Johannes Ockeghem: Masses and Models Fabrice FITCH Paris, Honoré Champion, 1997 Collection Ricercar ISBN 2-85203-735-1,

Johannes Ockeghem remains one of the most enigmatic figures in music history. His lofty individuality has both captivated and baffled generations of commentators, from whom Ockeghem’s style traditionally calls forth a negative rather than positive terminology. That individuality finds its most forceful expression in the Masses, which form the bulk of his surviving output. This first full-length survey of the composer in English, published to coincide with the quincentenary of his death, investigates the Masses from source-critical, stylistic and historical perspectives. Special importance is accorded to the relationship of individual Masses to the Models on which they are based. The principal objective throughout has been to help unveil the ‘aesthetics of concealment’ that lie at the heart of Ockeghem’s music.

Born in France and raised in Toronto (Canada), Fabrice Fitch studied composition at the Conservatoire National de Région de Bordeaux, obtaining his M. Mus from McGill University (Montréal) in 1991 and his Ph. D. from the University of Manchester in 1995. He is active as composer, reviewer and writer on the music of the late medieval and carly renaissance periods, and is currently Lecturer in music at the University of Durham (England).