Jean Japart

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Jean Japart (* around 1450; † after 1500 (?)) Was a Franco-Flemish composer , singer and cleric of the early Renaissance .

Live and act

Apart from a relatively brief period during the 1470s, nothing is known about the life of Jean Japart. Between 1474 and 1476 he was a member of the choir of the famous Sforza Chapel in Milan , which also included Alexander Agricola , Loyset Compère and Johannes Martini . A document dated July 4, 1476 allows the conclusion that several benefices have been promised to him. After the murder of his employer Galeazzo Sforza in November 1476, his widow decided to downsize the chapel and Japart was one of the twelve singers who were dismissed. Japart was mentioned for the last time in Milan on February 6, 1477; he left the city and apparently went directly to the court of Duke Ercole I d'Este in Ferrara . He probably started his service there at the beginning of March, because the payroll of April 1, 1477 shows him a full month's salary. Japart stayed in Ferrara for almost four years. Not only did he become one of the highest paid singers at court in Ferrara, but the Duke gave him his own house here. A particularly informative document of July 13, 1480 expressly notes that Japart comes from Picardy ("Zoane Japarte de pichardia"). He was mentioned for the last time on February 8, 1481 in Ferrara; thereafter there is no direct information about him.

Indirect information about his life before Milan and after Ferrara emerges from musical and historical manuscript references. There are numerous points of contact between his music and the style of Antoine Busnoys , which suggests that he was in closer contact with Busnoys before he began his service at the court of Burgundy in 1466/67 , although there has been speculation that he might even be a student of Busnoys ' have been. On the other hand, there is a noticeable presence of his compositions in manuscripts from Florence from the early 1490s, which led to the assumption that he could be identical with the singer Iannes Picardo , who was active there in the early and mid-1480s. In addition, there is a tradition of his compositions in the three works Harmonice musices Odhecaton A , Canti B and Canti C by the Italian music publisher Ottaviano dei Petrucci (1466–1539), which is unusual in this scope, sometimes in groups of three or four consecutive pieces . This fact leads to the conclusion that Japart is possibly identical with "Johannes de Francia, Frater", who is proven on December 8, 1499 in Venice at the Church of Sanctissimi Giovanni e Paolo, which had a long-lasting connection with Pietro Castellanus, the Editor of the writings of Petrucci. Jean Japart could also have been in close contact with Josquin . At least the Belgian music researcher François-Joseph Fétis (1784–1871) claims in 1862 that he knows a chanson by Josquins that is addressed directly to Japart ("Revenu d'oultrements, Japart / Je n'ai du sort que mince part") . Other music researchers are of the opinion, however, that this is the chanson without text with the title "Schanson des Josquin"; the piece has not been preserved. If the two composers actually met, it would not have been possible in Milan until 1484, because Josquin did not come to Italy until that year.

meaning

The traditional works of Jean Japart do not have a large stylistic range. All 23 pieces that are ascribed to him are secular music (chansons); in six ascriptions the authorship is disputed, in three more there is a partial ascription to Antoine Busnoys. Twenty-one of these pieces are arrangements of well-known contemporary melodies, both by courtly sages and folk tunes. In six of these compositions, several existing melodies are cleverly combined ( quodlibets ). The given melodies are usually quoted clearly in the tenor , often in the form of imitations , sometimes in canon with the upper part. Overall, Japart's compositions seem more sophisticated than inspired.

Works

Complete edition: Jean Japart: Collected Works , edited by Allan W. Atlas, New York 2003

  • Works that are certainly ascribed
    • “Cela sans plus” to four votes
    • “De tous biens plaine” with four votes
    • "Famene un pocho de quella mazacrocha" with four voices (= "Questa se chiama" or "Famene un pocho")
    • “Fortuna d'un gran tempo” with four voices
    • “Helas, qu'elle est à mon gré” to four voices
    • “Il est de bonne heure né” / “L'homme armé” with four voices
    • “J'ay pris amours” (I) for four voices
    • “J'ay pris amours” (II) to four voices
    • “Je cuide” / “De tous biens plaine” with four voices
    • “Loier me fault ung carpentier” to four voices
    • “Nenciozza mia” to four votes
    • “Pour passer temps” / “Plus ne chasceray sans gens” to four voices
    • “Prestes le moy” to four votes
    • “Se congié pris” to four votes
    • "Se je fet ung cop apres" with four voices (= "Tam bien mi son pensade")
    • “Trois filles estoient” to four voices
    • “Vray dieu d'Amour” / “Sancte Johannes baptista” / “Ora pro nobis” with five voices
  • Works partly ascribed to other composers
    • "Amours, amours, amours" (partly attributed to Busnoys)
    • "Amours fait moult tant" / "Il est de bonne heure né" / "Tant que nostre argent" (partly attributed to Busnoys)
    • "Et qui la dira dira" / "Dieu gard celles de deshonneur" (partly attributed to Busnoys)
    • "J'ay bien nourry" (= "Ja bien rise tant") (partly attributed to Josquin)
    • "Je cuide" (partly attributed to Congiet and De Orto)
    • "T'meiskin was jonck" (= "De tusche in busche") (partly attributed to Isaac and Obrecht)

Literature (selection)

  • RW Buxton: Johannes Japart: a Fifteenth Century Chanson Composer , in: Current Musicology No. 31, 1981, pages 7-37
  • L. Lockwood: Music in Renaissance, Ferrara 1400-1505 , Oxford 1984
  • Allan W. Atlas: Busnoys and Japart: Teacher and Student? , in: Method, Meaning, and Context in Late Medieva Music, edited by P. Higgins, Oxford 1999, pp. 447-464
  • Same: Petrucci's Songbooks and Japart's Biography , in: Convegno internationale. Venezia 1501. Petrucci e la stampa musicale , edited by G. Cattin, 2004

Web links

swell

  1. ^ The Music in Past and Present (MGG), Person Part Volume 9, Bärenreiter Verlag Kassel and Basel 2003, ISBN 3-7618-1119-5
  2. ^ The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan Verlag London 1980, p. 553
personal data
SURNAME Japart, Jean
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Japart, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Franco-Flemish composer and singer of the early Renaissance
DATE OF BIRTH around 1450
DATE OF DEATH after 1500