Johannes Fedé

Johannes Fedé (also Jean Sohier) (c. 1415 – 1477?) was a French composer of the early Renaissance. While he was mentioned by Eloy d’Amerval as one of the greatest composers of the age, and resident in Paradise, relatively few of his works have survived. He was a contemporary of Johannes Ockeghem, and spent his life in the Burgundian Netherlands, France and Italy. Life Fedé was probably from the region of Artois, most likely from Douai, based on the presence of several possible relatives of his at Cambrai Cathedral, several of whom had “of Douai” appended to their names. From 1439 to 1440 he was vicar at St. Amé in Douai. By 1443 he had gone to Italy, a region which was to become a common destination for composers from northern Europe for the next one hundred fifty years: Fedé sang in the papal chapel in Rome. From July 1445 to March 1446 he worked in Ferrara, at the court chapel of Leonello d’Este. Fedé thus was one of the earliest composers from northern Europe to work in Ferrara, a rich center of artistic patronage, which was to become a center of musical innovation for the remainder of the Renaissance. Later in 1446 he was back in Cambrai, working as “petit vicar” at the cathedr