Marbrianus de Orto

He was a contemporary, close associate, and possible friend of Josquin des Prez, and was one of the first composers to write a completely canonic setting of the Ordinary of the Mass.

In June 1482, in the household of Ferry de Clugny, Cardinal-Bishop of Tournai (who died 7 October 1483), he went to Rome, where he became a singer in the papal chapel; he may have become an accomplished composer around this time, since his Missa ad fugam seems to have been written in response to the similar composition by Josquin des Prez, tentatively dated to the early 1480s, and Orto's mass was copied for the Capella Sistina between 1487 and 1490.

[2] While he served in the Sistine Chapel Choir until at least 1499, during the papacies of Innocent VIII and Alexander VI, he began to acquire other posts and benefices.

[3] At some time in the early 1490s Orto acquired the post of dean at the Collegiate Church of St. Gertrude of Nivelles, present-day Belgium; he was to remain closely associated with this institution for the rest of his life.

[6] Back in the Low Countries, Orto remained in the employ of the Habsburgs, from at least 1509 until 1517, during which time he shared the duties of premier chapelain with Anthoine de Berghes.

The Salve regis mater sanctissima, though anonymous in its only surviving source, is probably by de Orto and was composed for the accession of Alexander VI in 1492.