Catholicon ockeghem biography

Ockeghem was one of the most respected composers of the fifteenth century, and along with Guillaume Dufay & Josquin Desprez, one of the most influential.
Ockeghem was one of the most respected composers of the fifteenth century, and along with Guillaume Dufay & Josquin Des Préz, one of the most influential.
Ockeghem's reputation as a purely technical master was also earned by the relatively long survival of his more intricate polyphonic explorations.

•

Ockeghem was one of the most respected composers of the fifteenth century, and along with Guillaume Dufay & Josquin Des Préz, one of the most influential composers of the early Renaissance. Ockeghem was probably born in the current Belgium, in what was then the Duchy of Burgundy – estimates for the year of his birth vary from 1400 to c.1430, but written sources from the period indicate that he was a very old man by the time of his death in 1497. He was premier chaplain to three kings of France, as well as holding the prestigious position of treasurer at the great cathedral and monastery of St. Martin de Tours. During his lifetime, Ockeghem was known for his personal refinement and fine bass voice. After his death, a famous poem by Guillaume Cretin (set to music by Josquin Des Préz) praised his character, skill, and influence. He was long identified as one of the fathers of Renaissance music, his influence finally fading only years after his death.

Ockeghem's surviving musical output is relatively small, comprising a mere handful of motets,

•

Music of the Renaissance: A Study Guide

The purpose of this tutorial is to provide an outline of prominent dates, terms, composers, compositions, social contexts, and ideas that may be encountered in a study of Renaissance era music history. This is by no means a complete list, but it should serve as a solid overview of the time period. For additional information I recommend reading Renaissance Music by Allan W. Atlas.

Introduction

The Renaissance (1400-1600), a term not coined until the 19th century, was a period of “rebirth” for classical antiquity (Greek and Roman values, especially those expounded by Cicero). In the Middle Ages, God was the measure of all things, but during the Renaissance man was the measure of all things (humanism, also not coined until the 19th century). The revival of classical antiquity came with a revival of the Latin language. In the early 14th century Dante and Petrarch set standards for Italian literature, but their language was often a bastardized form of Latin. A movement began to restore Latin to its original glory, and this was probably

•

Aleatoric music

Music in which some element of the composition is left to chance

Aleatoricmusic (also aleatory music or chance music; from the Latin word alea, meaning "dice") is music in which some element of the composition is left to chance, and/or some primary element of a composed work's realization is left to the determination of its performer(s). The term is most often associated with procedures in which the chance element involves a relatively limited number of possibilities.

The term became known to European composers through lectures by acousticianWerner Meyer-Eppler at the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music in the beginning of the 1950s. According to his definition, "a process is said to be aleatoric ... if its course is determined in general but depends on chance in detail". Through a confusion of Meyer-Eppler's German terms Aleatorik (noun) and aleatorisch (adjective), his translator created a new English word, "aleatoric" (rather than using the existing English adjective "aleatory"), which quickly became fashionable and has per