Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1410 – February 6, 1497) was a composer and singer from the early Renaissance period. He was an important European composer during the time between Guillaume Du Fay and Josquin des Prez. Ockeghem, along with his colleague Antoine Busnois, was a well-known composer in the second half of the 15th century. He was a key figure in the early Franco-Flemish School of music.

Ockeghem worked closely with other famous composers of his time. He spent much of his career serving the French royal court under kings Charles VII, Louis XI, and Charles VIII. Many poets and musicians expressed sadness after his death, including Erasmus, Guillaume Crétin, Jean Molinet, and Josquin des Prez, who wrote the famous piece Nymphes des bois in his honor.

It is believed that the surviving works of Ockeghem represent only a small part of all the music he created. His known works include about 14 masses, 20 chansons, and fewer than 10 motets, though exact numbers are uncertain due to unclear attributions. Some of his most famous compositions are the Missa prolationum, a piece based on a musical technique called a canon; the Missa cuiusvis toni, which can be performed in any musical mode; the chanson Fors seulement; and the earliest known polyphonic Requiem.

Life

The spelling of Ockeghem's name comes from a supposed handwritten document of his that was still around until 1885. This document was copied by Eugène Giraudet, a historian in Tours, but it has since been lost. In 15th-century records, the spelling "Okeghem" was more common. Other spellings include Ogkegum, Okchem, Hocquegam, and Ockegham.

Ockeghem is believed to have been born in Saint-Ghislain, a Walloon city in the Burgundian Netherlands (now part of Belgium). His exact birthdate is unknown, but some sources suggest he was born as early as 1410 or as late as 1430. The earlier date is based on the possibility that he knew Binchois in Hainaut before Binchois moved from Mons to Lille in 1423. If this were true, Ockeghem would have been younger than 15 at the time. This idea comes from a lament Ockeghem wrote after Binchois's death in 1460, which mentions a chanson by Binchois from that time. In this lament, Ockeghem honored Binchois by imitating his musical style and provided some details about him. A comment by the poet Guillaume Crétin in a lament written after Ockeghem's death in 1497—stating it was a shame that a composer of his talent died before turning 100—also supports the earlier birthdate theory.

In 1993, documents from 1607 were discovered stating that "Jan Hocquegam" was from Saint-Ghislain in the County of Hainaut. This was confirmed by references in 16th-century records. This suggests that, although he first appeared in records in Flanders, he likely spoke the Picard language. Previously, most biographies suggested he was born in East Flanders, either in the town now called Okegem (from which his ancestors may have come) or in the nearby town of Dendermonde (French: Termonde), where the surname Ockeghem appeared in the 14th and 15th centuries. Occasionally, Bavay, now in the Nord department of France, was also suggested as his birthplace.

Little is known about Ockeghem’s early life. Like many composers of his time, he likely began his musical career as a chorister, though the exact location of his education is unclear. Mons, a town near Saint-Ghislain with at least two churches that had strong music schools, has been suggested as a possible place where he studied. The first documented record of Ockeghem appears in 1443, when he was employed as a "left-hand choir singer" at the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe cathedral in Antwerp. Left-hand choir singers performed composed music, while right-hand singers performed chant. He probably sang under the direction of Johannes Pullois, who was also employed that year. This church was a respected institution, and it is likely where Ockeghem first learned about the English musical style, which some believe influenced music on the continent in the late 15th century.

Ockeghem likely studied with Gilles Binchois and was closely associated with him at the Burgundian court. Since Antoine Busnois wrote a motet honoring Ockeghem before 1467, it is likely they knew each other. Writers of the time often linked Dufay, Busnois, and Ockeghem. Although Ockeghem’s musical style was different from that of older composers, he probably learned his basic techniques from them. This makes him a direct link between the Burgundian style and the next generation of Netherlandish composers, such as Obrecht and Josquin.

Between 1446 and 1448, Ockeghem served at the court of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon in Moulins, now in central France, along with singer and composer Jean Cousin. During this time, he became the first singing chaplain recorded in the court. Around 1452, he moved to Paris, where he worked as the French court’s maestro di cappella and as the treasurer of the collegiate church of St. Martin in Tours. He also held positions at Notre Dame de Paris and St. Benoît. In 1470, he traveled to Spain as part of a diplomatic mission for the French king. This mission aimed to prevent 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 (the brother of King Louis XI). After the death of Louis XI in 1483, little is known for certain about Ockeghem’s movements, though he is recorded as having been in Bruges and Tours. He likely died in Tours, as he left a will there. The many laments written about Ockeghem’s death on February 6, 1497, show the respect he received from his contemporaries. One of the most famous musical settings of these poems is Nymphes des bois by Josquin des Prez. Other authors of these poems included Molinet and Desiderius Erasmus, and Johannes Lupi provided another musical setting.

Music and influence

Ockeghem's musical output was limited compared to the length of his career and his well-known reputation. Some of his works were lost, and many compositions once thought to be his are now believed to belong to other composers. Over time, the number of works that can be confidently attributed to Ockeghem, like those of famous composers such as Josquin, has decreased. Surviving works that are definitely his include about 14 masses (including a Requiem), one Credo (Credo sine nomine), five motets, a motet-chanson (a piece mourning the death of Binchois), and 21 chansons. Thirteen of his masses are found in the Chigi codex, a Flemish manuscript from around 1500. His Missa pro Defunctis is the earliest known polyphonic Requiem mass; another possible earlier version by Dufay has been lost. Some of his works, along with those of his contemporaries, appear in Petrucci's Harmonice musices odhecaton (1501), the first music collection printed using movable type.

Dating Ockeghem's works is difficult because there are few external references, except for the death of Binchois in 1460, for which Ockeghem composed a motet-chanson. The Missa Caput is likely an early work, as it follows an anonymous English mass of the same name from the 1440s. His later masses may include the Missa Ma maistresse and Missa Fors seulement, due to his innovative use of the cantus firmus and his later, more uniform musical textures.

Ockeghem used the cantus firmus technique in about half of his masses. The earliest of these masses used short musical phrases (head motifs) at the start of each movement, a common practice in the 1440s but outdated by the 1450s. Three of his masses—Missa Ma maistresse, Missa Fors seulement, and Missa Mi-mi—are based on chansons he composed himself, using more than one voice from the chanson, a method that foreshadowed techniques used in the 16th century. In his other masses, such as the Missa cuiusvis toni and Missa prolationum, no borrowed material has been found, and the works appear to be entirely original.

Ockeghem sometimes placed borrowed melodies in the lowest voice, as in the Missa Caput, one of three masses from the mid-15th century based on a chant from the English Sarum Rite. Other features of his style include varying the rhythmic patterns of different voices to keep them distinct.

Ockeghem influenced Josquin des Prez and later Netherlandish composers. He was known across Europe for his expressive music and technical skill. Two of the most important contrapuntal achievements of the 15th century are his Missa prolationum, which is entirely made up of mensuration canons, and the Missa cuiusvis toni, which can be performed in any of the musical modes. Even these technically complex works show his unique use of vocal ranges and tonal language. Ockeghem's use of wide, rhythmically active bass lines was unusual among Netherlandish composers and may have been due to his own vocal range.

Thomas Tallis's Missa Puer natus est nobis includes mysterious, puzzle-like patterns in the note lengths of the cantus firmus, similar to the mathematical patterns found in Ockeghem's cantus firmi.

List of compositions

• Missa sine nomine a 3 (uncertain authorship)
• Missa sine nomine a 5 (incomplete: only Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo exist)
• Missa Au travail suis a 4
• Missa Caput
• Missa cuiusvis toni
• Missa De plus en plus
• Missa Ecce ancilla Domini
• Missa Fors seulement a 5 (not fully preserved: only Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo remain)
• Missa L'homme armé a 4
• Missa Ma maistresse (only Kyrie and Gloria still exist)
• Missa Mi-mi a 4 (also called the Missa quarti toni)
• Missa prolationum a 4 (around 1470)
• Missa quinti toni a 3
• Missa pro defunctis (Requiem) a 4 (incomplete, likely written for the funeral of Charles VII in 1461)
• Credo sine nomine (Mass section, also called Credo "De village")

• Alma Redemptoris Mater
• Ave Maria
• Salve Regina

• Intemerata Dei mater a 5 (possibly written in 1487)
• Ut heremita solus (possibly intended for instrumental performance)
• Deo gratias a 36 (uncertain authorship)
• Gaude Maria (uncertain authorship)

• Mort tu as navré/Miserere (lamentation on the death of Gilles Binchois, likely written in 1460)

• O rosa bella (ballata) (Ai lasso mi – John Bedyngham/John Dunstaple?)

• Aultre Venus estes
• Au travail suis (attributed: possibly by Barbingant)
• Baisiés moy dont fort
• D'ung aultre amer
• Fors seulement contre
• Fors seulement l'attente
• Il ne m'en chault plus
• La despourveue et la bannie
• L'autre d'antan
• Les desléaux ont la saison
• Ma bouche rit
• Ma maistresse
• Prenez sur moi
• Presque transi
• Quant de vous seul
• Qu'es mi vida preguntays
• Se vostre cuer eslongne
• Tant fuz gentement resjouy
• Ung aultre l'a

• J'en ay dueil

• S'elle m'amera/Petite camusette

Recordings

• Flemish Masters, Virginia Arts Recordings, VA-04413, performed by Zephyrus. Features the piece "Alma Redemptoris mater" by Ockeghem, the "Missa Sub tuum presidium" by Obrecht, and motets by Willaert, Clemens non Papa, Josquin, Mouton, and Gombert.
• Angelus, Virginia Arts Recordings, VA-00338, performed by Zephyrus. Features the piece "Ave Maria … benedicta tu" by Ockeghem, and motets by Palestrina, Josquin, Victoria, Rore, Morales, Clemens non Papa, Lassus, de Wert, and Andrea Gabrieli.
• "Missa Cuiusvis Toni," æon, ÆCD 0753 (2 CDs-2007), performed by Ensemble Musica Nova, Lucien Kandel. This is the first recording of the four different versions. Edited by Gérard Geay.
• "Missa prolationum," agogique AGO 008, performed by Ensemble Musica Nova, Lucien Kandel. Edited by Gérard Geay.