Firminus Caron

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Firminus Caron (* around 1430 in Amiens ; † after 1480) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance .

Live and act

With Firminus Caron, the fact of his high reputation among his contemporaries stands in stark contrast to the complete lack of direct biographical information about him. In three treatises from the 1470s, the composer Johannes Tinctoris (~ 1435–1511) names Caron, along with Johannes Ockeghem , Johannes Regis , Antoine Busnoys and Guillermus Faugues , one of the leading composers of his time. This assessment seems justified in view of the wide distribution of his works. But his first name is only known through Tinctoris. There is evidence that he is not identical with le Caron , administrator of the ducal chapel of Burgundy , nor with Philippe Caron († 1509), who was petite vicaire at Cambrai Cathedral in the 1470s and 1480s .

Based on the musical sources, Caron may have studied in Cambrai , or at least had connections there, because one of his masses in Cambrai was copied in 1472/73. There are music researchers who speculate that Caron was a student of Guillaume Dufay in Cambrai . This cannot be completely ruled out, but there is no evidence whatsoever. In the motet "Omnium bonorum plena" by Loyset Compère , from around 1472, Caron is mentioned among the composers named there; most of them were connected with the said cathedral. This is an additional support for pointing out its possible sphere of activity. Although there is no document that brings Caron with the court of the Duchy of Burgundy in connection, his chanson “Vive Charlois” could refer to the Burgundian Duke Charles the Bold (term of office 1467–1477).

The five masses by Firminus Caron and the greater part of his other compositions have only come down to us in Italian sources. In contrast, his most widespread songs (these are "Accueilly m'a la belle", "Cent mille escus", "Helas que pourra devenir" and "Le despourveu infortuné") appear in manuscripts of French origin. The musicologist Christopher Reynolds suspected that Firminus Caron would be employed in Rome from 1460 to 1461 in 1995 because of the predominance of Italian sources ; if so, it would suggest a date of birth prior to 1440.

meaning

From the surviving sources it appears that the fame of Firminus Caron largely stems from his success as a song composer; some of his chansons are among the most copied pieces of his time. In addition to Johannes Tinctoris and Loyset Compère, the English master John Hothby (~ 1410–1487) has written down a comment about one of his compositions. Modern musicology confirms the high esteem Caron held by his contemporaries. He does not achieve the compositional depth of Johannes Ockeghem and the contrapuntal subtlety of Antoine Busnoys, but in his most successful works he shows a structural and melodic clarity, which he enriches with unexpected phrase lengths , changing imitation pairs and small rhythmic-motivic relationships between the voices . There is also evidence of approaches to the musical interpretation of individual words. What is striking about Caron's masses is the contrapuntal play with paraphrases and quotations from his own and other people's chansons. The Missa “Sanguis sanctorum” is quoted from the chanson “O vie fortunee”, the “Missa L'homme armé” from “Mort ou mercy”, the Missa “Clemens et benigna” from the chanson “Se brief je puys ma dame”.

Works

  • Mass (all to four voices)
    • Mass "Accueilly m'a la belle"
    • Missa "Clemens et benigna" (shortest and probably earliest mass)
    • Missa "Jesus autem transiens"
    • Missa "L'homme armé" (probably copied in Rome in 1463)
    • Missa "Sanguis sanctorum"
  • Songs (chansons)
    • "Accueilly m'a la belle", rondeau for three or four voices, with counterfactor text "Da pacem Domine"
    • "Cent mille escus", rondeau with three or four voices (partly attributed to Busnoys and Dufay)
    • "C'est temps perdu", Rondeau (?), (Partly attributed to Robert Morton )
    • “Corps contre corps” / “Rambour luy” / “Cinq solz”, rondeau with four voices
    • “Cui diem vous”, Rondeau (?), Text perhaps by Alain Chartier , also received with counterfactor text “Fuggir non posso”
    • "You tout ainsy que vous plaira" Rondeau to three voices
    • “Helas que pourra devenir”, a rondeau with three or four voices, also received as a counterfactor “Ave sydus clarissimum”
    • "La tridaine a deux" (lost; quoted in "Opera Theoretica" by Johannes Tinctoris, Volume 2)
    • “Le despourveu infortuné”, a rondeau with three or four voices, also received as a counterfactor “Tanto l'afano”
    • “Ma dame qui tant”, Rondeau (?) To three or four votes
    • “Morir me fault”, Rondeau to three votes
    • “Mort ou merchi”, Rondeau (?) To three votes, probably before 1463
    • "O vie fortunee", Rondeau (?) To three votes
    • “Pour regard d'oeul somble”, Rondeau to three votes
    • “Pourtant se mon voloir”, a rondeau with three voices
    • "Se brief puys ma dame", rondeau with three voices (partly attributed to Busnoys)
    • “Se doulx penser”, Rondeau (?) To three votes
    • "S'il est ainsy que plus je ne vous voye", Virelai to three voices
    • “Vive Charloys”, Rondeau (?) To three votes
    • “Vous n'avéz point le cueur certain”, rondeau with three voices
  • Doubtful works
    • Missa "Thomas cesus" (anonymously handed down in the Vatican manuscript SP B 80; attributed to Caron)
    • "Rose playsant" for three voices (attributions to Philippe Basiron , Caron and Johannes Dusart )
    • "Seulette suis sans ami" (only partially attributed to Caron)

Literature (selection)

  • J. Marix: Histoire de la musique et des musiciens de la cour de Bourgogne sur le règne de Philippe de Bon (1420−1467) , Strasbourg 1939, reprint Geneva 1972
  • G. Reichert: Church key as a form factor in the polyphonic music of the 15th and 16th centuries. In: Musikforschung No. 4, 1951, pages 35-48
  • J. Thomson: The Works of Caron: a Study in Fifteenth-Century Style , dissertation at New York University 1959 (University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor / Michigan, No. 596346)
  • The same: An Introduction to Philippe (?) Caron , New York 1964 (= Musicological Studies No. 9)
  • G. Cattin: Nuova fonte italiana della polifonia intorno al 1500 , manuscript Cape Town, Gray 3. b. 12, in: Acta musicologica No. 45, 1973
  • D. Giller: The Naples L'Homme Armé Masses and Caron: a Study in Musical Relationships. In: Current Musicology No. 32, 1981, pp. 7-28
  • G. Montagna: Caron, Hayne, Compère: a Transmission Reassessment. In: Early Music History No. 7, 1987, pages 107-157
  • Christopher Reynolds: The Counterpoint of Allusion in Fifteenth-Century Masses. In: The Journal of the American Musicological Society No. 45, 1992, pp. 228-260
  • Same: Papal Patronage and the Music of St. Peter's, 1380-1513 , Berkeley et al 1995
  • Sean Gallagher: Syntax and Style: Rhythmic Patterns in Music of Ockeghem and His Contemporaries. In: Johannes Ockeghem. Actes du XLe Colloque international d'études humanistes, edited by Ph. Vendrix, Paris 1998, pages 681-705
  • B. Haggh: Busnoys an ›Caron‹ in Documents from Brussels. In: Antoine Busnoys. Method, Meaning, and Context in Late Medieval Music, edited by P. Higgins, Oxford 1999, pp. 295-315

Web links

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  1. ^ The Music in Past and Present (MGG), Person Part Volume 4, Bärenreiter Verlag Kassel and Basel 2000, ISBN 3-7618-1114-4
  2. Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (ed.): The great lexicon of music. Volume 2: C - Elmendorff. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1979, ISBN 3-451-18052-9 .