Alexander Agricola facts for kids

Alexander Agricola (pronounced ah-GRIH-koh-luh; born Alexander Ackerman; around 1446 – 15 August 1506) was a famous composer from the Low Countries (modern-day Belgium and Netherlands). He lived during the Renaissance period and wrote music in the Franco-Flemish style. He was a key member of the Grande chapelle, which was the main musical group for the Habsburg rulers. Agricola was very well-known around the year 1500, and his music was shared widely across Europe. He wrote many different kinds of music, both for religious services and for everyday life.

Life

Agricola was born in Ghent to Lijsbette Naps, a rich merchant. He likely came into the world in the late 1450s and had a brother named Jan. He might have learned music at the St Nicolas church in Ghent, as his mother gave a lot of money to their music program in 1467. In 1476, he worked as a singer in Cambrai, also in the Low Countries.

He spent most of his life working in Italy, France, and the Low Countries. Sometimes, he left his jobs without permission. From 1476 to 1491, we don't know much about his life, but he was probably becoming a famous composer. By the 1490s, many important people wanted him to work for them.

Between 1491 and 1492, Agricola sang in the cathedral choir in Florence, Italy. In 1492, Charles VIII of France asked for Agricola to return to the French royal chapel, which meant Agricola had worked there before. He also spent some time in Naples in 1492 and 1494.

Around 1500, Agricola started working for Philip the Handsome. Philip was the Duke of Burgundy and later became King of Castile. Agricola traveled with Philip on his journeys, including two trips to Spain in 1501 and 1506. During these trips, he passed through France and England. He worked alongside another famous composer, Pierre de la Rue. Agricola was paid well and also received special benefits in Gorinchem and Valenciennes. Other composers in Philip's chapel included Marbrianus de Orto and Antonius Divitis.

By this time, Agricola was one of the most respected composers in Europe. A publisher named Petrucci even released a collection of his masses in 1504. This was a big honor given to only a few composers. His motet Si dedero was so popular that it appears in over thirty different music books. Other composers like Obrecht and Divitis even wrote masses based on it. Josquin, another very famous composer, honored Agricola in his Missa Faisant regretz by using a musical idea from Agricola's song Tout a par moy. Many of Agricola's works, along with those of La Rue and Josquin, are found in a special choir book made for Philip's second trip to Spain.

Agricola continued to receive his salary until July 1506. He died on 15 August 1506, in Valladolid, Spain, likely from the plague. An old inscription says: "Here lies one whom death ensnared: a Ghenter, formerly called Master Alexander Agricola, well spoken of in music. Death dispatched him on 15 August 1506: God grant that he be comforted and seated among the righteous. Amen."

Musical style

Agricola was a special composer because his music showed a mix of older and newer styles. He connected the Burgundian School of music with the style of composers like Josquin des Prez.

Related composers

Agricola's early music was similar to that of Johannes Ockeghem. Later in his life, he started using more "imitation," where musical ideas are repeated in different voices, a style common in Josquin's time. While we don't know the exact dates for most of his pieces, he often used complex musical patterns with different rhythms, like Ockeghem. But unlike Ockeghem, Agricola also liked to repeat musical ideas and melodies, which was popular around 1500.

Types of music

Agricola wrote many different kinds of music:

• Masses: Music for church services.
• Motets: Religious songs, usually for several voices.
• Motet-chansons: A mix of motets and chansons.
• Secular songs: Songs for everyday life, often in popular song forms like rondeaux and bergerettes.
• Instrumental music: Music played by instruments.

Much of his instrumental music was based on popular secular songs by composers like Gilles Binchois or Ockeghem.

Compositional hallmarks

Agricola had a very unique musical style. He often took the complex and winding melodies of Ockeghem as a starting point. His music is often very busy and full of details. He liked to repeat short musical ideas and rhythms. He also enjoyed playing with the main beat of the music, sometimes making the ending parts of a melody last longer or end on an unexpected beat. Other times, he would have different parts of the music play with slightly different rhythms.

For example, in the closing part of his Missa 'In myne zin', the main melody (called a cantus firmus) is first played with long notes, then with shorter notes. In another piece, Salve Regina, he would shift the main melody slightly off the beat for the whole song, while other voices kept a steady rhythm.

Agricola also liked to create musical "puzzles" for the performers, especially with how notes should be played (like adding "extra flats" in a way that made musicians think). His music often required very skilled singers, especially in the lower parts, which were not just simple background harmonies like in other composers' works. Sometimes, a slow, calm part of the music would suddenly burst into fast, detailed melodies.

His music was highly praised in his time. Some people called his style "crazy" because it was so unusual, while others called it "sublime" because it was so beautiful and clever.

Other Agricolas

There are other composers named Agricola who are sometimes confused with Alexander:

• Martin Agricola (1486–1556; known mostly as a music teacher)
• Johannes Agricola (1494–1566), a German religious reformer
• Johann Agricola Eisleben junior (before 1560–1594)
• Wolfgang Christoph Agricola (around 1600–1659)
• Johann Paul Agricola (1638 or 1639–1697)
• Georg Ludwig Agricola (1643–1676; also an important writer)
• Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720–1774; also a music writer, organist, and singing teacher)

Images for kids

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  Agricola's Missa Malheur me bat as it appears in the choirbook A-Wn Cod. 1783, 65v. The name of the composer is given as "Allexandre agricoLA", with the LA represented by a solmisation symbol.

See also

In Spanish: Alexander Agricola para niños