III. The Early Renaissance (1350-1500)
IIId. The Netherlanders to Ockeghem.
As the Middle Ages drew to a close, music
was in a state of separatism, mannerism, and confusion. From this
disorder
Dunstable
and
Dufay
forged a new International style that was to serve as a model
for well over a century. Because virtually all the important
composers writing in this style emanated from what is today
central and southern Holland, Belgium, and the northeastern
portion of France, they have commonly been labelled
Franco-Flemish, and the century 1450-1550 is known as "the age of
the Netherlanders." Most of these composers worked for the
Emperor, the King of France, the Pope, or at one of the Italian
courts (while Italy did not actually produce any major composers
during this period, it did provide employment for some of the
greatest).
The most significant composers of the
generation after Dufay and
Binchois
were
Antoine Busnois
and
Johannes Ockeghem
. In many respects their careers paralleled those of their
predecessors. Busnois, like Binchois, spent most of his career in
the employ of the Burgundian court, and excelled in elegant and
refined chansons, often to hedonistic texts of his own creation.
But unquestionably the dominant musician of his era, and the
successor to Dufay as master of the large-scale form, was
Ockeghem.
Supplemental Materials
Composer´s bibliography and music
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