Pierre de la Rue, composer at the grande chapelle of the Habsburg-Burgundian court for nearly a quarter of a century, composed for one of the leading musical institutions of his day. Serving successive rulers Maximilian I, Philip the Fair, Juana of Castile, Marguerite of Austria, and the future Charles V, La Rue surpassed a dozen composer colleagues in his creation of polyphony to meet the needs of the court and its extravagant liturgy.

Honey Meconi presents the first ever study in English of...