Pierre de LaRue

Perhaps the largest sin of omission in this collection of music examples from before 1650 resides in the inexplicable lack of representation of the music of Pierre de La Rue. His over 30 settings of the Ordinary of the Mass, 25 motets and 30 chansons are reduced in this collection to one short chanson and one Mass section, neither of which do sufficient justice to his music.

His presence as an adult tenor in the choir of St. Gudule, the principal church in Brussels, in 1469 would seem to set his birth date at least five years before the usual stated year of c. 1460. He continued to be mentioned as a singer into 1470s and 80s in various major Flemish churches . . . Ghent, Nieuwpoort, s’Hertogenbosch until around 1493 when he settled into a permanent position in the Burgundian Grande Chapelle under Philip the Fair. The Burgundian Court traveled with full complement of musicians to Spain in 1501, probably to allow Philip and his Duchess, Juana, to be sworn as heirs to Castile. So when Isabella of Castile died in 1504, Philip and his Court again traveled to Spain to claim Castile. Ferdinand of Aragon was probably not pleased by this intrusion of Philip and Juana, into the affairs of Spain; but he was likely very pleased when Philip died there in 1506.

La Rue stayed in Spain with the bereaved Queen, Juana, for a couple of years, but then returned to the Burgundian Court to serve Marguerite of Austria, Regent of Burgundy, at Mechelin. La Rue served in Archduke Charles’ private Chapel until 1516 when Charles traveled to Spain to claim the monarchy of Spain on Ferdinand’s death. La Rue, done traveling, retired to Courtrai where he became a canon at the collegiate church of Notre Dame until his death in November 1518.