Abstract
This study examines several of the early polyphonic settings of the Requiem mass written by Johannes Ockeghem and his contemporaries, all written before the start of the Council of Trent in 1545, in an effort to isolate their compositional diversity. Specifically, this study attempts to rebuke assertions that contemporary Requiem settings were uninspired imitations of Ockeghem’s. However, the argument is made that rather than mimicking Ockeghem, composers of early polyphonic Requiem settings are primarily adhering to a restricted style suited for funerals. The Kyrie text has been selected as the basis for comparison, showing that the movement with the least text and traditionally the most musical repetition inspires some of the most innovation.