Josquin des Prez, composer

Born: c. 1440/55 in what is now Belgium

Died: 1521

Widely regarded: as one of the finest and most influential composers in the history of Western music, whose works are always marked by a subtlety and serenity characteristic of the Franco-Flemish school

Musical compositions include: masses, motets, and secular songs in both French and Italian

Notable compositions include: motets Miserere mei, Deus, Stabat Mater dolorosa, and Praeter rerum serium; mass Missa de beata virgine; the frottolas El grillo and In te Domine speravi