Antoine Busnois
Antoine Busnois (also Busnoys; c. 1430 – before 6 November 1492) was a French composer, singer and poet of early Renaissance music. Busnois and colleague Johannes Ockeghem were the leading European composers of the second half the 15th century, and central figures of the early Franco-Flemish School.[1]
While also noted as a composer of motets and other sacred music, he was one of the most renowned 15th-century composers of secular polyphonic chansons. Between Guillaume Du Fay and Claudin de Sermisy, Busnois was the most prolific and important French composer of songs.[1]
Life and career
The details of Busnois's early life are largely conjectural, and nothing is certain.[2] He was probably from the vicinity of Béthune in the Pas-de-Calais, possibly the hamlet of Busnes, to which his name seems to refer. He may have been related to the aristocratic family of Busnes; in particular, a Philippe de Busnes, canon of Notre-Dame in Lens, could have been a relative. He clearly received an excellent musical education, probably at a church choir school somewhere in northern or central France. An aristocratic origin may explain his early association with the French royal court: as early as the 1450s references to him appear there, and in 1461 he was a chaplain at Tours. That he was not entirely a man of peace is indicated by a petition for absolution he filed in Tours, dated 28 February 1461, in which he admitted to being part of a group that beat up a priest "to the point of bloodshed", not once but five times.[3] While in a state of anathema he was foolhardy enough to celebrate Mass although he was not an ordained priest, an act which got him excommunicated until Pope Pius II pardoned him.
He moved from the cathedral to the collegiate church of St. Martin, also in Tours, where he became a subdeacon in 1465.
Busnois was at the Burgundian court by 1467. His first compositions there appeared immediately before the accession of Charles as Duke on 15 June, since one of his motets — In hydraulis — contains a dedication to Charles calling him Count. On becoming Duke of Burgundy, he quickly became known as Charles the Bold for his fierce and sometimes reckless military adventurism (which indeed led to his death in battle ten years later). But Charles loved not only war but also music, appreciating and rewarding Busnois for works composed while in his service. Busnois was listed along with Hayne van Ghizeghem and Adrien Basin as "chantre et valet de chambre" to Charles in 1467.
In addition to serving Charles as singer and composer, Busnois accompanied the Duke on his military campaigns, as did Hayne van Ghizeghem. Busnois was at the siege of Neuss in Germany in 1475, and survived (or missed) the disastrous Battle of Nancy in 1477 at which Charles was killed and Burgundian expansion was ended forthwith and forever.
Busnois remained in the employ of the Burgundian court until 1482, but nothing exact is known about his exploits between then and the year of his death. At the time of his death, in 1492, he was employed by the church of St. Sauveur in Bruges.
Music
Busnois' contemporary reputation was immense; he was probably the best-known musician in Europe between
According to
But Busnois' polyphonic
While most of Busnois's secular songs are set to French words, at least two employ Italian texts and one is in Flemish.[8] Most are for three voices, although there are a few for four.[9]
Works
Certain attributions
Masses
- Missa L'homme armé;
- Missa O crux lignum;
- Patrem Vilayge.
Motets and magnificats
- Ad coenam agni providi;
- Alleluia, verbum caro factum est;
- Anima mea liquefacta est / Stirps Jesse;
- Anthoni usque limina;
- Asperges me (lost);
- Conditor alme siderum;
- Gaude coelestis domina;
- In hydraulis;
- Lamentation on the death of Guillaume Dufay (probably written in 1474, lost);
- Magnificat sexti toni;
- Noel, noel;
- Regina caeli (I);
- Regina caeli (II);
- Victimae paschali laudes.
Secular music
- Acordes moy;
- Advegne que advenir pourra;
- Amours nous traicte / Je m'en vois;
- A qui vens tu tes coquilles;
- Au gré de mes iculx;
- A une dame;
- Au povre par necessité;
- A vous, sans autre;
- Bel acueil;
- Bone chére;
- Ce n’est pas moy;
- C'est bien maleur;
- C'est vous en qui;
- Con tutta gentileça;
- Corps digne / Dieu quel mariage;
- Cy dit benedicite;
- En soustenant;
- En tous les lieux;
- En voyant sa dame;
- Esaint-il merci;
- Faictes de moy;
- Faulx mesdisans;
- Fortuna desperata?[n 1]
- (O) Fortune, trop tu es dure;
- Ha que ville;
- In myne zynn;
- Ja que lui ne;
- J'ay mayns de bien;
- J'ay pris amours tout au rebours;
- Je m'esbaïs de vous;
- Je ne demande aultre degré;
- Je ne demande lialté;
- Je ne puis vivre ainsi;
- Joye me fuit;
- Laissez dangier;
- L'autrier la pieça /En l'ombre du buissonet / Trop suis jonette;
- L'autrier que passa;
- Le corps s'en va;
- Le monde a tel;
- Ma damoiselle;
- Maintes femmes;
- Ma plus qu'assez;
- Ma tres souveraine princesse;
- M'a vostre cueur;
- Mon mignault / Gracieuse, playsant;
- Mon seul et sangle souvenir;
- On a grant mal / On est bien malade;
- Pour entretenir mes amours;
- Pucellotte;
- Quant j'ay au cueur;
- Quant vous me ferez;
- Quelque povre homme;
- Quelque povre homme;
- Resjois toy terre de France / Rex pacificus;
- Seule a par moy;
- Soudainementmon cueur;
- Terrible dame;
- Une filleresse / S'il y a compagnion / Vostre amour;
- Ung grand povtre homme;
- Ung plus que tous;
- Vostre beauté / Vous marchez;
- Vostre gracieuse acointance.
Conjectural attributions
Masses
- Missa L'Ardent desir;
- Missa L'homme armé (I);
- Missa L'homme armé (II);
- Missa L'homme armé (III);
- Missa L'homme armé (IV);
- Missa L'homme armé (V);
- Missa L'homme armé (VI) (these six Masses from Naples, attributed to Busnois from stylistic similarities);
- Missa sine nomine;
- Missa Quant ce viendra.
Magnificats and motets
- Magnificat octavi toni;
- Magnificat secundi toni;
- Incomprehensibilia / Preter rerum ordinem.
Conflicting attributions
- Amours, amours, amours;
- Amours fait moult / Il est de binne heure né /Tant que nostre argent dura;
- Cent mile escus;
- Et qui la dira;
- J'ay bien choisi;
- Il sera pour vous canbatu / L'homme armé;
- Je ne fay plus;
- Je suis venu;
- Le serviteur;
- Quant ce vendra (attributed to Busnoys in Dijon MS 517);
- Sans avoir (‚S' amours vous fiu' or 'Malagrota');
- Se brief puis.
References
Notes
Citations
- ^ a b Higgins 2001, § "Introduction".
- ^ Milsom 2011, § para. 1.
- ^ Higgins 2001, §1 "Early years in France".
- ^ Taruskin 1986.
- ^ David Fallows, [Letter from David Fallows], Journal of the American Musicological Society 40/1 (Spring, 1987), 146–148
- ^ Milsom 2011, § para. 2.
- ^ Bloxam 2000, p. 165.
- ^ Higgins 2001, §6 "Reception".
- ^ Higgins 2001, § "Works".
Sources
- Bloxam, M. Jennifer (2000). "Masses Based on Polyphonic Songs and Canonic Masses". In Sherr, Richard (ed.). The Josquin Companion. Oxford and New York: ISBN 978-0-19-816335-0.
- Higgins, Paula (2001). "Busnoys [Busnois, Bunoys, de Busnes], Antoine". ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membershiprequired)
- Milsom, John (2011). "Busnois, Antoine". In Latham, Alison (ed.). Busnois, Antoine [Antonius Busnoys]. ISBN 978-0-19-957903-7.
- JSTOR 831531.
Further reading
- Mario Giuseppe Genesi, "Identified a secular 3-male voice chanson in a tapestry work of the Piacenza Collegio Alberoni XVth century Collection";in "Strenna Piacentina 2010", Piacenza, TEP Editions, pp. 33–65.
- ISBN 0-89917-034-X.
- Paula Higgins, ed. Antoine Busnoys: Method, Meaning, and Context in Late Medieval Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-19-816406-8
- ISBN 0-393-09530-4.
- JSTOR 24617753.
- Zazulia, Emily (Spring 2018). "Composing in Theory: Busnoys, Tinctoris, and the L'homme armé Tradition". JSTOR 26502515.
External links
- Free scores by Antoine Busnois at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
- Free scores by Antoine Busnois in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
- List of compositions by Antoine Busnois at the Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music
- Edition of the Chansons by Clemens Goldberg, free view and download at Goldberg Stiftung editions