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.

The French chanson L’homme armé was by far the most popular melody in Renaissance Europe around the year 1500. At least 31 mass settings are based on it, including two masses by Josquin: starting from the same material in his Missa L’homme armé super voces musicales and Missa L’homme armé sexti toni, he ended up with two entirely different yet equally astonishing masterpieces.