16 Facts About Johannes Ockeghem

Johannes Ockeghem was an important proponent of the early Franco-Flemish School.

Johannes Ockeghem was well associated with other prominent composers of the time, and spent most of his career serving the French royal court under Charles VII, Louis XI and Charles VIII.

The spelling of Johannes Ockeghem's name comes from a supposed autograph of his which survived as late as 1885, and was reproduced by Eugene Giraudet, a historian in Tours; the document has since been lost.

Johannes Ockeghem is believed to have been born in the Walloon city Saint-Ghislain, Burgundian Netherlands.

Johannes Ockeghem's birthdate is unknown; dates as early as 1410 and as late as 1430 have been proposed.

Johannes Ockeghem would have to have been younger than 15 at the time.

The comment by the poet Guillaume Cretin, in the lament he wrote on Johannes Ockeghem's death in 1497, "it was a great shame that a composer of his talents should die before 100 years old", is often taken as evidence for the earlier birthdate for Johannes Ockeghem.

Previously, most biographies surmised that he was born in East Flanders, either in the town after which he was named or in the neighboring town of Dendermonde, where the surname Johannes Ockeghem occurred in the 14th and 15th century.

Johannes Ockeghem probably sang under the direction of Johannes Pullois, whose employment dates from that year.

Johannes Ockeghem probably studied with Gilles Binchois, and at least was closely associated with him at the Burgundian court.

Between 1446 and 1448 Johannes Ockeghem served, along with singer and composer Jean Cousin, at the court of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon in Moulins, now in central France.

Johannes Ockeghem is known to have travelled to Spain in 1470, as part of a diplomatic mission for the King, which was a complex affair attempting both to dissuade Spain from joining an alliance with England and Burgundy against France, and to arrange a marriage between Isabella I of Castile and Charles, Duke of Guyenne.

Johannes Ockeghem's output was limited relative to the length of his career and his established reputation, and some of his work was lost.

Thirteen of Johannes Ockeghem's masses are preserved in the Chigi codex, a Flemish manuscript dating to around 1500.

Johannes Ockeghem used the cantus firmus technique in about half of his masses; the earliest of these masses used head motifs at the start of the individual movements, a common practice around 1440 but one that had already become archaic by around 1450.

Johannes Ockeghem influenced Josquin des Prez and the subsequent generation of Netherlandish composers; he was known throughout Europe for his expressive music and his technical skill.