A pupil of Ockeghem, Josquin des Préz was the finest composer of the High Renaissance. He began as a choirboy in St Quentin, and then went to Milan where he sang in the cathedral choir and also worked for the Sforza family.

In the late 1480s he was a member of the papal choir. When the plague broke out in 1503, he fled north and became the provost of the church of Notre-Dame in Condé. He died there in 1521.

(contribution by Daniel Chu <dchuau@gmail.com>)

Josquin des Préz was the first master of the High Renaissance style. He was born in the north of France and traveled to Italy during his early life. He has brought the fifteenth-century Mass to a brillant climax and pioneered new genres, such as that of the sixteenth-century chanson and motet. Josquin wrote 18 different settings of the Mass — all in the 5 section form. One of his works was the Pange lingua Mass, a Gregorian hymn.

(contribution by erin <sugaree063@aol.com>)