Isaac, Heinrich 01/01/1450 - 03/26/1517

It would be going too far to say that Heinrich Isaac (ca 1450-1517) is an unjustly neglected composer: yet his reputation is still confined to the limbo which contains so many of the leading figures of the Renaissance period.
No one would think on current evidence to mention him in the same breath as his great contemporary and fellow-Netherlander Josquin Des Prés, yet in the early years of the sixteenth century they were held to be on the same level of achievement: the two pre-eminent composers in Europe.



In Florence he was active as a singer at the Dom Santa Maria Del Fiore and at the court of Lorenzo dei Medici "the Magnificent". From 1497 to 1514 he was court composer in the service of Kaiser Maximilian. After 1510 he lived primarily in northern Italy; he received lands near Verona as a favor from Maximilian's court.



He was one of the creators of polyphony, along with Josquin des Pres. His compositions include motets, 36 Masses, Netherlandish chansons, Italian frottole and German songs. The latter example "Innsbruck, ich muß dich lassen", along with other sacred compositions from his time in Vienna brought him lasting fame in German-speaking Europe.