  biographical record.  He remained for a little over 10 years in the Cathedral choir where he apparently made a favorable impression on Galeazzo Maria Sforza, the Duke of Milan.  About 1473 the Duke granted Josquin a benefice of 100 florins/yr., making him the best paid musician in the Ducal Chapel , , , even more than his compatriots already working in the Chapel . . . Johannes Martini, Loyset Compere and the maestro, Gaspar von Weerbecke.  The Duke was Assassinated 3 years later, and the Chapel was reduced in size when his son, Ludovico, became Duke in 1479.  Galeazzo’s brother, Ascanio, was made Cardinal in 1484 and Josquin probably became a member of the Cardinal’s musical retinue in the same year.  No doubt due to the Cardinal’s frequent presence in Rome, Josquin’s name soon appears in the lists of the Papal Chapel, arguably the finest choral establishment of the age.  But the presence of Josquin’s name in the Papal Chapel lists is rather sporadic .  . it might mean that he was occupied elsewhere.

By 1500, frequent appearances at the court of Louis XII of France intimate that Josquin is inclined toward a return to his homeland, but one last brief episode in Italy betrays the superb reputation he had established as a composer.   Ercole d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, in searching for a star to be his maestro di cappella received a letter from his agent, Gian de Artiganova, comparing Henricus Isaac and Josquin Desprez stating that Isaac, a fine composer, will produce music when you want it, whereas Josquin is a better composer but composes only when he wants to; furthermore, he wants 200 ducats while Isaac wants only 120 ducats.  Ercole chose Josquin, and paid him 200 ducats when he became maestro in April 1503, the highest paid musician on record. 

Plague broke out in Ferrara in July, the Ducal Court and 2/3rds of the population had fled the city by September . . . Josquin was installed as Provost of the Collegiate Church of Notre Dame in Condé-sur-l’Escot, Northern France, in May 1504.  He died there in 1521, his will specifying that two of his motets be sung in front of his house on feast days with procession.  The Church at Condé, potentially a monument to the greatest composer that France has produced, was destroyed in the Revolution in 1793.