On August 27, 1521, Jossequin Lebloitte dit Desprez died in Condé-sur-l’Escaut, France. Known even to his contemporaries by the iconic first name Josquin, he was the leading composer of early-Renaissance Europe, whose mastery and innovative development of the compositional techniques of his time brought unprecedented depth and breath-taking beauty to the vocal music of the Franco-Flemish school. Unlike any other ensemble, The Tallis Scholars and their musical director Peter Phillips have set standards in the interpretation and performance of Josquin’s music, most notably with their recording of his complete masses, a three-decade, multi-award-winning undertaking that came to a close last year.

Originally scheduled to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Josquin’s death in August 2021, an extraordinary project now brings the ensemble to the Pierre Boulez Saal to close the season: Over the course of four days, they will perform Josquin’s complete masses in the first ever cyclical presentation of these works.

In 1502, Venetian publisher Ottaviano Petrucci, who had recently invented music printing with movable types, for the first time dedicated an entire publication of his to a single composer—Josquin. He thereby contributed greatly to the dissemination of Josquin’s music, although his masses had already been circulating throughout Europe even before the printing age: the Missa De beata virgine has come down to us in no less than 69 manuscript sources.