Alma redemptoris mater ockeghem biography

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The Missa Caput is almost certainly an early work, since it follows on an anonymous English mass of the same title dated to the 1440s, and his late masses may include the Missa Ma maistresse and Missa Fors seulement, in view of both his innovative treatment of the cantus firmus, and his tendency to write more and more homogeneous textures later in his life.[3]

Ockeghem used the cantus firmus technique in about half of his masses; the earliest of these masses use head-motifs at the start of the individual movements, a practice which was common around 1440 but which was archaic after around mid-century.[3] Two of his masses, Missa Ma maistresse and Missa Fors seulement, are based on chansons he wrote himself, and use more than one voice of the chanson, foreshadowing the parody mass techniques of the 16th century.

555.

Example

Recordings

  • Flemish Masters, Virginia Arts Recordings, VA-04413, performed by Zephyrus. (ISBN 0-2-85203-735-1)
  • Jeffrey Dean: "Okeghem's valediction? Éditions Klincksieck, 1998. Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood Press, 2003. Pp. 60–79.
  • Giulio Ongaro: Music of the Renaissance.

    In addition to serving at the French court – both for Charles VII and Louis XI[1] – he held posts at Notre Dame de Paris and at St. Benoît. Annales du Cercle d'histoire et d'archéologie de Saint-Ghislain et de la région. This suggests that, though he first appears in records in Flanders, he was a native speaker of Picard[6].

    In his remaining masses, including the Missa Mi-mi, Missa cuiusvis toni, and Missa prolationum, no borrowed material has been found, and the works seem to have been freely composed.[3][12]

    Ockeghem would sometimes place borrowed material in the lowest voice, such as in the Missa Caput, one of three masses written in the mid-15th century based on that fragment of chant from the English Sarum Rite.[3] Other characteristics of Ockeghem's compositional technique include his liking for varying the rhythmic shape of voices, so as to maintain their independence.[1].

    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.[4] Two of the most famous contrapuntal achievements of the 15th century include the astonishing Missa prolationum, which consists entirely of mensuration canons, and the 'Missa cuiusvis toni', designed to be performed in any of the different modes, but even these technique-oriented masterpieces demonstrate his insightful use of vocal ranges and uniquely expressive tonal language[13].

    (ISBN 0-393-09530-4)

  • Fabrice Fitch: Johannes Ockeghem: Masses and Models. Paris, Honoré Champion Éditeur, 1997. Alongside Binchois, Du Fay, Busnoys and Josquin, with whom his name is linked in documents of the time, he is considered one of the greatest composers of the 15th century. (ISBN 0-8240-8381-4)
  • Leeman Perkins: Music in the Age of the Renaissance.

    In addition to being a renowned composer, he was also an honored singer, choirmaster, and teacher.

    Works

    Masses

    1. Missa sine nomine a 3 (attrib)
    2. Missa sine nomine a 5 (incomplete: only Kyrie, Gloria and Credo exist)
    3. Missa Au travail suis a 4
    4. Missa Caput
    5. Missa cuiusvis toni
    6. Missa De plus en plus
    7. Missa Ecce ancilla Domini
    8. Missa Fors seulement a 5 (has not survived complete: only Kyrie, Gloria and Credo remain)
    9. Missa L'homme armé a 4
    10. Missa Ma maistresse (only Kyrie and Gloria extant)
    11. Missa Mi-mi a 4 (also known as the Missa quarti toni)
    12. Missa prolationum a 4 (circa 1470)
    13. Missa quinti toni a 3
    14. Missa pro defunctis (Requiem) a 4 (incomplete, probably composed for the funeral of Charles VII in 1461)
    15. Credo sine nomine (Mass section, also known as Credo "De village")

    Motets

    Marian antiphons

    1. Alma Redemptoris Mater
    2. Ave Maria
    3. Salve Regina

    Others

    1. Intemerata Dei mater a 5 (possibly written 1487)[16]
    2. Ut heremita solus (possibly intended for instrumental performance)
    3. Deo gratias a 36 (attrib)

    Motet-chanson

    1. Mort tu as navré/Miserere (lamentation on the death of Gilles Binchois, probably written in 1460)

    Chansons

    Two voices

    1. O rosa bella (ballata) (Ai lasso mi - John Bedyngham/John Dunstaple?)

    Three voices

    1. Aultre Venus estes
    2. Au travail suis (attrib: possibly by Barbingant)
    3. Baisiés moy dont fort
    4. D'ung aultre amer
    5. Fors seulement contre
    6. Fors seulement l'attente
    7. Il ne m'en chault plus
    8. La despourveue et la bannie
    9. L'autre d'antan
    10. Les desléaux ont la saison
    11. Ma bouche rit
    12. Ma maistresse
    13. Prenez sur moi
    14. Presque transi
    15. Quant de vous seul
    16. Qu'es mi vida preguntays
    17. Se vostre cuer eslongne
    18. Tant fuz gentement resjouy
    19. Ung aultre l'a

    Three or four voices

    1. J'en ay dueil

    Four voices

    1. S'elle m'amera/Petite camusette

A

B

C

D

E

F

I

J

M

  • Ma bouche rit (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Ma maistresse (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Malheur me bat (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Missa Au travail suis (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Missa Caput (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Missa cuiusvis toni (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Missa De plus en plus (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Missa Ecce ancilla Domini (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Missa Fors seulement (Ockeghem, Johannes)

M cont.

  • Missa L'homme armé (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Missa Le serviteur (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Missa Ma maistresse (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Missa Mi mi (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Missa Pour quelque paine (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Missa pro defunctis (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Missa Prolationum (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Missa quinti toni (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Missa sine nomine a 3 (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Missa sine nomine a 5 (Ockeghem, Johannes)
  • Mort tu as navré / Miserere (Ockeghem, Johannes)

N

O

P

Q

S

T

U

Repertoire



Composers

Johannes Ockeghem (c.

alma redemptoris mater ockeghem biography

He wrote a number of masses deploying a varied treatment of cantus-firmus melodies and complex polyphony. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. Like his contemporaries, he adhered to tradition, but no other 15th-century master seems to have handled with as much freedom compositional procedures such as head-motifs, cantus firmi and canonic imitation, nor to have treated established musical genres (mass, motet and chanson) with such subtly inventive creativity.

Links

For more information about the life and music of Johannes Ockeghem, check out these other websites:

Johannes Ockeghem - a discography
A very extensive discography referencing all known works attributed to Ockeghem.

Occasionally, Bavay, now in Nord department in France, was suggested as his birthplace as well[8].

Details of his early life are lacking. He probably sang under the direction of Johannes Pullois, whose employment also dates from that year[9].

Vocal Works Performed by SFBC


Johannes Ockeghem

Johannes Ockeghem (also Jean de, Jan; surname Okeghem, Ogkegum, Okchem, Hocquegam, Ockegham; other variant spellings are also encountered) (1410–1425, Saint-Ghislain, Belgium – February 6,[1] 1497, Tours, France) 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.

This particular speculation derives from Ockeghem's reference, in the lament he wrote on the death of Binchois in 1460, to a chanson by Binchois dated to that time.[3] In this lament Ockeghem not only honored the older composer by imitating his style, but also revealed some useful biographical information about him.[4] The comment by the poet Guillaume Crétin, in the lament he wrote on Ockeghem's death in 1497, "it was a great shame that a composer of his talents should die before 100 years old", is also often taken as evidence for the earlier birthdate for Ockeghem.

In 1993, documents dating from 1607 were found stating that "Jan Hocquegam" was a native of Saint-Ghislain in the County of Hainaut, which was confirmed by references in 16th century documents[5].