Pierre de la rue biography of albert

Pierre de La Rue (c.1452 – 20 November 1518) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. A member of the same generation as Josquin Desprez, he ranks with Alexander Agricola, Antoine Brumel, Loyset Compère, Heinrich Isaac, Jacob Obrecht and Gaspar van Weerbeke as one of the most famous and influential exponents of the Netherlands polyphonic style in the decades around 1500.

He was probably born at Tournai, in modern Belgium, and likely educated at the Notre-Dame Cathedral there, which had a substantial musical establishment.

While no records remain of his childhood, he was mentioned in the archives of the cathedral of Ste Gudule in Brussels in 1469-1470, as an adult singer. In 1471 he was in Ghent at the Jacobskerk. Subsequently he was employed in Nieuwpoort (from 1472 to around 1477), Cologne (ending in 1489), and Cambrai (date unknown), as well as one location called "St Ode" (date and city not known).

Previous biographies of La Rue place him in Siena, Italy betw