Born in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, Antoine Gosswin was recruited at a very young age by the Bavarian court chapel, where he was in frequent contact with Orlando di Lasso and accompanied the Emperor Maximilian II on his travels. Esteemed as a singer and composer, he was also part of the violin band employed by Duke Albert V at the legendary wedding of Prince William in 1568. Gosswin would go on to conduct the chapel of Prince Ernest, Bishop of Freising and later of Liège, to whom he dedicated his Newe teutsche Lieder. Extremely prolific, Gosswin produced several masses and motets as well as madrigals and German songs in which he continued the musical developments initiated by his master Lasso.

Born in what is now the Netherlands in approximately 1440, Franco-Flemish composer Johannes Martini was one of the most exciting and in-demand cultural figures of his age. Alas, he is almost entirely unknown today, yet decades before Josquin Des Prez was the toast of Italy, Martini spent much of his career there, and he was handsomely rewarded for the innovative music he wrote for the ducal court of Ferrara.