Loyset Compère

Loyset Compère was one of the four pupils in Molinet’s “Deploration” mourning the death of their master, Johannes Ockeghem.  Born around 1445 Compère would have been in his 20’s when Galeazzo Maria Sforza wrote Ockeghem, Maestro of the French Chapel Royal, asking him to recommend additional singers for the Milanese Ducal Chapel in 1472.  And indeed,  Compère’s name appears in the Ducal Chapel list of 1494 along with illustrious names . . . Weerbeke, Martini, and even Josquin Desprez himself.  This great flowering of the Ducal Chapel lasted only two years when Galeazzo Maria was assassinated and the Chapel reduced in size.  Ten years later Compère is listed as a singer in the Chapel Royal of Charles VIII.  In 1494 Charles invaded Italy and apparently took his Chapel with him.  The presence of 5 motets and a Magnificat by Compère in a Vatican manuscript may date from his time in Rome.  From 1495 Compère appears in clerical positions in N. France . . . Cambrai, Douai, and at the collegiate church of St. Quentin, where he died in 1518.

Although not as prolific as his fellow students of Ockeghem his output especially of motets is significant.  We regret not having a fair representation of his work.