John Cooke

This English composer is distinguished by the character of his music from accounts of a later John Cooke (d. c.1455). Qualities of his mass parts included a direct relation, sympathy and influence by Leonel Power. Cooke employed chromaticism, counterpoint, ornate rhythms with accents often on the weak beat, shifts in the lengths of measures countered with balanced passages. The textual qualities of an exceptional isorhythmic piece indicate a possible time-frame during the Agincourt peace negotiations. ~ Keith Johnson