Jean Cordier

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Jean Cordier (* around 1440 in Bruges ; † September 28, 1501 there ) was a Dutch tenor singer.

life and work

Jean Cordier probably came from the Cordier family, whose members Rolandus and Ghisbertus administered the foundation of Johannes van der Coutre at the Saint-Donatian Cathedral in Bruges . Most likely Cordier was trained at the maîtrise of this church.

Although he was a priest, he was appointed clericus installatus (tenore) on July 23, 1460. Tommaso Portinari , ambassador of the Medicis in Bruges, wrote to Piero de 'Medici on February 13, 1467 that he had hired a tenore and would give him money for the trip. On February 23, 1467, the Chapter of Saint-Donatian allowed Cordier to be absent in negotiis suis until June 1467.

Cordier led a group of singers who had recruited Portinari in Bruges and Guillaume Du Fay in Cambrai to Italy. He joined the Piero de 'Medicis chapel in Florence and inspired his master with improvisations on the lira da braccio. The singers he led to Italy, however, left Florence again in 1468, ostensibly at Cordier's instigation.

On January 2, 1469 he became the singer of the Sistine Chapel in Rome . His certificate of appointment reached Bruges just as the Saint-Donatian's chapter was tending to deprive him of the vicariate and chaplaincy due to his absence. Cordier was paid for the last time in Rome in August 1470.

Cordier's next job was at the court of Ferdinand I (1458–1494) in Naples. In 1474 Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza succeeded in winning Cordier over for his court chapel, which had been under construction since 1471/2. Cordier went to Milan without Ferdinand I's permission, which led to serious diplomatic tensions between the Kingdom of Naples-Sicily and the Duchy of Milan. When the King of Naples threatened to break off relations with Milan, Charles the Bold , the Duke of Burgundy and Cordier's “father of the country”, acted as a mediator in favor of the Duke of Milan. Cordier left debts in Naples, which Johannes de Vuilles, cantor in capella regis Neapolitani , and Magister Petrus du Croquet alias le Picart, tailor of the king, tried to collect from the chapter of Saint-Donatian in Bruges on December 13, 1474 .

From October 1474 Cordier can be traced as a singer in the Galeazzo Maria Sforza chapel in Milan . He was ennobled by the duke, received monetary gifts and benefices. Cordier's colleagues included Gaspar van Weerbeke , Alexander Agricola , Loyset Compère, and Jehan Fresneau . After the Duke's murder on December 26, 1476 and the downsizing of the chapel, Cordier remained in the service of the regent Bona for some time as one of the best singers in the chapel. In February 1477 he belonged to an embassy of the Milanese court to France, but left Milan for good in the summer of 1477.

From 1480 at the latest, Cordier sang in the chapel of Archduke Maximilians, who later became Emperor Maximilian I. With his colleagues Antoine Busnoys and Pierre Basin , Cordier participated in the meeting of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 's-Hertogenbosch in May 1481 , also in March 1482 Burial of Mary of Burgundy . Cordier is documented as a singer in the chapel from 1480–1482 and 1487–1488.

In recognition of his outstanding skills as a singer, Cordier received from Maximilian I a canonical to Saint-Donatian in Bruges in 1483, as well as a benefit to Saint-Livinus in Zierikzee . The chapter of Saint-Donatian Cordier generously granted a longer leave for a trip to Italy on behalf of the Sforzas, to whom the connection was only broken off in 1496 by a letter of dismissal.

In 1485 Cordier directed the Easter play in Bruges and sang Jesus. Apparently Cordier was the friend of Jacob Obrecht who had prepared his appointment to Saint-Donatian. On July 10, 1487, the chapter of Saint-Donatian allowed him to travel from Bruges to Milan per tres vel quatuor menses continuos . In his luggage he had compositions that Duke Ercole I d'Este of Ferrara “valued above all else”. Ercole d'Este commissioned Cordier to arrange Obrecht's trip to the court of Ferrara at the chapter in Bruges.

On September 5, 1487, the singer Cornelio di Lorenzo , sent to Bruges by Ercole d'Este, reached Milan , where Cordier joined him. On October 2, 1487, both of them appeared before the chapter of Saint-Donatian and asked them to grant Jacob Obrecht leave for a trip to Italy. This was granted and Obrecht traveled to Ferrara with Cornelio di Lorenzo.

After his return from Italy, Cordier visited his friend Obrecht, who had meanwhile returned from Italy, in Bergen op Zoom in 1488 at his own expense . 1492-93 he traveled to Italy again. In 1493/4 Cordier arranged the official visit of the singers to the Saint-Donatian cathedral near Obrecht in Antwerp. Cordier's last trip to Italy took place in 1496. Cordier Succentor (Kapellmeister) was at Saint-Donatian from October 9, 1497 to November 10, 1498. In September 1500 he campaigned for the sick Obrecht at the Saint-Donatian chapter.

On September 28, 1501, Jean Cordier died honored in Bruges and was buried in the choir of Saint-Donatian. He left the Church a foundation worth ₤ 13 annually.

literature

• Herbert Seifert : Cordier, Jean. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 1, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-7001-3043-0 .