COMPÈRE, LOYSET

Renaissance composer of the Flemish school; b. Flanders(?), c. 1450 (christened Louis); d. Saint-Quentin, Aug. 16, 1518. He was a singer at the Milanese court in 1474–75, and became chantre ordinaire to Charles VIII of France (1486). As a priest he received prebends in Cambrai (1498) and Douai (1500), and a canonry at the collegiate church of Saint-Quentin, where he is buried. He was celebrated in the writings of Gafurius, Aaron, Cretin, Molinet, Rabelais, and others. His works include two Masses, individual Mass movements, three motetti missales cycles, twenty-three motets, five motet-chansons, forty-nine chansons, and two frottole (which are quoted in a quodlibet of L. Fogliano). The religious works exhibit Italian as well as Franco-Flemish traits: sonorous chords, canonic writing, and advanced parody technique. His chansons range from Burgundian types to the newer syllabic genre, with repeated notes and rapid declamation. Though not considered Josquin Desprez's equal, he represents an important link between the generations of Okeghem and Attaingnant.

Bibliography: Opera omnia, ed. l. finscher, Corpus Mensurablis musicae, ed. American Institute of Musicology (Rome 1958–) 15. l. finscher, "Loyset Compère and His Works," Musica Disciplina 12 (Rome 1958) 105–143; 13 (1959) 121–154; 14 (1960) 135–157; 16 (1962) 93–113. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, ed. f. blume (Kassel-Basel 1949–) 2:1594–98. Histoire de la musique, ed. roland-manuel v.1 (Paris 1960–63). g. reese, Music in the Renaissance (rev. ed. New York 1959). d. m. randel, ed., The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music (Cambridge, Massachusetts 1996) 171. j. rifkin and b. hudson, "Loyset Compère," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. 4, ed. s. sadie 595–598, (New York 1980). m. steib, "Loyset Compère and His Recently Rediscovered Missa De tous biens plaine," The Journal of Musicology 11 (1993), 437–454. n. slonimsky, ed., Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Eighth Edition 350 (New York 1992). a. zuckerman wesner, The Chansons of Loyset Compère: Authenticity and Stylistic Development (Ph.D. diss. Harvard University, 1992).

[i. cazeaux]