Jacobus Barbireau

Jacobus Barbireau (also Jacques or Jacob; also Barbirianus) (1455 – 7 August 1491) was a Franco-Flemish Renaissance composer from Antwerp.

He was considered to be a superlative composer both by his contemporaries and by modern scholars; however, his surviving output is small, and he died young.

Although Barbireau was registered in the account books of the church as singing master or magister choralum from 1487, he had probably held the post from as early as 1484.

In 1485 as a schoolmaster, he paid a contribution to the Capellanía Our Lady of Nieuwwerk, a foundation created for singing teachers.

"Barbireau shows a degree of contrapuntal polish and melodic-harmonic resourcefulness that puts him firmly on a par with such composers as Isaac and Obrecht.

Of his secular music, the song Een vroylic wesen, for three voices, became a 'hit' song all over Europe, appearing in numerous arrangements from places as far apart as Spain, Italy and England; Heinrich Isaac used it as the basis for his own Missa Frölich wesen.