Ockham, Surrey

The greatest challenge in studying the life of Johannes Ockeghem is the discouraging absence of concrete evidence of the date of his birth and death, specifics of life activity, and even original manuscripts. This lack of records and information results from the cultural practices of preserving this sort of data, which are not as meticulous compared to today’s. Scholars and musicologists however study Ockeghem because he “had added something to the musical knowledge of his time” (Krenek, 7)1. In opening pages of Johannes Ockeghem, Krenek generally describes Ockeghem’s overall lifespan of activity. Ockeghem was born around 1430 in East Flanders (Belgium today) and studied with either Guillaume Dufay in Cambrai or with Gille Binchois, Flemish composer. He was appointed treasurer of the Abbey of St. Martin in Tours, a position of high regard and wealth, in 1459. He returned to Paris in 1461 and four years later is assumed to have been the master of the chapel royal in the service of Louis XI. After visiting Spain in 1469 and Flanders in 1484, Ockeghem returned to Tours and passed away in approximately 1495. On his musical style, Krenek describes Ockeghem as a “cerebralist” because of his tendency to write music in order to solve a logical problem which he created and his treatment of musical expression and emotionality as secondary if present at all. It is not only Ockeghem’s intellectualism that sets him apart from his contemporaries but also his audacious innovation. Krenek…

She felt her husband suffered a type of insanity brought on by poetry and literature.Toole, 1998 Ada suffered headaches that obscured her vision beginning at eight and became paralyzed after contracting measles in June 1829. They forced her on bed rest for a year, where she continued her technological and mathematical skills. Stein, 1985 She did experiments herself with flying by attempting to construct a pair of wings that integrated steam with the idea of flying.Toole, 1998 ==Relationships…