Biography
Martin Luther once hailed him as the "Master of the notes." Church officials of his era viewed Josquin as an ornament fit for any distinguished court, while publishers knew his name alone guaranteed brisk sales, and fellow composers invoked his instruction to elevate their standing. Historians now rank his works among Western culture's supreme achievements and trace in them the decisive emergence of the Renaissance "Central Musical Language." Nevertheless, a trustworthy account of his life stayed frustratingly out of reach. Fresh archival finds in 2000 dismantled the standard textbook narrative when researchers established that at least three leading musicians of the period bore the name "Josquin," one of whom, active in Milan, prompted erroneous speculation of a 1440 birth and an unremarkable Italian apprenticeship—much as the later discovery of a second Elizabethan playwright named William Shakespeare would have confused posterity.
The Josquin whose reputation would endure for centuries entered the world during the 1450s in northern France or Hainaut, today part of Belgium, as the son of Gossard Lebloitte. Although family connections and an eventual inheritance awaited him in Condé, his early steps led southward to Aix-en-Provence, where he entered the service of King René d'Anjou as a singer. By 1475 he was already employed at a flourishing, Italy-oriented court that offered a helpful circle of courtiers. Following René's death in 1480, most of the singers transferred to the household of his nephew, King Louis XI of France; Josquin may have remained with Louis from 1480 or 1481 until 1483, a post that possibly allowed him to encounter the monarch's celebrated Premier chapellain, Johannes Ockeghem.
By 1484 Josquin had become a commensural familiar—both personal attendant and singer—to Ascanio Sforza, brother of the Duke of Milan. The appointment placed him inside one of Quattrocento Italy's most brilliant courts, and Ascanio's elevation to cardinal probably took his familiar to Rome from August 1484 through 1487, with a return to Milan in 1488–1489. Ties to this influential patron persisted into the following century, as printed editions of 1504 and 1509 still attributed works to "Josquin d'Ascanio." His subsequent post was in the Papal Choir at Rome, beginning in June 1489 and continuing at least until 1495; among its immediate rewards were two expectative benefices in Thérouanne and Cambrai, near his native region.
His whereabouts near the turn of the century remain undocumented, yet this same span witnessed a striking increase in the circulation of his music, appearing both in manuscripts from Rome, Milan, and Brussels/Mechlin and in the innovative prints issued by Petrucci in Venice. After a short but richly rewarded term as Maestro di cappella to the Duke of Ferrara in 1503–1504, the celebrated composer withdrew to semi-retirement in Condé. The collegiate church of Notre-Dame there installed him as provost in May 1504; he acquired a new residence the following August and stayed until his death in 1521. By then an ordained priest, he continued to compose, presenting a collection of chansons to Emperor Charles V as late as 1520.
Josquin's will left his house to the collegiate church to support the obituary rites he had specified: Marian "Salve" services each Saturday and on feast days of the Virgin, together with performances of his own Pater noster and Ave Maria before his doorway during all general processions. Amid the abundant laments voiced by his contemporaries, the shaping of his posthumous legend commenced.
The Josquin whose reputation would endure for centuries entered the world during the 1450s in northern France or Hainaut, today part of Belgium, as the son of Gossard Lebloitte. Although family connections and an eventual inheritance awaited him in Condé, his early steps led southward to Aix-en-Provence, where he entered the service of King René d'Anjou as a singer. By 1475 he was already employed at a flourishing, Italy-oriented court that offered a helpful circle of courtiers. Following René's death in 1480, most of the singers transferred to the household of his nephew, King Louis XI of France; Josquin may have remained with Louis from 1480 or 1481 until 1483, a post that possibly allowed him to encounter the monarch's celebrated Premier chapellain, Johannes Ockeghem.
By 1484 Josquin had become a commensural familiar—both personal attendant and singer—to Ascanio Sforza, brother of the Duke of Milan. The appointment placed him inside one of Quattrocento Italy's most brilliant courts, and Ascanio's elevation to cardinal probably took his familiar to Rome from August 1484 through 1487, with a return to Milan in 1488–1489. Ties to this influential patron persisted into the following century, as printed editions of 1504 and 1509 still attributed works to "Josquin d'Ascanio." His subsequent post was in the Papal Choir at Rome, beginning in June 1489 and continuing at least until 1495; among its immediate rewards were two expectative benefices in Thérouanne and Cambrai, near his native region.
His whereabouts near the turn of the century remain undocumented, yet this same span witnessed a striking increase in the circulation of his music, appearing both in manuscripts from Rome, Milan, and Brussels/Mechlin and in the innovative prints issued by Petrucci in Venice. After a short but richly rewarded term as Maestro di cappella to the Duke of Ferrara in 1503–1504, the celebrated composer withdrew to semi-retirement in Condé. The collegiate church of Notre-Dame there installed him as provost in May 1504; he acquired a new residence the following August and stayed until his death in 1521. By then an ordained priest, he continued to compose, presenting a collection of chansons to Emperor Charles V as late as 1520.
Josquin's will left his house to the collegiate church to support the obituary rites he had specified: Marian "Salve" services each Saturday and on feast days of the Virgin, together with performances of his own Pater noster and Ave Maria before his doorway during all general processions. Amid the abundant laments voiced by his contemporaries, the shaping of his posthumous legend commenced.