Josquin des Prez

Josquin Lebloitte dit des Prez was a singer and composer of Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he was a central figure of the Franco-Flemish School and had a profound influence on the music of 16th-century Europe. Building on the work of predecessors like Johannes Ockeghem, he developed a complex style of polyphony that emphasized the relationship between text and music. Josquin preferred motifs to melisma, and his compositions are mainly vocal works like masses, motets, and secular chansons.