Johannes Ockeghem And Jacob Obrecht: A Comparison

Within the Renaissance period there were many outstanding composers of sacred chorale music. Two of the most noticeable were Johannes Ockeghem and Jacob Obrecht. It appeared that they had somewhat similar paths through their lives and they may have met.

Johannes Ockeghem, born around 1410-20 A.D in Saint-Ghislian, Belgium. He received an early education in music but the whereabouts of where he was educated is not known. It has been suggested that there were two functioning music schools in the town of Mons which he could have been educated. It is suggested that he began his musical career as a chorister at a “cathedral in Antwerp in 1443”. By 1451 Ockeghem was a musician at the royal court and was one of the chapel singers for Charles the

Whereas Dufay, to whom his music was greatly compared, impressed by his use of the musical elements and “the grace, majesty and great clarity”, Ockeghem presented a different approach. Ockeghem’s music was noted to give a different musical personality such as it being “moody, flamboyant and enigmatic”. Some of his most noticeable mass compositions are: “Missa pro defunctis (Requiem)”, “Missa Au travil suis”, “Missa Caput”, and “Missa cuiusvis toni”. He also composed chansons: “O rosa belle”, “Aultre Venus estes”, “Les desleaus ont la saison” and “Ma bouche rit”. (Web.

Not much is known about his mother or his early childhood but it was stated that he was and educated man. He was educated at a choir school and then attended university where he completed his Masters in Arts by 1480. Fresh out of university two of his masses where already being used as part of the repertoire of the Pope’s Sistine choir ("Jacob Obrecht (1457/8-1505) - A Discography." Jacob Obrecht). His first official job was in 1480 when he gained the position as choirmaster at the “Guild of Our Lady at Bergen”. It wasn’t clear if he had taken the job while completing university the same year or whether it was after when he completed his masters. Within the coming years in 1484 he was named the under-singer for the church of St Donatian’s in Bruges. In 1487, the Duke of Ferrara, Ercole d’Este invited him to work at his chapel. It was stated that he worked there for about one year before returning to Bergen. He resumed his old post upon returning “to the drudge of daily singing, teaching and administration must have seemed like a defeat.”(Jacob Obrecht: A Restless Musical Mind." Gramophone.) During the years Obrecht had already composed numerous masses and was noticeably one of the most distinguished composers of the century along with many others of that time. Obrecht’s compositions pointed to a composer who concerned with celebration and