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JOHANNES OCKEGHEM
c.1410–1497
Born in Flanders, Johannes Ockeghem
made his name in Paris at the court of
King Charles VII and his successors,
becoming one of the most celebrated
composers of early Renaissance Europe.
Much of his work has been lost, but
surviving compositions include 14
Masses and 10 motets (religious choral
works) along with 20 secular chansons.
Ockeghem introduced richer, more
sonorous harmonies to Renaissance
music, exploring the lower reaches of
the bass part for the first time. His
works are contrapuntal, weaving
together two or more melodic lines.
ORLANDO DI LASSO
1532–1594
As a boy chorister in Mons (in modern
Belgium), Orlando di Lasso was so
renowned for the beauty of his voice that
he was kidnapped three times by those
keen to have him in their choirs. In
1556 he moved to Munich, where he
remained for the rest of his life, serving
as kapellmeister (director of music) to
Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria. As a
composer, he was both versatile and
prolific, writing more than 2,000 works.
His secular pieces include songs in
JAN PIETERSZOON SWEELINCK
1562–1621
Dutchman Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
was the most influential performer and
composer of organ music before J.S.
Bach. Before the age of 20, he succeeded
his father as organist at Amsterdam’s
Oude Kerk (Old Church), where he
would later be succeeded by his own
son. He wrote vocal music, both sacred
and secular, but is remembered for
his innovative organ works, in which,
among other things, he developed the
fugue form. As an organist, he was
famous for his virtuoso improvisations
before and after services. His many
pupils spread across Protestant northern
Germany, themselves influencing the
young Handel and Bach.
CARLO GESUALDO
1566–1613
A man of passionate and often
melancholy temperament, Neapolitan
nobleman Carlo Gesualdo, Prince
of Venosa, is believed to have been
personally responsible for the revenge
murder of his first wife and her lover, the
Duke of Andria. Gesualdo also published
three books of motets (religious choral
works) and six of madrigals. The later
books of madrigals, in particular, show
DIRECTORY
I
n addition to the composers covered in the preceding chapters
in this book, numerous others have also made an impact on the
development of classical music. The music represented by those
listed here—many of whom were also teachers, scholars, and virtuoso
soloists—is diverse, ranging from the choral works of the great Spanish
composer of the Renaissance, Tomás Luis de Victoria, to the loud and
unsettling symphonies of Anton Bruckner, while the particular impact
of Mily Balakirev was in leading the circle of composers known as Russia’s
“Mighty Handful,” or “Five.” What unites them is the way they have
enriched the lives of their audiences and influenced the compositions
of their peers with new ideas or refinements of existing ones.
Italian (madrigals), French (chansons),
and German (Lieder). His sacred music
includes settings of the psalms, notably
a sequence of penitential psalms, Psalmi
Davidis poenitentiales (published in
1584). His music has an emotional
intensity, reflecting the words he set
to music, that preempts the Baroque
style of the 18th century.
TOMÁS LUIS DE VICTORIA
c.1548–1611
Spain’s greatest Renaissance composer,
Tomás Luis de Victoria, was born near
Ávila in central Castile. He enjoyed royal
patronage from an early age, and in his
late teens, King Philip II sent de Victoria
to Rome, where he was ordained a priest
but also practiced as a musician—
probably studying under the composer
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. He
returned to Spain around the age of 40,
becoming director of music and later
organist at the wealthy convent of Las
Descalzas Reales in Madrid. His work
is dramatic and sometimes vividly
pictorial, as in the motet Cum Beatus
Ignatius, where the music evokes the
wild beasts tearing at the Christian
martyr Ignatius of Antioch. His deep
spirituality is expressed in settings
of the psalms and several Masses,
including the Missa O quam gloriosum
and the Missa Ave Regina coelorum.
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