Johannes Pullois

Who was Johannes Pullois?

Johannes Pullois was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance, active in both the Low Countries and Italy. He was one of the early generation of composers to carry the Franco-Flemish polyphonic style from its home region in the Netherlands to Italy.

He was probably born in Pulle, near Antwerp, but nothing is known about his life until he became zangmeester at the church of Our Lady in Antwerp in 1443. He unsuccessfully auditioned with Philip the Good for the Burgundian court chapel, but was not accepted for a position; he then in 1447 went to Rome, where he sang in the papal chapel until 1468. He returned to Antwerp, becoming residential canon at the same church at which he had worked in the 1440s, and he died there in 1478. During his career he was a colleague of both Johannes Philibert and the renowned Johannes Ockeghem.