Johannes Ockeghem

Johannes Ockeghem was a 15th-century Franco-Flemish composer and singer whose intricate polyphony, especially in his masses, shaped Renaissance music.

Polyphony: Music in which two or more independent melodic lines sound simultaneously. Ockeghem’s interweaving vocal lines make polyphony the foundation of his style.
Canon (music): A contrapuntal composition in which voices reproduce a melody at different times or pitches. Ockeghem’s canonic writing turns strict imitation into a framework for intricate vocal motion.
Bourges: A city in central France that served as an important political and ecclesiastical center in the 15th century. Ockeghem held a prominent musical post at the collegiate church of Saint-Martin in Bourges.
Guillaume Dufay: A Franco-Flemish composer whose work helped establish the international polyphonic style of the 15th century. Dufay represents the earlier generation whose musical language Ockeghem inherited and extended.
Missa Cuiusvis Toni: A mass by Johannes Ockeghem designed to be performable in any of four modes through alternative clefs. Its adaptable notation demonstrates how Ockeghem made musical structure an interpretive challenge.
Imitative counterpoint: A contrapuntal technique in which one voice repeats a melodic idea introduced by another. Ockeghem uses imitation within the broader, often less overtly patterned practice of his generation.
Prolation canon: A canon in which voices perform the same melody at different rhythmic speeds. The Missa Prolationum derives its structure from canons at multiple rhythmic proportions.
French royal chapel: The household institution that provided religious services and music for the French monarch. Ockeghem served the French court as a singer and later held senior musical responsibilities.
Antoine Busnois: A 15th-century Burgundian composer known for masses, chansons, and courtly music. Busnois was a near contemporary whose career overlapped with Ockeghem’s at the French court.
Missa Caput: A mass by Johannes Ockeghem based on the melody of the English chant known as Caput. Its borrowed chant and low-register writing show his transformation of an inherited mass model.

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