Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1420-1497); FLM

Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1410–1497) was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer and one of the most influential musicians of the fifteenth century. His early life is poorly documented, but by the 1440s he was active in the Low Countries, and in 1451 he entered the service of the French royal court. He served three successive French kings and held the prestigious post of treasurer at the Abbey of Saint-Martin in Tours. Widely admired by contemporaries, he was commemorated after his death in poems and musical laments, including Josquin des Prez’s Nymphes des bois.

Ockeghem’s surviving output is relatively small but exceptionally influential, comprising Masses, motets, and chansons. His Missa prolationum is an extraordinary exploration of mensuration canon, while the Missa cuiusvis toni was designed to be performable in more than one mode. He is also credited with one of the earliest surviving polyphonic Requiem settings. His long-breathed melodic lines, intricate counterpoint, and subtle treatment of vocal register profoundly influenced the next generation of Franco-Flemish composers.

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Read biography at allmusic.com.