Gaspar van Weerbeke

Gaspar van Weerbeke (b. ca. 1445, Oudenaarde, the Netherlands; d. after 1517, exact date and place unknown)

Little is known of the early life of Gaspar van Weerbeke, but it is believed he knew Dufay at the Burgundian court of Charles the Bold, since much of his music follows the older composer's style. Around 1470 he went to Milan, where he joined the singers of the Sforza Chapel-which included Josquin. In 1472 he was sent north to Burgundy to find more singers for the chapel choir. He was so successful that the choir became one of the largest in Europe.

He seems to have been associated with several courts, including the court of Philip the Fair and possibly the Medici in Florence. The last known record of his existence is a ledger indicating that he held a post at a church in Mainz in 1517.

Weerbeke's compositional style avoided the smooth, polyphonic style favored by many Franco-Flemish composers of the time, including Josquin. He wrote sacred music almost exclusively, including eight masses, twenty-eight motets, two motet cycles, a Magnificat, and a setting of the Lamentations. Five secular chansons are attributed to Weerbeke, but many scholars believe they were actually written by Josquin. His music was highly esteemed in Italy, where his somewhat conservative style was favored over the contrapuntal writing that was increasingly popular with Weerbeke's contemporaries.