Heinrich Isaac is noted as a central figure in late 15th and early 16th century musical development. He was one of three leading composers of the Franco Flemish or Netherlandish School with Jakob Obrecht and Josquin Des Prez. Although Josquin Des Prez was undoubtedly the major figure of the middle renaissance and is most often mentioned before Heinrich Isaac, Isaac is one of several that also deserve recognition. Heinrich was born around ten years after Josquin in 1450-1455. Historians are somewhat certain he was born in Flemish Brabant, a province of Flanders#.Very little is recorded of Heinrich’s early life. It is believed that he was educated in the same area, the Low Countries, due to its excellent standards in musical education. Isaac is also noted to have been a pupil of the Florentine organist Antonio Squarcialupi. It is supposed that Heinrich had begun composing music by 1470. All of this is very hard to establish; the first documented reference to Heinrich Isaac is dated September 15, 1484, thirty or so years after his estimated birth.
