Biography
Born in Switzerland, this composer pursued his primary activities across Germany. He entered service as a choirboy in Maximilian I’s Hofkapelle, trained under Isaac, and later assumed the role of court composer in Vienna after his teacher’s departure. From 1523 until his death he remained in Munich, employed by the Duke of Bavaria. Moving within an extensive network of leading artists, Senfl attained widespread recognition and esteem throughout his lifetime. In the early sixteenth century he ranked among the most prolific composers active in Germany. Although he maintained a correspondence with Luther, Senfl never declared open allegiance to the reformer. His surviving works comprise mass and vesper settings, motets, lieder, and odes. For his motets Senfl drew upon the styles of Isaac and Josquin, yet he introduced fresh polyphonic techniques, above all in his settings of the Propers. Through the systematic use of parallel thirds and sixths he produced sonorities that were both dense and enveloping. By assigning Latin odes to the discant voice he helped shape the later course of Protestant hymnody, which characteristically placed the melody in the soprano or upper discant part and arranged the music in four-part harmonies.