Des Prez & Fayrfax: Masses

Of all the Franco-Flemish composers of the high Renaissance, only Josquin des Prez has begun to make an impression on today's wider listening public. Yet despite fame in his time and ours, his biography is very sketchy indeed; and the style of the music, outside of two or three "standards” is not well understood Experts cannot reliably distinguish Josquin’s music from that of his contemporaries, nor can we discover where, when, or why he created most of his music without a more secure life history. Josquin traveled south to earn his living at the rich courts and churches of Italy as did many Flemish musicians of the time. After holding positions in Milan he joined the papal choir in Rome. Around 1500, his whereabouts are uncertain; but it is likely that he worked for the French royal court After a brief stay in Ferrara he ended up in a small town in northern France near nis birthplace for the last decade of his life.

In contrast with this Flemish Mass, we are also presenting a large-scale votive antiphon by the English contemporary of Josquin, Robert Fayrfax a member of the Chapels Royal of Henry VII and Henry VIII. It is often stated that English composition of this period was quite insulated from continental influences and had developed its own late medieval style distinct from the Renaissance spirit of Josquin and contemporaries.