AN UNTALENTED ROYAL PUPIL,

Louis XII adored music, but his voice (and his sight‑reading) didn’t adore him back. Whenever he tried to sing, the people in the room stayed mostly out of courtesy. Eventually he gave up on wrestling with the standard repertoire and ordered Josquin, his chapel master, to write something the king could actually manage.

Josquin delivered a four‑part piece with clever canons for the real singers… and a royal line that sat on a single pitch for the entire work. After enough drilling, the king “leveled up” to a part with two notes—tonic and dominant—alternating. It’s basically a warning to every singing teacher: some students refuse to quit, even when nature has filed a restraining order.