Gaspar van Weerbeke
Gaspar van Weerbeke (* 1455 in Oudenaarde, Flanders; ? † after 1517 in Mainz ()) was a composer and singer.
Life
Gaspar van Weerbeke was born as an illegitimate child. He was probably trained at the Maîtrise of Sainte- Walburga in Oudenaarde.
Ever since the winter 1471/1472, he set up a court orchestra of the Duke of Milan Galeazzo Maria Sforza. Two trips ( April 1472 and from January 18, 1473 ) led Gaspar looking for singers in the north. Gaspar was 18 cantori de camera ( chamber singers ) before, Antonio Guinati 22 cantori de capella ( Kapellsängern ), which included, among other things Loyset Compère, Jehan Fresneau and John Martini. The Duke, very pleased with Gaspar, gave him plenty of benefices, for example, a pension of 40 ducats to the rectorship of San Lorenzo in Lodi.
After the assassination of the Duke on December 26, 1476 it was decided to reduce the court orchestra. Among the musicians who were not adopted were Loyset Compère and Jehan Fresneau. Gaspar but remained four years in the household of Sforza.
In the winter of 1480/1481 he became a member of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. He remained there until April 1489th His most notable colleagues were Josquin and Marbriano de Orto. An offer for a post at the Court of Milan refused Gaspar from in April 1482. In May 1483 Gaspar was a member of the Fraternity di Santo Spirito e S Maria in Saxia.
Mid- April 1489 Gaspar returned back to Milan, where now Ludovico Sforza, called ' il Moro ', reigned. Here Gaspar took his old duties. Again travels took him to the home and to Florence to undertake singer for the court orchestra.
During this time, Gaspar also maintained relations with the court of Philip the Fair ( 1489-1506 ). From 1495 until September 7, 1497 Gaspar is detectable in its calculations: he sang - as Pierre de la Rue - in the Grande Chapelle of the Duke and received benefices in the dioceses of Utrecht and Therouanne. From 1495 to 1498 Gaspar Canon was at Saint- Donatien in Bruges. Despite his employment at the court of Philip the Fair Gaspar contacts to Milan persisted. In the fall of 1498 he held on behalf of the Duke of Milan on account of the recruitment of singers in Flanders. On this occasion he also visited his hometown, where it was noted that he was " sanckmeester van Melanen the herthoge van ".
It's probably come at this time also to closer contact to the French court chapel. For in Crétins Deploration on the death of John Ockeghem († 1497 ) is called in a row with members of the court orchestra of the French King Gaspar.
Full unclouded the Gaspar's relationship with his masters Milan Ludovico Sforza was not. In a letter to the singer Jean Cordier, the Duke complained about Gaspar: This is not just from Milan without his permission and leaving behind high debt departed, what did it, the Duke compelled to seize Gaspar's house, Gaspar was also a singer lack of quality obliged. At a fraction did not happen, however.
The war between France and Milan in September 1499 forced Gaspar, Milan finally to turn their backs. On the offer of the Duke of Ferrara, Ercole I d' Este Gaspar but did not enter. On November 28, 1499 recorded in Ferrara, Gaspar had the offer to become Kapellmeister to the Duke rejected.
From 1500 until at least the end of 1515 Gaspar again belonged to the Papal Choir in Rome. 1514 he joined the Brotherhood Campo Santo dei Teutonici e Fiamminghi to secure a burial ground next to the Basilica. On November 1, 1515 he Pope Leo X confirmed the Exspektanz on released Präbanden in the dioceses of Cambrai and Tournai.
At the end of his life, Gaspar went to Germany. On November 1, 1517, he was appointed canon of the church of St. Maria ad Gradus mentioned in Mainz. Soon after, he must have died at an unknown location.