La Rue, Pierre de

(c. 1452, Tournai ?, France – 20 November 1518, Kortrijk, Belgium)

   Court composer to the Hapsburg-Burgundian court from November 1492. He composed at least 30 masses, including ones for all of the most important Marian feasts, Christmas, and Easter, and one of the earliest polyphonic Requiems. The Missa Ave Sanctissima Maria, the first wholly canonic setting, could also be the earliest mass for six voices. A complete cycle of polyphonic Magnificats is probably also the first such composed.