Henricus Isaac

ISAAC [Ysaak, Ysac, Yzac], Henricus [Heinrich, Arrigo]. b. Flanders or Brabant, ca. 1450-55; d. Florence, 26 Mar 1517. He was born in Flanders or Brabant, but nothing else is known of his life before 1484, when a payment for his services as a composer appears in the Tyrolean court records, at Innsbruck. From 1485 to 1493 he was a singer at the baptistery of S. Giovanni in Florence. In 1496 he became court composer to Emperor Maximilian I. As one of the first internationally renowned musicians to work in the Empire, Isaac holds a particularly significant position in the music history of German-speaking lands. He remained in Maximilian’s service until his death, although he was permanently...