Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/255

 music 243 •of execution ; no one was more thoroughly master of his subject, just as no Latin epic poet could compare with Virgil.' Adrian Coclicus, of Nuremberg, who studied under Josquin, spoke of his master as follows : ' He was the first of those music kings who surpassed all others because they not only taught, but they knew how to unite theory with practice, understood all the different schools, and could give expression to all the emotions of the soul.' When Josquin discovered real talent in a pupil he immediately taught him to compose and arrange several parts. He thought the power of composing very rare, and it was against his principles to encourage mediocrity, saying there were already such glorious works left us by the old masters that there is not one in a thousand who could equal or better them. Jacob Obrecht far surpassed both Ockenheim and Josquin in sublimity and simple beauty of style. Glareau says : ' Obrecht's works are filled with wonder- ful majesty and simplicity ; he sought after effect and technical beauty to a less degree than Josquin, depend- ing on the natural impression of his creations on the audience. It is said that his imagination was so creative that he was able to compose a whole Mass in a night. Obrecht lived some time in Florence at the Court of Lorenzo di Medici, and there met his countryman, Heinrich Isaak, who from 1475 to 1480 was Capel- meister at San Giovanni, and gave lessons to the children of the music-loving Medici. In Florence Obrecht was treated with such distinction that the Emperor Maximilian appointed him his diplomatic, agent to Lorenzo. He spent his last years at the Court K 2