Jacques Moderne

Jacques Moderne (* around 1500 in Pinguente, today Buzet , † after 1560 in Lyon ) was a French music publisher and printer of Italian origin. After Pierre Attaignant , he was the second major French editor of his time.

Life

There is no evidence of his early life. The indication Jacobus Modernus de Pinguento in early prints suggests his place of birth in Istria . Presumably he spent his apprenticeship in Venice . The first written mentions of Modernes appeared from 1523 to the 1560s in the tax register of Lyon, which led him as a bookseller . In 1526 he appeared for the first time as editor.

plant

Treble part from the first book of the Motetti del fiore . The collection got its name from the milk thistle , which is shown on the title page.

The largest part of Modernes publications made up sheet music, masses , motets , chansons and instrumental works. His well-known publications include two missal books with cantus planus chants (1530), eight motet books (1532–1542), including the four collections of the Motetti del fiore , and the chanson book series Le parangon des chansons (1538–1543). From Parangon eleven volumes have been preserved. For the first time they show the arrangement of voices that became common later, with which several singers could look into the open book from different sides and make music together; this printing technique was spread by Peter Short and Thomas East towards the end of the 16th century, especially in England . In later years, Moderne published single editions by several composers as well as reprints of anonymous compositions and two writings on music theory.

It has not been established whether he was a musician or a composer himself. It is possible that Francesco de Layolle (* 1492; † around 1540), composer and organist at the Notre-Dame de Confort church in Lyon, initiated the printing of music and worked with him. After Layolle's death around 1540, the quality of Modernes Programm dropped noticeably.

In total, Moderne printed around 50 music collections with a total of more than 800 pieces. More than half of them were first-time publications. A large number of the remaining works, which were later reprinted by other publishers, are published by Moderne for the first time. They are of musical historical value as they prove that some composers such as Pierre de Villiers , Eustorg de Beaulieu , Dambert and Henry Fresneau worked in Lyon at that time. Two editions of Modernes consist exclusively of masses, motets and Magnificat settings by Pierre Colin , whose compositions have also appeared in other collective editions. The majority of the authors, however, were already internationally known composers, including Franco-Flemish masters such as Nicolas Gombert , Adrian Willaert , Jakob Arcadelt , Jean l'Héritier (* around 1480; † after 1551) and Jachet de Mantua (1483–1559 ) and the Paris school around Claudin de Sermisy , Jean Maillard , Pierre Sandrin , Pierre Certon and Clément Janequin . In contrast to Attaignant, Modernism not only printed the works of French and Dutch, but also Italian, Spanish and German composers: Matteo Rampollini (* 1497; † around 1553), Cristóbal de Morales , Francescho Bianchini , Giovanni Paolo Paladino , Mateu Fletxa el Vell , Mateu Fletxa el Jove , Luis de Narváez , Leonhard Paminger and Matthias Eckel . Moderne was the first to print lute music by the Hungarian Valentin Bakfark .

Modern publications were not limited to music. He also published books in Latin and French, popular at the time, including a. about religion, home remedies, emblems and chiromancy .

literature

• Samuel Franklin Pogue: Jacques Moderne. Lyons music printer of the 16th century . Droz: Geneva 1969

Web links

• Literature by and about Jacques Moderne in the catalog of the German National Library
• Sheet music and audio files by Jacques Moderne in the International Music Score Library Project