Guillaume Faugues

Guillaume Faugues (* before 1442 in France, † after 1475) was a Franco-Flemish composer , singer and cleric of the early Renaissance .

Live and act

Faugues presumably comes from Normandy , after the name, which is otherwise unusual in France, occurs there more often. Music historians have not yet been able to determine more precise life data. The earliest documentary evidence about him is that he was staying at the Sainte-Chapelle in Bourges in 1462 . From June 24th he represented the magister puerorum (master of the choirboys), Pierre Lambert, for about three months . Philippe Basiron was one of the six boys for whom he was responsible . During this time Faugues may have met Johannes Ockeghem when he was in Bourges in November 1462. Several years later, on July 16, 1471, the Chapter of Saint-Chapelle tried to recruit him by asking Faugues the priest to present himself to the treasurer of Bourges Cathedral in Paris for the post of the late chaplain Jean Capturing Ploton apparently did not succeed.

Further information about the composer can be found in the distribution of his works, from the mention of his compositions in the writings of music theorists and from the mention in the motet "Omnium bonorum plena" (1468 or 1471) by Loyset Compère , in which besides Faugues a number other contemporary composers are listed. Johannes Tinctoris , composer and theoretician, describes his special esteem for Faugues in his work Opera Theoretica with the following Latin sentence: "non modo hominibus heroibusque verum etiam Diis immortalibus dignissima censenda sint". Also Franchino Gaffori mentioned Faugues in his Tractatus practicabilium proportionum and identifies the correct title of his exhibition "Vinus" which was nowhere else play correctly. Faugues' music was known and loved in Italy until the 1470s, from which his influence on Johannes Martini and the Italian composer Serafinus results; the musicologist Christopher Reynolds (1995) also concludes from this that Faugues lived there longer. He could also be identical with the composer and writer Guillelmus, who can be traced back to St. Peter in Rome in the 1450s and 1460s . This in turn is perhaps identical with the singer Guillaume des Mares, who worked in Rome in the 1470s at St. Peter and at the Capella Sixtina . This Guillaume des Mares previously worked in 1464 at the cathedral in Évreux and as maître des enfants at the cathedral in Chartres . However, it has not yet been proven that he is identical to Guillaume Faugues.

meaning

Only masses by Guillaume Faugues have come down to us, and these are all based on secular cantus firmus melodies , which usually sound in long note values. In counterpoint , he makes use of many imitation techniques, including those that involve numerous rhythmic-melodic changes. With his interest in canonical techniques he is in line with Johannes Ockeghem, especially in the strictly adhered canons of his mass “L'homme armé”. The structural use of repetition is typical of Faugues: complete sections are carried over from one sentence to the other; z. B. In his mass “L'homme armé” he repeats Kyrie II at the end of Gloria , Credo and Sanctus . Even have Dufay , Josquin and Obrecht uses this method, but not as extensively as Faugues. Its masses are all very long (1800 to 2100 mensural bars ). His principle of using the superius (top voice, cantus firmus) of the originals of his masses later led to the compositional principle of the parody mass , e.g. B. with Johannes Martini.

Works

Edition of the works of Guillaume Faugues: Institute of Medieval Music, Brooklyn, New York 1960

• Measure with sure authorship
  • Missa “Je suis en la mer” with four voices
  • Missa “La basse danse” with four voices
  • Missa "Le Serviteur" with four voices (written before 1462)
  • Missa "L'homme armé" for four voices (survived in two versions)
  • Missa "Vinus vina Vinum" with four voices (before 1472/73)
• Measure with uncertain attribution
  • Missa "Au chant de l'alouete" (by a pupil or imitator of Faugues' rather than by himself)
  • Missa “Pour l'amour d'une” with three voices

Literature (selection)

• George C. Schuetze: An Introduction to Faugues , Institute of Medieval Music, Brooklyn / New York 1960 (= Scientific Treatise No. 2)
• F. Crane: Materials for the Study of the Fifteenth Century Basse Danse , Brooklyn / New York 1968
• JP Burkholder: Johannes Martini and the Imitation Mass of the Late Fifteenth Century. In: Journal of the American Musicological Society No. 38, 1985, pages 470-523
• Paula Higgins: Tracing the Careers of Late Medieval Composers: the Case of Philippe Basiron of Bourges. In: Acta musicologica No. 62, 1990, pages 1-28
• R. Wegman: Guillaume Faugues and the Anonymous Masses “Au chant de l'alouete” and “Vinnus vina”. In: Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor nederlandse muziekgeschiedenis No. 41, 1991, pages 27-64
• Christopher A. Reynolds: Papal Patronage and the Music of St. Peter's, 1380-1513 , Berkeley 1995

Web links

• Sheet music in the public domain by Guillaume Faugues in the Choral Public Domain Library - ChoralWiki (English)
• Works by and about Guillaume Faugues in the catalog of the German National Library

swell

1. ↑ Music in the past and present (MGG). Personal section, volume 6. Bärenreiter, Kassel and Basel 2001, ISBN 3-7618-1136-5 .
2. ↑ Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (ed.): The great lexicon of music. Volume 3: Elsbeth - Haitink. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1980, ISBN 3-451-18053-7 .