Jacob Obrecht (1457/81 – 1505) was a Flemish-Dutch,
Low Countries (greater Netherlands) composer. He was
the most famous composer of masses in Europe in the
late 15th century, being eclipsed by only Josquin des
Prez after his death.
What little is known of Obrecht's origins and early
childhood comes mostly from his motet Mille quingentis.
He was the only son of Ghent city trumpeter Willem
Obrecht and Lijsbette Gheeraerts. His mother died in
1460 at the age of 20, and his father in 148...(+)
Jacob Obrecht (1457/81 – 1505) was a Flemish-Dutch,
Low Countries (greater Netherlands) composer. He was
the most famous composer of masses in Europe in the
late 15th century, being eclipsed by only Josquin des
Prez after his death.
What little is known of Obrecht's origins and early
childhood comes mostly from his motet Mille quingentis.
He was the only son of Ghent city trumpeter Willem
Obrecht and Lijsbette Gheeraerts. His mother died in
1460 at the age of 20, and his father in 1488 in
Ghent.
Details of his early education are sparse, but he
probably learned to play the trumpet, like his father,
and in so doing learned counterpoint and how to
improvise over a cantus firmus. He is likely to have
known Antoine Busnois at the Burgundian court, and
certainly knew his music, since Obrecht's earliest mass
shows close stylistic parallels with the elder
composer.
Scholar, composer and clergyman, Obrecht seems to have
had a succession of short appointments, two of which
ended in less than ideal circumstances. There is a
record of his compensating for a shortfall in his
accounts by donating choirbooks he had copied.
Throughout the period he was held in the highest esteem
both by his patrons and by his fellow composers.
Tinctoris, writing in Naples, singles him out in a
shortlist of contemporary master composers — all the
more significant because he was only 25 when Tinctoris
created his list, and on the other side of Europe.
Erasmus served as one of Obrecht's choirboys around
1476.
While most of Obrecht's appointments were in Flanders
in the Low Countries, he made at least two trips to
Italy, once in 1487 at the invitation of Duke Ercole
d'Este I of Ferrara, and again in 1504. Ercole had
heard Obrecht's music, which is known to have
circulated in Italy between 1484 and 1487, and said
that he appreciated it above the music of all other
contemporary composers; consequently he invited Obrecht
to Ferrara for six months in 1487. In 1504 Obrecht
returned to Ferrara, but on the death of the Duke at
the beginning of the next year he became unemployed. In
what capacity he stayed in Ferrara is unknown, but he
died in the outbreak of plague there just before 1
August 1505.
Combining modern and archaic elements, Obrecht's style
is multi-dimensional. Perhaps more than those of the
mature Josquin, the masses of Obrecht display a
profound debt to the music of Johannes Ockeghem in the
wide-arching melodies and long musical phrases that
typify the latter's music. Obrecht's style is an
example of the contrapuntal extravagance of the late
15th century. He often used a cantus firmus technique
for his masses: sometimes he divided his source
material up into short phrases; at other times he used
retrograde versions of complete melodies or melodic
fragments. He once even extracted the component notes
and ordered them by note value, long to short,
constructing new melodic material from the reordered
sequences of notes. Clearly to Obrecht there could not
be too much variety, particularly during the musically
exploratory period of his early twenties. He began to
break free from conformity to formes fixes, especially
in his chansons. Of the formes fixes, the rondeau
retained its popularity longest. However, he much
preferred composing Masses, where he found greater
freedom. Furthermore, his motets reveal a wide variety
of moods and techniques.
Obrecht wrote mainly sacred music—masses and motets
and he also wrote some chansons.
"Fors seulement" is a French chanson, popular as a
basis for variations and as a cantus firmus. An early
version is attributed to Johannes Ockeghem - this is
sometimes called Fors seulement l'attente to
distinguish it from his similarly titled Fors seulement
contre.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Obrecht).
Although originally composed for Chorus, I created this
Interpretation of "Fors Seulement l'attente" for
Woodwind Quartet (Flute, Oboe, English Horn & Bassoon).
PARTITION