Isaac (also Isaak, Izak, Yzac, Ysack), Heinrich or Henricus
Isaac (also Isaak, Izak, Yzac, Ysack), Heinrich or Henricus
Isaac (also Isaak, Izak, Yzac, Ysack), Heinrich or Henricus, important Flemish composer; b. Flanders, c. 1450; d. Florence, March 26, 1517. He was in the service of Lorenzo de’Medici in Florence (1485–92), and a singer at Ss. Annunziata and a member of the Cantori di S. Giovanni (until 1493). In 1496 he went to Vienna, where he was named court composer (1497). He then traveled widely before settling in Florence in 1514. He became known as Arrigo Tedesco (Henry the German; Low Latin, Arrighus), the Italian term “Tedesco” being used at the time for Flemish people as well as Germans. Isaac was a master of cantus firmus technique in both masses and motets; he also wrote French chansons, Italian frottole, and German lieder. His profound influence on German music was continued through his student Senfl, who ed. a voluminous collection of his motets as Choralis Constantinus (3 parts, 1550). His other works include about 40 masses and mass movements, 99 cycles of proper settings of the Mass, and various secular vocal works. A complete ed. of his works was publ. in the Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae series (1974 et seq.).
Bibliography
M. Staehelm, Die Messen H. I.s (3 vols., Bern and Stuttgart, 1977); M. Picker, H. I:A Guide to Research (N.Y., 1991).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire