Musicatlas
Music
Johannes Regis is a composer of the second generation of the Flemish Polyphony, championed by Johannes Ockeghem (at the French royal court). He was sufficiently famous to be named in the Motet “Omnium bonorum plena”, the “prayer for the singers”, as were his generation-fellows Ockeghem and Antoine Busnois (at the Burgundian ducal court) as well as Josquin Desprez, the champion of Compère’s own third generation.
Life
Johannes Regis is a latinized name (not unusual in the international world of feudal artists), which would translate in English as “John of the king”; his original name probably was something like Jean Leroy (in French) or J(eh)an Deconinc (in Dutch).
[This contribution is endebted to KULeuven’s musicology professor Ignace Bossuyt’s book “De Vlaamse Polyfonie”.]