Johannes Okeghem

Johannes Okeghem (1420?-1496?), Flemish composer, the most important composer of his generation in the Netherlands school that dominated Renaissance music. Possibly a pupil of the eminent Netherlands-school composer Gilles Binchois, Okeghem served as composer and choirmaster to three French kings: Charles VII, Louis XI, and Charles VIII. At his death, a Déploration (lament) was composed by his pupil (according to tradition), the French composer Josquin Desprez, and a lament by the philosopher Erasmus was set to music by the French composer Johannes Lupi. Okeghem's masses, motets, and chansons (secular part-songs) show great skill at counterpoint based on melodic imitation.