The “unity of a school of composers active about the period 1430-1560 who established standard forms of polyphonic composition, most of them born in the area on both sides of the present Franco-Belgian frontier” (Riemann Musiklexikon), known as the “Netherlands” or more recently “Franco-Flemish” School, does not necessarily signify that this unity was primarily the result of common dependence on the leadership of one or more dominant personalities. Such unity as existed between the composers of this group originated rather through their common roots in the tradition of French music and frequent contacts With the music of England and Italy, and despite all stylistic differences it manifested itself in the similar use which they made of musical material, and in their adoption of similar principles of construction. In the third volume of his “Geschichte der Musik” (Breslau, 1868) August Wilhelm Ambros declared that “the extremely earnest and conscientious work of this era which was of such vast importance in its bearing on the development of music” originated “on the established foundations of Gregorian plainsong and of folksong, the polyphony being evolved as the result of widely differing conditions, under which were produced works of art marked by their organic perfection and inner unity.”
Jacob Obrecht and Pierre de la Rue belong, according to the period during which they lived, to the second of the three eras of the Franco-Flemish School as defined by Ambros. As contemporaries of Josquin, however, they are more often associated with the older Ockeghem. This seems appropriate at least in the case of Pierre de la Rue, who as “Pierchon” is mentioned in Jean Molinet’s “Déploration” on the death of Ockeghem set to music by Josquin; nevertheless there is not known to have been a personal pupil relationship between them. Pierre de la Rue was born at Tournai, probably about 1460, but nothing is known about his musical training. He probably visited Italy during his early years, and the remarkable number of his compositions preserved in the archives of the Papal Chapel points to a continuing connection with Rome.
Pierre de la Rue was a singer at the Court of Burgundy from 1492 until 1516, and in 1502 and 1506 he accompanied Philip the Fair on visits to Spain. From 1501 onward he was also a canon of the Church of Our Lady in Courtrai; he retired to that town in 1516 and remained there until his death on the 20th November 1518.
Works which are considered to be certainly by Pierre de la Rue include 31 Masses, five separate settings of the Credo and two of the Kyrie, together with some 30 motets and about the same number of secular compositions, some of which were published during his lifetime in collections issued by Petrucci, Antico and Junta. After his death sacred works of his were published only in Germany (for example the motet Pater de caelis, published in 1520 by Wyrsung of Augsburg). The value attached to his work in Lutheran Germany is indicated by the existence of his compositions in the repertoire of many choirs about the middle of the 16th century; Luther mentioned him in one of his table discourses: “Ah, what fine musici have died in ten years! Josquin, Petrus Loroe (= La Rue), Finck et multi alii excellentes”.
Although Pierre de la Rue is regarded today as the only master of the 15th/16th century “whose work can bear comparison with that of his contemporary Josquin” (Riemann Musiklexikon), his compositions have hitherto remained almost unknown. The extraordinary stylistic variety of his works as a whole still creates difficulties. It is true that A. W. Ambros singled out as the principal characteristic of this music its “earnest grandeur”, but “within this context the expression and treatment in different works vary greatly, while individual compositions even stand outside it, and in their fine subtlety suggesting a miniature painting, in their evident and successful quest for the sweetest euphony ... they depart so far from everything which normally distinguishes this master that the same creative hand is scarcely to be recognized.” There is, however, one distinguishing criterion of Pierre de la Rue’s style which is not to be found to the same degree in the works of his contemporaries - his love of canonic writing. In this sense the term canon indicates the way in which - often to make a point suggested by the words -- a voice part can give rise to several others, as well as the more or less strict imitation of one part by another or by several others. Thus in the psalm motet Laudate Dominum the treble part is imitated by the alto a fourth lower and by the tenor an octave lower, as indicated by the direction “3 ex 1”, while the bass part is free, merely introducing certain elements of the canonic melody. The pattern “3 ex 1” also forms the basis of the six-voice Pater de caelis. Here the three-voice canon (tenor, sexta vox, treble - sung in our recording) is joined by an “accompanying complex” also in three parts (alto, quinta vox, bass - here played by instruments), whose characteristics and motives are related to the canonic voices, but which remains independent and fulfils a primarily tonal function within the structure of the work. The motet Guade virgo is not entirely imitative in construction, but canonic structures are combined with differently fashioned elements; the sound picture is divided up, and the deliberately changing density plays a creative part in generating and inter-relating the complex elements which ordain the flow of the music. The second section of the motet also contains sections of what may be described as de facto homophony, in which different kinds of momentum are avoided, although the individual voices are still linear in character. The four-part setting of the Salve regina impressively demonstrates Pierre de la Rue’s technique of using a plainsong melody merely by adopting certain sequences of intervals from it. Either the original becomes largely unrecognizable through ornamentation, or to the unaltered plainsong melody a second, ornamented part is added, and has the effect of preventing the plainsong quotation from being too clearly perceptible.
Certain stylistic features in the works of Jacob Obrecht indicate that this “brilliant outsider” (Besseler) was considerably influenced by the creative technique of the older composer Johannes Ockeghem - again, this was the result not of a direct teacher-pupil relationship but of the adoption and cross-development of constructive techniques typical of the Franco-Filemish School. Born in 1450/51, possibly during a journey which his parents made through Sicily (this is indicated by the words of the motet Mille quingentis which he composed on the death of his father), Obrecht was active in 1479-84 first at Bergen-op-Zoom, then at Cambrai Cathedral, but he was dismissed from his post there in 1485 on account of his poor control of financial matters and shortcomings in his treatment of the choirboys. After holding an appointment at St. Donatianus in Bruges (1486-91), then at Notre Dame Cathedral in Antwerp (1492-96, ended by illness), Obrecht returned to St. Donatianus in Bruges as Succentor (1498-1500), but he also had to relinquish this post on account of bad health. He made two visits, in 1487/88 and 1504, to the Court of Ferrara, and during his second stay in Italy he died there of the plague in 1505.
In contrast to the works of Pierre de la Rue, Obrecht’s compositions were widely known and highly regarded during his lifetime. In 1501 Petrucci published a volume of five of his Masses in Venice, and soon after that a second volume containing five further settings of the Ordinarium was published by Mewes in Neu-Angemünde. Other works of his appeared in almost all early collections of music by various composers of that time. As in the case of Pierre de la Rue, complete settings of the Ordinarium of the Mass form the major part of Obrecht’s creative output. Following the discovery of the Segovia manuscript (1936) 26 settings of the Mass, together with some 30 motets and a number of secular works, have been definitely identified as being by Obrecht.
The principal distinguishing feature of Obrecht’s motets is their dependence on a liturgical cantus firmus, while the freely imitative style of motet writing developed by Josquin is to be met with in only a few of Obrecht’s works. Many of his compositions make use of several cantus firmi simultaneously. The first section of the motet Salve crux, arbor vitae employs as cantus firmus the sequence for the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross “O crux, lignum triumphale”. This is first developed twice, then in the second section of the motet it is treated by all the voices in imitation. As a new cantus firmus the quintus presents the 5th Laudes Antiphon for the feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross: “Per signum crucis”. In the concluding third section the first cantus firmus reappears, this time in different rhythmical values (tempus perfectum diminutum). This work, whose length and wealth of structural material make it probably the most substantial of all Obrecht’s motets, is joined by the four-part setting of the prayer to the Blessed Virgin Beata es Maria, similar in layout but more modest. The words of this motet consist of the Responsory to the Marian Antiphon “Virgo Galilaea”, the Litaniae Lauretanae and the “Ave Maria”. In the first of the two parts the cantus firmus takes the form of a melody of unknown origin from the Responsory “Beata es Maria”, the same melody reappears note for note in the second part in conjunction with the beginning of the “Ave Maria” in the alto part as a further cantus firmus. Finally the Salve regina for six voices is based on the plainsong melody to the Marian Antiphon from the Compline for the period from Trinity until Advent. Through ornamentation it is adapted to the musical idiom of the work, without being greatly altered and wholly integrated into the composition as in the motet of Pierre de la Rue. Obrecht set only lines 2, 4, 6 and part of line 7 of the text; this reflects the practice of antiphonal performance - the text was often divided up line by line, sung alternately to the unaccompanied plainsong melodies and in a polyphonic setting.