Heinrich Isaac

Heinrich Isaac (ca. 1450 – 26 March 1517) was a Netherlandish composer of south Netherlandish origin during the Renaissance era. He wrote masses, motets, songs (in French, German and Italian), and instrumental music. A significant contemporary of Josquin des Prez, Isaac influenced the development of music in Germany. Several variants exist of his name: Ysaac, Ysaak, Henricus, Arrigo d'Ugo, and Arrigo il Tedesco among them. (Tedesco means "Flemish" or "German" in Italian.)

Little is known about Isaac's early life (or indeed what he called himself), but it is probable that he was born in the Brabant. During the late 15th century, standards of music education in the region were excellent, and he was probably educated in his homeland, although the location is not known. Sixteenth-century Swiss music theorist and writer Heinrich Glarean claimed Isaac for Germany by dubbing him "Henricus Isaac Germanus", but in his will Isaac called himself by the patronymic "Ugonis de Flandria", 'Hugo's [son] from Flanders'. A writer in the Milanese Revista critica della letteratura italiana, June 1886, speculated that this patronymic might be connected to 'Huygens' and discovered the name "Isaacke" in the town archives of Bruges.

Heinrich Isaac's career spanned well over thirty years and allowed him to travel far from his homeland of Flanders into Germany, Italy, and Austria, as well as other parts of central Europe. While the absence of plentiful primary sources makes it hard for us to map out Isaac's life, piecing together the sources we do have along with the works he wrote gives us a good picture of just how popular this Franco-Flemish composer was in his time. Isaac was probably writing music by the 1470s, and the first document mentioning his name dates back to 15 September 1484, placing him in Innsbruck as a singer for Duke Sigismund of Austria, of the House of Habsburg. The following year Isaac migrated to Florence, since documents show that by July 1485 Isaac had become employed as a singer at the church Santa Maria del Fiore. By the middle of 1491, he was designated as a singer at Santissima Annunziata, a position that he held until 1493.

Several documents illustrate Isaac's long stay in Florence under the employment of Santa Maria del Fiore and Santissima Annunziata as a singer, and also suggest that he may have developed a close working-relationship with Lorenzo de' Medici. It is speculated that it was Medici who may have summoned Isaac to Florence from Innsbruck in 1484. Previously, Isaac had been identified as an organist to Lorenzo but the Isaac who served at this post is now known to have been Isaac Argyropoulos. During his presence in Florence from 1484 until the end of 1496, Isaac probably composed several masses, motets and secular songs, including missa "J'ay pris amours" and the carnival song "Hora è di Maggio". In 1487 Isaac composed the piece "A la battaglia" to commemorate the battle between Genoa and Florence for the castle Sarzanello although there is much debate over the exact date and purpose of the piece. Isaac's relationship with Lorenzo de' Medici must have been fairly close, because allegedly between 1488 and 1489 he composed the music for a play called "San Giovanni e San Paolo", written by Medici himself. Moreover, when Lorenzo died in April 1492 Isaac composed two motets in his memory. Lorenzo's son Piero inherited everything he owned, including his musical groups. In September 1492 Piero took his musical groups to Rome to perform for the coronation of Pope Alexander VI. Records show that Isaac was one of the three singers for whom clothing was purchased for the trip, implying that he probably performed for the Pope.

During his first stay in Florence Isaac also had dealings with a Florentine named Piero Bello, whose daughter Bartolomea was Isaac's wife. Although the actual date of the marriage is unknown, records imply that it may have been arranged for Isaac by Lorenzo de' Medici when he summoned Isaac from Flanders. There is record of Piero Bello giving Isaac a dowry for his daughter in January 1495.

In November 1496 after Isaac and his wife spent some time in Pisa, they moved to Vienna and became employed by Emperor Maximilian I. By the winter of 1496 Isaac and Bartolomea had gone from Pisa to Vienna to Innsbruck, and on 3 April 1497, Isaac was appointed court composer for Maximilian I. He remained under Maximilian's employment from 1496 until his death, although he did not remain stationary during that period. In fact, Isaac traveled extensively around Europe north of Italy. Payment documents from Maximilian's court imply Isaac traveled with the court to Torgau, Augsburg, Nürnberg, Wels, and back to Innsbruck between 1497 and 1501.

In 1502, Isaac returned to Italy, going to Florence to make arrangements with the hospital Santa Maria Nuova; payments were made to the hospital in return for health and food provisions. Recently discovered documents offer evidence that Isaac began making yearly payments to the confraternity of Santa Barbara for mutual assistance. On 15 August 1502, Isaac wrote his first will which included names of his proprietors, alluding to the fact that he was doing well to care for his wife and property should anything happen to him. He then traveled to Ferrara to the Este court where he wrote the motet "La mi la sol la sol la mi" in merely two days and competed with Josquin for employment: a famous letter from the agent of the Este family compared the two composers, saying that "[Isaac] is of a better disposition among his companions, and he will compose new works more often. It is true that Josquin composes better, but he composes when he wants to and not when one wants him to."

Between 1505 and 1512 there are records of Isaac having dealings in Augsburg, Florence and Constance (see Konstanz), the latter in which he compiled his largest set of works: Choralis Constantinus. This monumental collection of mass propers was commissioned by the Constance cathedral on 14 April 1508 and completed by Isaac and his student Ludwig Senfl by the winter of 1509. Isaac and Bartolomea were almost definitely back in Florence by this time since the completed Choralis Constantinus had to be mailed to the cathedral.