Alexander Agricola (1445 - 1506) was a Netherlandish
composer of the Renaissance writing in the
Franco-Flemish style. A prominent member of the Grande
chapelle, the Habsburg musical establishment, he was a
renowned composer in the years around 1500, and his
music was widely distributed throughout Europe. He
composed music in all of the important sacred and
secular styles of the time.
Very little is known of Agricola's early life. He was
born in Ghent, as suggested by a recently discove...(+)
Alexander Agricola (1445 - 1506) was a Netherlandish
composer of the Renaissance writing in the
Franco-Flemish style. A prominent member of the Grande
chapelle, the Habsburg musical establishment, he was a
renowned composer in the years around 1500, and his
music was widely distributed throughout Europe. He
composed music in all of the important sacred and
secular styles of the time.
Very little is known of Agricola's early life. He was
born in Ghent, as suggested by a recently discovered
epitaph, written in 1538. Most of his life he spent in
posts in Italy, France and the Low Countries, though
there are gaps where his activities are not known, and
he seems to have left many of his posts without
permission. He was a singer for Duke Galeazzo Maria
Sforza of Milan from 1471 to 1474, during the period
when the Milanese chapel choir grew into one of the
largest and most famous ensembles in Europe; Loyset
Compère, Johannes Martini, Gaspar van Weerbeke, and
several other composer-singers were also in Milan
during those years.
In 1474 Duke Galeazzo Maria wrote a letter of
recommendation for him to Lorenzo de' Medici, and
Agricola accordingly went to Florence. In 1476 he is
known to have been in Cambrai, in the Low Countries,
where he probably was employed as a singer. For the
long period from 1476 to 1491 nothing definite is known
except that he spent part of the time in the French
royal chapel, and he must have been building his
reputation as a composer during this time, for he was
much in demand in the 1490s, with France and Naples
competing for his services. In 1500 he took a position
with Philip the Handsome, who was Duke of Burgundy and
King of Castile. He apparently accompanied the Duke on
his travels through his empire; by this time he was one
of the most esteemed composers in Europe. He was in
Valladolid, Spain, in August 1506, where he died during
an outbreak of the plague on 15 August of that year.
Agricola wrote masses, motets, motet-chansons, secular
songs in the prevailing formes fixes such as rondeaux
and bergerettes, other chansons, and instrumental
music. Much of his instrumental music was based on
secular music by Gilles Binchois or Ockeghem. Many of
these pieces had become quite popular in the late 15th
century.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Agricola).
Although originally written for Chorus (ATBB), I
created this Interpretation of the O Venus bant ("O
Love's Sorrow") for Woodwind Quartet (Flute, Oboe,
English Horn & Bassoon).
SHEET MUSIC