The Franco-Flemish composer Josquin des Prez (ca. 1440-1521) developed a personal style by adding to the northern, contrapuntal idiom the text-oriented chordal writing of Italian masters. His works were described as models of the "perfect art."

The birth date and birthplace of Josquin des Prez are unknown, and until recently even the spelling of his name was conjectural. If the Milanese archives from 1459 to 1472 that refer to the "biscantor" (singer) "Juschino de Frantia" concern the composer, he must have been born about 1440, or 10 years before the hitherto-accepted date. A travel document of 1479 describes him as "Joschino picardo," and he is identified as "belga veromanduus" in an early-16th-century manuscript. Both remarks indicate that he was born on Burgundian territory, then ruled by Philip the Good. The discovery of an acrostic "Josquin des Prez" in a poem, Illibata Dei virgo, presumably written by the composer himself, has settled the...