RenaissanceJohannes Ockeghem
Johannes Ockeghem was born more than six hundred years ago in a region that is now Belgium.
Johannes Ockeghem’s life
The big moments of this life, and what was happening in the world at the same time.
A life at a glance
- 1410👶 Birth
Born around 1410 in Saint-Ghislain, Hainaut
- 1429🌍 Meanwhile
Joan of Arc lifts the siege of Orléans
- 1443🎩 Careerabout age 33
Singer at Notre-Dame, Antwerp
- 1446🎩 Careerabout age 36
In the service of Duke Charles I of Bourbon in Moulins
- 1453🏛️ Landmarkabout age 43
End of the Hundred Years’ War
- 1455🌍 Meanwhile
Gutenberg prints his Bible
- 1460🎼 Workabout age 50
Lament on the death of Binchois
- 1470🧳 Journeyabout age 60
Diplomatic journey to Spain for Louis XI
- 1475🎼 Workabout age 65
Requiem, the oldest surviving polyphonic Requiem
- 1492🌍 Meanwhile
Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
- 1497🕯️ Deathabout age 87
Dies in Tours on 6 February; Josquin writes a lament
Listen to the music
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Johannes Ockeghem’s music is in the public domain, but Wikimedia Commons does not yet offer a freely licensed recording of these works. The links below lead to scores and searches on Commons; as soon as a free recording is published, it can be added here.
Once upon a time…
Johannes Ockeghem was born more than six hundred years ago in a region that is now Belgium. He had a very, very deep bass voice, so low that it impressed everyone.
He became head of the King of France’s singers and worked for three kings, one after another! He lived in Tours, near the castles of the Loire.
Ockeghem loved musical puzzles. In one of his masses the voices sing the same tune… but each at a different speed, like runners following the same path at different paces.
When he died, his pupil Josquin wrote a very sad song to say goodbye. It is called a “lament”.
Johannes Ockeghem’s instruments
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Same era · Renaissance
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