Jean Japart (fl. c.1474 – 1481) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance, active in Italy. He was a popular composer of chansons, and may have been a friend of Josquin Desprez. Events December 12 - Upon the death of Henry IV of Castile a civil war ensues between his designated successor Isabella I of Castile and her sister Juana who was supported by her husband, Alfonso V of Portugal. ... Events May 3 - Mehmed II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his son Beyazid II. May 21 - Christian I, King of Denmark and Norway dies and is succeeded by his son John (1481-1513) With the death of Duke Charles IV of Anjou, Anjou was reverted... In music, the Dutch School refers, somewhat imprecisely, to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. ... Renaissance music is classical music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1450 to 1600. ... Chanson is a French word for song, and in English-language contexts is often applied to any song with French words, particularly a cabaret song. ... Josquin Des Prez Josquin Des Prez (diminutive of Joseph; latinized Josquinus Pratensis) (c. ...

Life and work

Nothing is known about his life except for a brief period during the late 1470s, although it is probable he was born in Picardy. He was one of the members of the famous Sforza chapel choir in Milan between 1474 and 1476, which included Alexander Agricola, Loyset Compère and Johannes Martini, the time when this institution had one of the most famous groups of singers and composers in Europe. After the assassination of Galeazzo Sforza in 1476, he left Milan, as did most of the musicians; Japart went to Ferrara where he was quickly employed by Ercole I d'Este; not only did he become one of the most highly paid singers at the Ferrarese court, but the Duke gave him a house in Ferrara. By 1481 he was gone, and there is no further record of him. Centuries: 14th century - 15th century - 16th century Decades: 1420s 1430s 1440s 1450s 1460s - 1470s - 1480s 1490s 1500s 1510s 1520s Years: 1470 1471 1472 1473 1474 1475 1476 1477 1478 1479 Events and Trends battle of Avenches 1476 Prominent Persons Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer Categories: 1470s ... Coat of arms of Picardy Picardy (French: Picardie) is an historical province of France, in the north of France. ... Sforza was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. ... Location within Italy Piazza della Scala Milan (Italian: Milano; Milanese dialect: Milán) is the main city in northern Italy, and is located in the plains of Lombardy, the most populated and developed Italian region. ... Events March 2 - Battle of Grandson. ... Alexander Agricola (1445 or 1446 – August 1506) was a Franco_Flemish composer of the Renaissance. ... Manuscript of Omnium bonorum plena, a motet by Compère, and probably his earliest surviving work; the exact date is unknown, but probably c. ... Johannes Martini (c. ... Galeazzo Maria Sforza (January 24, 1444 – December 26, 1476) was Duke of Milan. ... Ferrara, a town, an archiepiscopal see and a province in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. ...

Japart was the composer of 23 chansons which are extant. A lost composition by Josquin, Revenu d'oultrements, Japart is often cited as evidence of a friendship between the two composers; if so, they probably met in Milan after 1481, since Josquin did not go to Italy until around 1484.

Stylistically, Japart's music is influenced by Busnois, one of the earlier group of Burgundian composers. He was fond of the quodlibet, the combination of several pre-existing tunes in ingenious ways, and he also wrote puzzle canons — compositions which the singers were intended to figure out from clues given in the text. For example, one of his chansons can only be performed correctly by transposing one of the parts down a twelfth and singing it in retrograde motion. (When a puzzle canon is solved correctly, the parts fit together without violation of the prevailing rules of counterpoint, which in the 15th century are described in the works of theorists such as Tinctoris.) Antoine Busnois (also Busnoys) (c. ... The Burgundian School is a term used to denote a group of composers active in the 15th century in what is now eastern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, centered on the court of the Dukes of Burgundy. ... A quodlibet is a piece of music which combines several different melodies in counterpoint, usually popular tunes, and often in a light-hearted manner. ... In music theory, an interval is the distance in pitch between two notes, the lower and higher members of the interval. ... Counterpoint is a very general feature of music (especially prominent in much Western music) whereby two or more melodic strands occur simultaneously – in separate voices, either literally or metaphorically (if the music is instrumental). ... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... Johannes Tinctoris (c. ...

Japart's music was evidently popular, since many of his chansons were reprinted by Petrucci and achieved wide distribution.

References and further reading

• "Jean Japart", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1561591742
• Allan W. Atlas/Jane Alden: "Jean Japart", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 10, 2005), Grove Music Online