At this dawn of the Renaissance, religious sensibility changed and thears moriendi(art of dying well) takes a fundamental place in devotion and its most spectacular artistic manifestations. The masses for the deceased, until then traditionally sung in a sober way and restrained in plainsong, are now put in polyphony, like all the other masses. But more than the others, they translate into music the emotional upheavals, the questions, the anxieties or the serenity in the face of our inevitable destiny.

The Requiem of Ockeghem is the first mass for the dead set in polyphony in our history. As in many works by the great master from Tours, the lower voices are particularly highlighted, which here obviously seems to suit the solemnity of this exceptional liturgy.

The Requiem de La Rue, very shortly after, is the masterpiece of this immense musician. The whole of this mass is written in extremely low ranges, often a fifth lower than most polyphonic works of the time. Ockeghem and La Rue show here an astonishing mastery and virtuosity, always at the service of emotion.