Jean Lhéritier

Jean L'Héritier (Lhéritier, Lirithier, Heritier and other spellings also exist) (c. 1480 – after 1551) was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was mainly famous as a composer of motets, and is representative of the generation of composers active in the early to middle 16th century who anticipated the style of Palestrina.

Jean l'Héritier was a native of the diocese of Thérouanne, in the Pas-de-Calais, but little is known about his early years. According to a note by an Italian contemporary, L'Héritier was a pupil of Josquin des Prez, a relationship which most likely occurred while Josquin was at the French royal court in the years after 1500 (exact years for Josquin's stay there have not been established). In 1506 he went to Ferrara, his first trip to Italy. This was shortly after the death of the renowned Obrecht, who died in Ferrara's plague of 1505. Antoine Brumel, another older and more established French composer, went to Ferrara in late 1505 to take Obrecht's place as choirmaster to Alfonso I d'Este, and it is possible that the young L'Héritier was known to Brumel and was recommended to the Este family by him.

All the remaining records of L'Héritier's life come from Italy, so he may have stayed there. After a stay in Ferrara, Duke Alfonso gave him leave to go back to France, but it is not known if he went; the next record of his life is from Rome, where he was in the employ of Pope Leo X in 1514. In 1521 and 1522 he was maestro di cappella at San Luigi dei Francesi, the French church in Rome. Since much of his music appears in Roman manuscripts of this time, he was probably very active as a composer during these years. In 1522 he left Rome and probably went to Mantua, where he was recorded as a singer in the chapel of the Gonzaga family in May 1525. In July 1525 L'Héritier went to Verona, where he worked in some capacity for the Bishop of Verona. During this time he was acquired the patronage of the Cardinal of Auch, François de Clermont, who awarded him at least five benefices, and seems to have retained a connection to him until Clermont's death in 1541.

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