Johannes Ockeghem

itating his style, but also revealed some useful biographical information about him.[6] The comment by the poet
Guillaume Crtin, in the lament he wrote on Ockeghems
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 conrmed by references in 16th century documents.[7] This suggests that,
though he rst appears in records in Flanders, he was
a native speaker of Picard.[8] Previously, most biographies surmised that he was born in East Flanders, either in the town after which he was named (present-day
Okegem, from which his ancestors must have come) or
in the neighboring town of Dendermonde (French: Termonde), where the surname Ockeghem occurred in the
14th and 15th century.[9] Occasionally, Bavay, now in the
Nord department in France, was suggested as his birthplace as well.[10]

Johannes Ockeghem[1]

Johannes Ockeghem (also Jean de, Jan; surname

Okeghem, Ogkegum, Okchem, Hocquegam, Ockegham; other variant spellings are also encountered)
(1410/1425 February 6,[2] 1497) was the most famous
composer of the Franco-Flemish School in the last half
of the 15th century, and is often considered the most inuential composer between Dufay and Josquin des Prez.
In addition to being a renowned composer, he was also
an honored singer, choirmaster, and teacher.

Details of his early life are lacking. Like many composers in this period, he started his musical career as a
chorister, although the exact location of his education is
unknown: Mons, a town near Saint-Ghislain that had at
least two churches with competent music schools, has
been suggested.[5] The rst actual documented record
of Ockeghem is from the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe cathedral
in Antwerp, where he was employed in June 1443 as
a left-hand choir singer (left-handers sang composed
music, right-handers sang chant). He probably sang under the direction of Johannes Pullois, whose employment
also dates from that year.[11] This church was a distin1 Life
guished establishment, and it was likely here that OckThe spelling of Ockeghems name comes from a sup- eghem became familiar with the English compositional
late 15th-century musical practice
posed autograph of his which survived as late as 1885, style, which inuenced
[2]
on
the
continent.
and was reproduced by Eugne Giraudet, a historian in
Tours;[3] the document has since been lost. In 15th- Between 1446 and 1448 Ockeghem served, along with
century sources, the spelling Okeghem predominates. singer and composer Jean Cousin, at the court of Charles
[2]
Ockeghem is believed to have been born in Saint- I, Duke of Bourbon in Moulins, now in central France.
the singing
Ghislain, Belgium. His birthdate is unknown; dates as During this service he became the rst among
[2]
[4] chaplains to appear in the court records.
Around
1452
early as 1410, and as late as 1430 have been proposed.
he
moved
to
Paris
where
he
served
as
maestro
di
cappella
The earlier date is based on the possibility that he knew
of the collegiate
Binchois in Hainaut before the older composer moved to the French court, as well as treasurer
[2]
[2]
Tours.
In
addition
to servchurch
of
St.
Martin,
at
from Mons to Lille in 1423. Ockeghem would have to
ing
at
the
French
court

both
for
Charles
VII
and
Louis
have been younger than 15 at the time. This particular
[2]

he
held
posts
at
Notre
Dame
de
Paris
and
at St.
XI
speculation derives from Ockeghems reference, in the
Benot.
He
is
known
to
have
traveled
to
Spain
in
1470,
lament he wrote on the death of Binchois in 1460, to a
chanson by Binchois dated to that time.[5] In this lament as part of a diplomatic mission for the King, which was
Ockeghem not only honored the older composer by im- a complex aair attempting both to dissuade Spain from
1

2 MUSIC AND INFLUENCE

joining an alliance with England and Burgundy against

France, and to arrange a marriage between Isabella I of
Castile and Charles, Duke of Guyenne (the brother of
king Louis XI).[5] After the death of Louis XI (1483),
not much is known for certain about Ockeghems whereabouts, though it is known that he went to Bruges and
Tours, and he probably died in the latter town since he
left a will there. An indication of the renown in which
Ockeghem was held is the number of laments written on
his death in 1497; among the most famous of the musical settings of these many poems is Nymphes des bois by
Josquin des Prez.[5]

Some of his works, alongside compositions by his contemporaries, are included in Petrucci's Harmonice musices odhecaton (1501), the rst collection of music to be
published using moveable type.[13]

Dating Ockeghems works is controversial, as there are

almost no external references allowing precise dating, excepting of course the death of Binchois (1460) for which
Ockeghem composed a motet-chanson. 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
Ockeghem probably studied with Gilles Binchois, and at innovative treatment of the cantus rmus, and his tenleast was closely associated with him at the Burgundian dency to write more and more homogeneous textures later
court. Since Antoine Busnois wrote a motet in honor in his life.[5]
of Ockeghem sometime before 1467, it is probable that Ockeghem used the cantus rmus technique in about half
those two were acquainted as well; and writers of the of his masses; the earliest of these masses use head-motifs
time often link Dufay, Busnois and Ockeghem. Although at the start of the individual movements, a practice which
Ockeghems musical style diers considerably from that was common around 1440 but which was archaic afof the older generation, it is probable that he acquired his ter around mid-century.[5] Two of his masses, Missa Ma
basic technique from them, and as such can be seen as a maistresse and Missa Fors seulement, are based on chandirect link from the Burgundian style to the next genera- sons he wrote himself, and use more than one voice of the
tion of Netherlanders, such as Obrecht and Josquin.
chanson, foreshadowing the parody mass techniques of

Music and inuence

the 16th century. 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.[5][14]
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.[5]
Other characteristics of Ockeghems compositional technique include his liking for varying the rhythmic shape of
voices, so as to maintain their independence.[2]

An illuminated opening from the Chigi codex featuring the Kyrie

of Ockeghems Missa Ecce ancilla Domini

Ockeghem was not a prolic composer, given the length

of his career and extent of his reputation, and some of
his work was lost. Many works formerly attributed to
Ockeghem are now presumed to be by other composers;
Ockeghems total output of reliably attributed compositions, as with many of the most famous composers of the
time (such as Josquin), has shrunk with time.[5] Surviving,
reliably-attributed, works include some 14 masses (including a Requiem mass), an isolated Credo (Credo sine
nomine), 5 motets, a motet-chanson (a deploration on the
death of Binchois), and 21 chansons.[2] Thirteen of Ockeghems masses are preserved in the Chigi codex, a Flemish manuscript dating to around 1500.[12] His Missa pro
Defunctis is the earliest surviving polyphonic Requiem
mass (a setting by Dufay, possibly earlier, has been lost).

A strong inuence 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.[6] 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.[15] Being a renowned
bass singer himself, his use of wide-ranging and rhythmically active bass lines sets him apart from many of the
other composers in the Netherlandish Schools.
Ockeghem died in Tours, France. To commemorate his
death, Josquin des Prez composed the motet La dploration de la mort de Johannes Ockeghem, a setting of the
poem Nymphes des bois by Jean Molinet. An unusually
large number of laments appeared after the death of this
great composer. Some of the authors of these poems included Molinet and Desiderius Erasmus; Johannes Lupi
provided another musical setting.[15]

Works

3.1

Masses

1. Missa sine nomine

2. Missa sine nomine (incomplete: only Kyrie, Gloria
and Credo exist)
3. Missa Au travail suis
4. Missa Caput
5. Missa cuiusvis toni
6. Missa De plus en plus
7. Missa Ecce ancilla Domini

3.4.2 Three voices

1. Aultre Venus estes
2. Au travail suis (attrib: possibly by Barbingant)
3. Baisis 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

8. Missa Fors seulement (has not survived complete:

only Kyrie, Gloria and Credo remain)

10. Les deslaux ont la saison

9. Missa L'homme arm

11. Ma bouche rit

10. Missa Ma maistresse (only Kyrie and Gloria extant)

11. Missa Mi-mi (also known as the Missa quarti toni)
12. Missa prolationum
13. Missa quinti toni
14. Missa pro defunctis (Requiem)
15. Credo sine nomine (Mass section)

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

3.2
3.2.1

Motets
Marian antiphons

1. Alma Redemptoris Mater

18. Tant fuz gentement resjouy

19. Ung aultre l'a
3.4.3 Three or four voices

2. Ave Maria
3. Salve Regina
3.2.2

Others

1. Intemerata Dei mater (possibly written 1487)[16]

1. J'en ay dueil
3.4.4 Four voices
1. S'elle m'amera/Petite camusette

2. Ut heremita solus

4 Recordings
3.3

Motet-chanson

1. Mort tu as navr/Miserere (lamentation on the death

of Gilles Binchois, probably written in 1460)

3.4

Chansons

3.4.1

Two voices

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

Flemish Masters, Virginia Arts Recordings, VA04413, performed by Zephyrus. Includes the Ockeghem Alma Redemptoris mater, the Obrecht Missa
Sub tuum presidium, as well as motets by Willaert,
Clemens non Papa, Josquin, Mouton, and Gombert.
Angelus, Virginia Arts Recordings, VA-00338, performed by Zephyrus. Includes the Ockeghem Ave
Maria ... benedicta tu, as well as motets by Palestrina, Josquin, Victoria, Rore, Morales, Clemens non
Papa, Lassus, de Wert, and Andrea Gabrieli

7
Missa Cuiusvis Toni, on, CD 0753 (2 CDs2007), performed by Ensemble Musica Nova, Lucien Kandel; First recording of the four versions.
Ed. Grard Geay.
Missa prolationum, agogique AGO 008, Ensemble Musica Nova, Lucien Kandel. Ed. Grard Geay.

Notes

[1] This portrait is tentatively identied as Ockeghem by

Reinhard Strohm, Portrait of a Musician, in Johannes
Ockeghem: Actes du XLe Colloque international des
d'tudes humanistes [Tours, 1997] ed. Philippe Vendrix
(Paris, Klinckseick, 1998), pp 167-172.
[2] Brown & Stein, p61.
[3] Giraudet, 1885. Les artists tourangeaux (series: Mmoires
de la Socit Achologique de Touraine, 33) pp 312f.
[4] Fitch, p. 57.
[5] Perkins, Grove online
[6] Brown & Stein, p61-71.
[7] Van Overstraeten, pp 11-17
[8] Brown & Stein, p60
[9] Van Overstraeten, pp 10
[10] Van Overstraeten, pp 8-9
[11] Starr, Grove online

EXTERNAL LINKS

Fabrice Fitch: Johannes Ockeghem: Masses and

Models. Paris, Honor Champion diteur, 1997.
(ISBN 978-2-85203-735-9)
Jerey Dean: Okeghems valediction? The meaning of 'Intemerata Dei mater'", in Johannes Ockeghem: Actes du XLe Colloque international d'tudes
humanistes. ditions Klincksieck, 1998. (ISBN 2252-03214-6)
Martin Picker: Johannes Ockeghem and Jacob
Obrecht: A Guide to Research. (Garland Composer
Resource Manuals, 13.) New York: Garland Publishing Co., 1988. (ISBN 0-8240-8381-4)
Leeman Perkins: Music in the Age of the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1999.
Howard M. Brown & Louise K. Stein: Music in the
Renaissance, 2nd ed. New Jersey, Prentice Hall,
1996. Pp. 6079.
Giulio Ongaro: Music of the Renaissance. Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood Press, 2003. P.32.
Daniel Van Overstraeten: Le lieu de naissance du
musicien Jean Ockeghem (ca 14201497): une
nigme lucide. Annales du Cercle d'histoire et
d'archologie de Saint-Ghislain et de la rgion. VI
1993. (in French)
Philippe Vendrix, dir. Johannes Ockeghem. Actes
du XIe Colloque international d'tudes humanistes.
Centre d'Etudes Suprieures de la Renaissance.
Coll. Epitome musical. Kincksieck, 1998. ISBN
2-252-03214-6 (in French and in English).

[12] Brown & Stein, p70.

[13] Brown & Stein, p68.
[14] Brown & Stein, p62.
[15] Brown & Stein, p69.
[16] Dean, p. 555.

References
Leeman Perkins: Johannes Ockeghem"; Pamela
Starr, Johannes Pullois. Grove Music Online,
ed. L. Macy (Accessed December 23, 2007),
(subscription access)
Article Johannes Ockeghem, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie.
20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.
(ISBN 1-56159-174-2)
Gustave Reese: Music in the Renaissance. New
York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. (ISBN 0-39309530-4)

7 External links
Ockeghem biography and discography
Free scores by Johannes Ockeghem in the Choral
Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
Free scores by Johannes Ockeghem at the
International Music Score Library Project
Johannes Ockeghem Home Page
"Jean d'Okeghem". Catholic Encyclopedia. New
York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1

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8.3

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