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. Leading up to the live performances, a new online platform will offer extensive and fascinating insights into the Josquin universe.

Like most mass settings of the time, Missa Fortuna desperata and Missa Malheur me bat are based on pre-existing musical material. Yet instead of paraphrasing a single melody, Josquin's uses all voices of the underlying polyphonic chansons here to create astonishingly rich textures.