Today, as we peruse the sacred repertoire of Obrecht, we feature the Orchard Enterprises performance of the Angus Dei from Jacob’s Missa Caput.

Jacob Obrecht (Hobrecht) was born in 1457, just four years after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks. His father was a trumpet player and it is presumed that he followed him in that profession. He was so poor that often he had to sell his copies of choir books to pay for his expenses. He became a priest and learned from choir masters the art of composition. It is for this reason that his compositions use the human voice much like a sonorous trumpet. He died of the Bubonic Plague while at Ferrara, in Italy, in 1505.

Every evening at 5. P. M., Rome time, FromRome.Info features a selection of sacred music from Catholic composers of fame in past ages, to edify our readers and help them understand how profoundly contrary to the right notion of the aesthetic the liturgical reforms of Vatican II are and have been.