"Requiem In Memoriam
Josquin des Prez".
Composer:
Jean Richafort.
Available on YouTube at
Jean Richafort (1480 – 1547) was a Netherlandish Composer of The Renaissance.
He was probably born in Hainaut, and his native language appears to have been French. According to the poet Ronsard, Richafort studied with Josquin des Prez, an association further born out by the fact that he composed a Requiem "In Memoriam Josquin des Prez".
Richafort served as Choir Master at Saint Rombold Cathedral, Mechelen, Belgium, between 1507 and 1509, and at Saint Gilles Church, Bruges, Belgium, between 1542 and 1547 — leaving a huge gap in the record of his activity. At some time between these dates, he was associated with The French Royal Chapel, since some of his music is for official occasions connected with King Louis XII, and there is some evidence he may have been in Brussels in 1531 in the service of Queen Mary of Hungary, who was Regent there.
Musically, Richafort was a representative of the first generation after Josquin, and he followed his style in many ways. In some of his music, he used fragments of Josquin's compositions as a tribute. Richafort's compositional techniques are typical of the period (smooth polyphony, pervasive imitation, etc.) but he was unusually attentive to the clear setting of Text so the words could be understood.
He wrote a Requiem For Six Voices (Requiem In Memoriam Josquin des Prez, 1532), Masses, Motets, Settings of The Magnificat, two Secular Motets, and Chansons.
