Jacob de Senleches was a French harpist who served in the courts of the Duke of Gerona and in the court of John I of Castile. He also worked with Cardinal Pedro de Luna who was later to be installed as Pope Benedict XIII. Because of his contact with the papacy it is probable that some of his music was present in Italy. For the time, Jacob's works for the harp were some of the most difficult and intricate, particularly "La harpe de melodie." He employed an irregular canon in the upper voices, written in the shape of an harp -- similar in fashion to a puzzle canon -- and the use of a notation without spaces between the lines. Jacob also composed a ballade with two distinctively different endings. ~ Keith Johnson, Rovi