In the early 16th century, there is another trend towards simplification, as can be seen to some degree in the work of Josquin des Prez and his contemporaries in the Franco-Flemish School, then later in that of G. P. Palestrina, who was partially reacting to the strictures of the Council of Trent, which discouraged excessively complex polyphony as inhibiting understanding the text.

Josquin des Prez Lebloitte dit Desprez (; c. 1450 / 1455 – 27 August 1521 ), often referred to simply as Josquin, was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance.

Josquin is widely considered by music scholars to be the first master of the high Renaissance style of polyphonic vocal music that was emerging during his lifetime.

Heinrich Glarean wrote in 1547 that Josquin was not only a " magnificent virtuoso " ( the Latin can be translated also as " show-off ") but capable of being a " mocker ", using satire effectively.

Josquin was long mistaken for a man with a similar name, Josquin de Kessalia, born around the year 1440, who sang in Milan from 1459 to 1474, dying in 1498.

More recent scholarship has shown that Josquin des Prez was born around 1450 or a few years later, and did not go to Italy until the early 1480s.

Around 1466, perhaps on the death of his father, Josquin was named by his uncle and aunt, Gilles Lebloitte dit Desprez and Jacque Banestonne, as their heir.

According to an account by Claude Hémeré, a friend and librarian of Cardinal Richelieu whose evidence dates as late as 1633, and who used the records of the collegiate church of Saint-Quentin, Josquin became a choirboy at Saint-Quentin, probably around 1460, and was in charge of its music.

Johannes Ockeghem ( also Jean de, Jan ; surname Okeghem, Ogkegum, Okchem, Hocquegam, Ockegham ; other variant spellings are also encountered ) ( 1410 / 1425 – February 6, 1497 ) was the most famous composer of the Franco-Flemish School in the last half of the 15th century, and is often considered the most influential composer between Dufay and Josquin des Prez.

An indication of the renown in which Ockeghem was held is the number of laments written on his death in 1497 ; among the most famous of the musical settings of these many poems is Nymphes des bois by Josquin des Prez.

A strong influence on Josquin des Prez and the subsequent generation of Netherlanders, Ockeghem was famous throughout Europe for his expressive music, although he was equally renowned for his technical prowess.

An anecdote survives that indicates the musical ability of the young composer: Willaert was surprised to discover the choir of the papal chapel singing one of his own compositions, most likely the six-part motet Verbum bonum et suave, and even more surprised to learn that they thought it had been written by the much more famous composer Josquin.

Clemens was one of the chief representatives of the generation between Josquin and Palestrina and Orlandus Lassus.

Not only was he central representative of the generation of Franco-Flemish composers after Josquin des Prez who went to live and work in Italy, but he was one of the most prominent composers of madrigals in the middle of the 16th century.

In his sacred music, however, Rore was more backward-looking, showing his connection to his Netherlandish roots: his masses, for example, are reminiscent of the work of Josquin des Prez.

Josquin was his point of departure, and he developed many of his techniques from the older composer's style.

Francesco was drawing on techniques found in contemporary vocal music, e. g. works by Josquin des Prez and composers of his generation.

He was one of the first renowned French members of the Franco-Flemish school of the Renaissance, and, after Josquin des Prez, was one of the most influential composers of his generation.

Gombert is perhaps the most representative composer of the generation between Josquin and Palestrina, especially in the area of sacred music.

Both the date and probable place of birth are extremely close to those of Josquin des Prez ; indeed the area around the current French-Belgian border produced an astonishing number of excellent composers in the 15th and 16th centuries, composers whose fame spread throughout Europe.

Some of the better-known composers of this time include Dufay, Josquin des Prez, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and William Byrd ; the glories of Renaissance polyphony were choral, sung by choirs of great skill and distinction all over Europe.

In 1483 Josquin returned to Condé to claim his inheritance from his aunt and uncle, who may have been killed by the army of Louis XI in May 1478, when they besieged the town, locked the population into the church, and burned them alive .< ref name =" Macey "> Macey et al.,

He left around the time of Josquin des Prez's hire by Ercole I d ' Este as composer to the chapel, and in time to avoid the plague which decimated the city in 1505, claiming the life of renowned composer Jacob Obrecht.

However, there is a consensus that this mass is at best a forerunner to the later 15th-century cyclic masses by the likes of Josquin des Prez.

The final piece in the collection, his setting of the De profundis ( Psalm 129 / 130 ), is considered by many scholars to be one of the high-water marks of Renaissance polyphony, ranking alongside the two settings of the same text by Josquin des Prez.

He also published numerous works by the most highly regarded composers of the Renaissance, including Josquin des Prez and Antoine Brumel.

Some examples of early parody masses include the Missa Malheur me bat, Missa Mater Patris, and Missa Fortuna desperata of Josquin des Prez, and the Missa de Dringhs by Antoine Brumel.

Many works formerly attributed to Ockeghem are now presumed to be by other composers ; Ockeghem's total output of reliably attributed compositions, as with many of the most famous composers of the time ( such as Josquin ), has shrunk with time.

To commemorate his death, Josquin des Prez composed the motet La déploration de la mort de Johannes Ockeghem, a setting of the poem Nymphes des bois by Jean Molinet.

Includes the Ockeghem Alma Redemptoris mater, the Obrecht Missa Sub tuum presidium, as well as motets by Willaert, Clemens non Papa, Josquin, Mouton, and Gombert.

Includes the Ockeghem Ave Maria ... benedicta tu, as well as motets by Palestrina, Josquin, Victoria, Rore, Morales, Clemens non Papa, Lassus, de Wert, and Andrea Gabrieli

Later 15th-and early 16th-century figures in the genre included Johannes Ockeghem and Josquin des Prez, whose works cease to be constrained by formes fixes and begin to feature a similar pervading imitation to that found in contemporary motets and liturgical music.

La Spagna comes from a famous " Basse dance " ( bassadanza ) from that time probably from Spain, well known by several famous composers of his time: Josquin himself wrote a variation on La Spagna.

Gombert was one of the most renowned composers in Europe after the death of Josquin des Prez, as can be seen by the wide distribution of his music, the use of his music as source material for compositions by others, and the singular attention that printers paid to him ( issuing, for example, editions of his works – most print editions at the time were anthologies of music by several composers ).

Contains two motets by Gombert, including his elegy for Josquin, Musae Jovis.

Even though much of his music must have been lost — including any sacred music — he seems to have been influential on other composers at the court of Burgundy, and several of his compositions were used as source material for masses by later composers, including Josquin des Prez.

* Josquin des Prez ( – 1521 ), Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance.

Under Ercole ( 1431 – 1505 ), one of the most significant patrons of the arts in late 15th and early 16th century Italy, Ferrara grew into a cultural center, renowned especially for music ; Josquin Des Prez worked for Duke Ercole, Jacob Obrecht came to Ferrara twice, and Antoine Brumel served as principal musician from 1505.

Obrecht's procedures show a startling contrast to the works of the next generation as well ( prefigured by some works of his contemporary Josquin ), who favored an increasing simplicity of approach.

As the Kyrie is the first item in settings of the mass ordinary and the second in the requiem mass ( the only mass proper set regularly over the centuries ), numerous composers have included Kyries in their masses, including Guillaume de Machaut, Guillaume Dufay, Johannes Ockeghem, Josquin des Prez, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Luigi Cherubini, Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven, Gabriel Fauré, Hector Berlioz, Charles Gounod, Giuseppe Verdi, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein, Benjamin Britten, Arvo Pärt, Mark Alburger, and Erling Wold.

Examples of prolation canons from different eras include Le Ray Au Soleyl by Johannes Ciconia ( late 14th century ); the entire Missa prolationum by Johannes Ockeghem ( mid-15th century ), in which each separate section of the mass explores a different prolation ( or different gap between entries and relative speed of each voice ); the Agnus Dei from the Missa L ' homme armé super voces musicales by Josquin des Prez ( late 15th century ); the Agnus Dei from the Missa L ' homme armé by Pierre de la Rue ( early 16th century ); the Canon a 4 per Augmentationem et Diminutionem, the last in a set of 14 canons written as an appendix to the Goldberg Variations, by Johann Sebastian Bach ; and in the 20th century, the Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten by Arvo Pärt ( 1976 ).

Stylistically he uses points of imitation, rather in the manner of Josquin des Prez, in almost all of his sacred works ( the masses and motets ), following the contemporary trend towards pervading imitation and polyphonic complexity.

Since he never spent time in Italy, he never picked up the Italian frottola style which featured light, homophonic textures ( which Josquin used so effectively in his popular El Grillo and Scaramella ), and which so charmed the other members of his generation.

He wrote a requiem for six voices ( Requiem in memoriam Josquin des Prez, 1532 ), masses, motets, settings of the Magnificat, two secular motets, and chansons.

He composed music for ceremonial occasions, for example a sombre lament for the death of Queen Anne of Brittany ( 1514 ), and he also composed a motet which lists all the composers which he considered to be the most celebrated in France, arranged chronologically, and ending with Josquin.

# Missa Missus est Gabriel angelus ( based on the motet by Josquin ), 4vv

He considered John Dunstaple to be the earliest composer of expressive music ( though earlier music may not have been available to him ), and other composers he wrote about included Gilles Binchois, Antoine Busnois, Johannes Ockeghem, Heinrich Isaac, Ludwig Senfl, Josquin des Prez, and of course Lassus.

Performances in recent years have included a program of little-known works by Franco-Flemish composers Johannes Ghiselin, Jacquet of Berchem, Gaspar van Weebeke, Andreas de Silva, Nicolas Payen and Josquin des Prez, a quincentennial celebration of Thomas Tallis, the first Australian performance of Arvo Pärt's ' Canon of Repentance ' ( composed in 1998 ), works by Jean Richafort and his parodists, a program of works originally written for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor a concert of settings of the text ' Media vita ' ( In the midst of life ) including a performance of Gombert's own ' Missa de media vita ', German Baroque masterpieces by Johann Hermann Schein, Michael Praetorius, Heinrich Schütz and Johann Sebastian Bach, Alessandro Scarlatti's ' Stabat mater ', and an annual concert entitled ' Christmas to Candlemas ' that presents works written for the numerous Christian feast-days in the forty-day Church season that begins on Christmas Day.