Hubert Waelrant

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Hubert Waelrant (* 1516 or 1517 possibly in Antwerp ; † November 19, 1595 in Antwerp) was a Franco-Flemish composer , singer , music theorist and music publisher of the late Renaissance .

Live and act

Hubert Waelrant had a number of namesake colleagues with similar spelling in the Antwerp archives; this fact led to problems with his identity for a while. It is certain that a "Hubertus Walraet" was registered at the University of Leuven in 1531 (a cleared typo in the name); this would also give his title ( Maistre, Magister ) and explain the humanistic education that can be seen in his dedications. The temporarily prevailing assumption that he also studied in Italy is not certain; there is no evidence for this. He may have acquired his apparently good knowledge of the Italian language from the many wealthy Italian merchants in Antwerp. In any case, he was one of the first in the Spanish Netherlands to write madrigals (on the Italian texts) in large numbers . From 1544 to 1545 he participated as a tenor singer for about a year in the evening services and masses in the Cathedral of Our Lady and in the Church of St. James in Antwerp . From 1553 to 1556 he rented the house of the minstrel Gregorius de Coninck; Part of the lease was that Waelrant was to give free singing lessons to the boys who had completed an apprenticeship with the tenant. From 1554 to 1558 he worked with the printer Jan De Laet (Waelrant & Laet) and worked here as a publisher and seller; During this time both have released 16 beautifully designed music prints.

Hubert Waelrant married three times, Maria Loochenborch in 1547, Anna Ablyt in 1564 and Johanna Cleerhagen in 1581; the composer's three sons, Raymond (1549–1617), Peter (around 1552–1603) and Paul († after 1596) worked as organists . In 1561 there was a competition among rhetoricians in Antwerp , “Landjuweel der rederijkers”, for which a five-part Dutch song “Ghelijc den dach hem baert” was written anonymously as an occasional composition, published by De Laet; it is possibly from Waelrant. When a carillon was purchased by Jean Fer in 1563 for the Antwerp Church of Our Lady, which had meanwhile become a cathedral , Waelrant was active as a consultant for the tuning of this carillon. After the series of poems "Lofsang van Braband" by the author Jan van der Noot was published in 1580, Waelrant wrote a polyphonic song set on the Dutch texts in 1583/84, as did Andreas Pevernage , Cornelis Verdonck and Gregorius Trehou (around 1550–1619); these compositions have not been preserved. In 1585 Waelrant published the Symphonia angelica collection with the publishers Phalèse and Bellère with 55 four- to six-part madrigals; five of them are from himself. This edition was quite successful: between 1590 and 1629 several new editions, some of which were revised, appeared. With regard to his publications and texts, Waelrant seemed to lean towards Protestantism, but officially, according to the lists of the Antwerp Citizens' Guard, he remained Catholic and has planned a normal church burial for himself and his third wife. According to his student Franciscus Sweertius (Frans Sweert), the composer died at the age of 78 on November 19, 1595 and was buried three days later in front of the choir of the Cathedral of Our Lady.

meaning

Hubert Waelrant, together with Jan De Laet, has a special meaning as a music publisher. Her publishing house has published eight anthologies with motets , one of which is a single print with Waelrant's own works and seven anthologies with compositions by Jacobus Clemens non Papa , Thomas Crécquillon and, above all, by lesser-known composers from France and the Spanish Netherlands. After 1555, more French chansons and psalm settings came into play, namely in four anthologies with the title Jardin musical and a single print for the composer Jean Louys . In 1558 an anthology followed with madrigals and chansons only by Waelrant himself. A characteristic of the editions by Waelrant & Laet is the unusually careful printing with special consideration of the additional accentuation ( musica ficta ) and the text underlay.

Waelrant's name was also associated with a new solmization system in which the previous first six tone names in the scale ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la were replaced by the new syllables bo, se, di, ga, lo, ma were ("Bocedisatio") and expanded by the two additional syllables ni and do. The claim that Waelrant was the inventor of these innovations goes back to his student Frans Sweerts (1628); however, they are also attributed to other Dutch musicians.

In his compositions, Hubert Waelrant starts from Clemens non Papa and Crécquillon in the genre of the Italian madrigal and then goes independent ways. Particular mention should be made of his careful text underlay, his expressive design through expressive chords with cross positions and the use of chromatics , the change between strict and free counterpoint and the change between declamatory and melismatic sections. In his French chansons, including some settings of texts by Clément Marot , the alternation between melancholy and playful expression is striking, which is also contained in his madrigals ( canzoni alla napolitana ). His Dutch song “Als ick u vinde” was particularly popular, first in editions of the Livre septième des chansons (1589), and later in French, English and German versions until the 20th century.

Works

  • Motets
    • “Sacrarum cantionum […] liber sextus” with five to six voices, Antwerp 1558, with 15 motets
    • 11 further motets with three to six parts in prints from 1553–1556, possibly one of them by Adrian Willaert
    • 9 further motets with four to eight parts (all incomplete)
  • Chansons and psalm settings
    • “Il primo libro de madrigali e canzoni francezi / Primier livre de chansons francoyses” with five voices, Antwerp 1558, with 11 chansons
    • 24 further chansons with three, four and six parts in editions from 1552 to 1589
    • 6 more chansons with four to five voices (incomplete)
  • Madrigals, Villanesche and Napolitane
    • “Il primo libro de madrigali et canzoni francezi / Primier livre de chansons francoyses” with five voices, Antwerp 1558, with nine madrigals
    • "Le canzon napolitane" with three to four voices, Venice 1565, with 30 madrigals (incomplete)
    • 7 further madrigals for four and six parts in editions of 1561 and 1585
    • 20 further madrigals with four and six voices (including 17 unique pieces)
  • Polyphonic Dutch songs
    • Song "Als ick u vinde" with four voices, 1584, also as "Vorria morire" 1585 handed down
    • Song “Ghelijc den dach hem baert” with five voices, 1561, Waelrant 1892 attributed by Goovaerts
  • Instrumental music
    • Intavolation of 2 madrigals, 1584
    • Intavolation of 2 canzonas, 1600
    • Intavolation of "Vorria morire"

Literature (selection)

  • A. Goovaerts: Liederen en other poems made of the occasion van het Landjuweel van Antwerpen in 1561 , Antwerp 1892
  • G. Lange: On the history of solmization. In: Anthologies of the International Music Society No. 1, 1899/1900, pages 535–622
  • HJ Slenk: The Music School of Hubert Waelrant. In: Journal of the American Musicological Society No. 21, 1968, pages 157-167
  • RL Weaver: The Motets of Hubert Waelrant (c.1517–1595) , dissertation at the University of Syracuse 1971
  • G. Persoons: De genealogie van de Antwerpse toonkundige Hubertus Waelrant (1517–1595): Zijn biografische data en ›Voces Belgicae‹. In: De Gulden Passer No. 57, 1979, pages 142-163
  • RL Weaver: A Descriptive Biobliographical Catalog of the Music Printed by Hubert Waelrant and Jan de Laet , Warren / Michigan 1995
  • RL Weaver: Waelrant and Laet: Music Publishers in Antwerp's Golden Age , Warren / Michigan 1995 (= Detroit Monographs in Musicology No. 15)
  • JA Owens: Waelrant and Bocedization: Reflections on Solmization Reform. In: Yearbook of the Alamire Foundation No. 2, 1997, pp. 377-394
  • RL Weaver: Waelrant's Working Relationship with Jan de Laet, as Given in the Prefaces to Their Partbooks. In: Yearbook of the Alamire Foundation No. 2, 1997, pages 237-292
  • TM McTaggart: Hubert Waelrant's ›Jardin Musical‹ (Antwerp 1556) and the Franco-Flemish Chanson , dissertation at the University of Chicago 1998
  • RL Weaver: Additions and Corrections to a Descriptive Catalog of the Music Printed by Hubert Waelrant and Jan de Laet , Warren / Michigan 1998
  • RL Weaver: Additions and Corrections to Waelrant and Laet: Music Publishers in Antwerp's Golden Age , Warren / Michigan 1998

Web links

swell

  1. ^ Eugeen Schreurs:  Waelrant, Hubert. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 17 (Vina - Zykan). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2007, ISBN 978-3-7618-1137-5  ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  2. ↑ Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (ed.): The great lexicon of music. Volume 8: Štich - Zylis-Gara. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1982, ISBN 3-451-18058-8 .
  3. ^ Robert Lee Weaver:  Waelrant, Hubert. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
personal data
SURNAME Waelrant, Hubert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Walrant, Hubertus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Franco-Flemish composer, music publisher and music theorist of the Renaissance
DATE OF BIRTH 1516 or 1517
PLACE OF BIRTH uncertain: Antwerp
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 1595
Place of death Antwerp