Josquin des Prez, often referred to simply as Josquin, was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was the most famous European composer between Guillaume Dufay and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and is usually considered to be the central figure of the Franco-Flemish School. Josquin is widely considered to be the first master of the high Renaissance style of polyphonic vocal music that was emerging during his lifetime.
The mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music. Most masses are settings of the liturgy in Latin, the liturgical sacred language of the Catholic Church's Roman liturgy, but there are a significant number written in the languages of non-Catholic countries where vernacular worship has long been the norm. For example, there are many masses written in English for the Church of England. Musical masses take their name from the Catholic liturgy called "the Mass" as well.
Nicolas Gombert was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most famous and influential composers between Josquin des Prez and Palestrina, and best represents the fully developed, complex polyphonic style of this period in music history.
Cristóbal de Morales was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He is generally considered to be the most influential Spanish composer before Tomás Luis de Victoria.
Pierre de la Rue was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of the Renaissance. His name also appears as Piersson or variants of Pierchon and his toponymic, when present, as various forms of de Platea, de Robore, or de Vico. A member of the same generation as Josquin des Prez, and a long associate of the Habsburg-Burgundian musical chapel, he ranks with Agricola, Brumel, Compère, Isaac, Obrecht, and Weerbeke as one of the most famous and influential composers in the Netherlands polyphonic style in the decades around 1500.
Manuel Cardoso was a Portuguese composer and organist. With Duarte Lobo and John IV of Portugal, he represented the "golden age" of Portuguese polyphony.
The Sistine Chapel Choir, as it is generally called in English, or officially the Coro della Cappella Musicale Pontificia Sistina in Italian, is the Pope's personal choir. It performs at papal functions in the Sistine Chapel and in any other church in Rome where the Pope is officiating, including St. Peter's Basilica. One of the oldest choirs in the world, it was constituted as the Pope's personal choir by Pope Sixtus IV. Although it was established in the late 15th century, its roots go back to the 4th century and the reign of Pope Sylvester I.
The Tallis Scholars is a British professional early music vocal ensemble normally consisting of two singers per part, with a core group of ten singers. They specialise in performing a cappella sacred vocal music.
Jacobus Vaet was a Flemish composer of the Renaissance. He was a representative of the generation between Josquin and Palestrina, writing smooth polyphony with pervasive imitation, and he was a friend both of Clemens non Papa and Lassus.
The Cardinall's Musick is a United Kingdom-based vocal ensemble specialising in music of the 16th and 17th centuries and contemporary music.
Jeremy Summerly is a British conductor. He was educated at Lichfield Cathedral School, Winchester College, and New College, Oxford. While at Oxford he conducted the New College Chamber Orchestra and The Oxford Chamber Choir. After graduating with a first-class honours degree in Music in 1982, he started work as a Studio Manager for BBC Radio, while pursuing postgraduate research in historical musicology at King's College London. Since 1991 he has been a presenter and reviewer for BBC's Radio 3 and 4, in particular for Radio 4's Front Row, and Radio 3's Record Review.
Pro Cantione Antiqua of London (PCA) is a British choral group which was founded in 1968 by tenor James Griffett, counter-tenor Paul Esswood, and conductor and producer Mark Brown. Their first concert was at St Bartholomew's, Smithfield with Brian Brockless conducting but, from an early stage, they were closely associated with conductor and musicologist Bruno Turner. Arguably, they were the leading British performers of a cappella music, especially early music, prior to the founding of the Tallis Scholars.
Over 40 settings of the Ordinary of the Mass using the tune L'homme armé survive from the period between 1450 and the end of the 17th century, making the tune the most popular single source from the period on which to base an imitation mass.
Capilla Flamenca is a vocal and instrumental early music consort based in Leuven, Belgium. The group specialises in 14th to 16th century music from Flanders and takes its name from the historical Flemish chapel, the choir of the court chapel of Emperor Charles V. When the emperor left Flanders in 1517, he took his best musicians with him to Spain to accompany him as "living polyphony".
The Huelgas Ensemble is a Belgian early music group formed by the Flemish conductor Paul Van Nevel in 1971. The group's performance and extensive discography focuses on Renaissance polyphony. The name of the ensemble refers to a manuscript of polyphonic music, the Codex Las Huelgas.
The Yale Schola Cantorum, under the direction of principal conductor David Hill, is an internationally renowned chamber choir that performs regularly in concert and for occasional choral services throughout the academic year. Supported by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music with Yale School of Music, the choir specializes in repertoire from before 1750 and the last hundred years. The Schola Cantorum was founded in 2003 by Simon Carrington; from 2009 to 2013, it was led by conductor Masaaki Suzuki, who remains its principal guest conductor. In recent years, the choir has also sung under the direction of internationally renowned conductors Simon Halsey, Paul Hillier, Stephen Layton, Sir Neville Marriner, Nicholas McGegan, James O’Donnell, Stefan Parkman, Krzysztof Penderecki, Helmuth Rilling, and Dale Warland.
The ensemble A Sei Voci was a French vocal group founded in 1977 and which ceased in 2011.
Pascal Bertin is a French countertenor.
The discography of Westminster Cathedral Choir includes many award-winning recordings, among them the 1998 Gramophone Award Record of the Year for Frank Martin's Mass for Double Choir and Ildebrando Pizzetti's Requiem.
Missa L'Homme armé is a part of a mass by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. It was published in 1570 and consists of four movements.
