Jean de Bonmarché

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Jean de Bonmarché (* around 1522 probably in Douai (northern France), † September 1570 in Madrid ) was a Franco-Flemish composer and conductor of the Renaissance .

Life

No information has been passed on about Jean de Bonmarché's youth or training. The first evidence about him comes from the University of Leuven , where he received his doctorate in 1547 as a "Doctor of Liberal Arts". It is also known that from 1560/61 he was maître des enfants (head of the choirboys) at the Notre-Dame cathedral in Cambrai . He later studied law at the University of Douai, founded by King Philip II , and obtained his doctorate in law. If he is identical to the person with the similar name “Bonmarchié”, he was later also dean of the Saint-Pierre church in Lille .

During his tenure as director of the choirboys in Cambrai, Duchess Margarethe von Parma , governor of the Netherlands, sought a successor for the late director of the court orchestra in Madrid, Pierre de Manchicourt , for King Philip II of Spain , and obtained information about Bonmarché. From Margarethes von Parma’s letter from Brussels of November 30, 1564 to Philip II, it emerges that Bonmarché was over 40 years old at this time and had a good name as a composer, even if his voice was weak. Based on Margaret's recommendation, the composer agreed to accept the position on December 17, 1564; he left the Netherlands on April 14, 1565 and traveled with a singer and four choirboys to Madrid, where he arrived on June 8, 1565 and took the position of court conductor. On October 28, 1568, the Spanish king also gave him the deanery of Saint-Pierre in Lille ; a few months later, on May 9, 1569, he was registered as a beneficiary for the benefices in the city of Béthune at the instigation of the king .

In a letter from Philip II to the Duke of Alba, Governor General of the Netherlands, on September 16, 1570, the King asked him to send a new conductor because the previous one had died a few days earlier. This letter documents the composer's death in the first half of September 1570.

meaning

A single motet by Bonmarché, “Constitues eos principes”, has survived in a printed collection. It is an impressive quadruple canon in which a notated four-part choral setting expands into a canonically set second choir. The archives of the Old Cathedral of Cambrai contain records of payments to the composer for a motet for the feast of St. Anthony of 1561, for another one for the feast of “St. Claude ”as well as for hymns and motets that were composed for the feast of Saint Luke. The cathedral also had a Te Deum entitled “Pater de Saint-Claire” and a seven-part mass , both of which were copied in 1568. All of these works are now considered lost. The inventory of the choir books of the royal palace in Madrid mentions two masses and a motet by Bonmarché; It is not certain whether these plants are also available in the inventory.

Works

  • Motet “Constitues eos principes” with eight voices
  • Mass for seven voices (lost)
  • Te Deum "Pater de Saint-Claire" (missing)
  • Festive motet "Saint-Antoine" (lost)
  • Festive motet "Double Saint-Louis" (lost)
  • Festive motet "Double Saint-Claude" (lost)
  • Two choir books, containing two masses (one of them: "Letabunt" with five voices) and a motet, mentioned in the inventory of the music of the Capilla Real in Madrid from 1597 (lost?)

Literature (selection)

  • A. vander Meersch: Bonmarché, Jean , in: Biographie nationale belge , Volume 2, Brussels 1868, pages 685–686
  • J. Houdoy: Histoire artistique de la cathédrale de Cambrai , in: Mémoires de la Société des sciences, de l'agriculture et des arts de Lille, 4th series, volume 7, Lille 1880, page 130 and following and 220
  • E. vander Straeten: La Musique aux Pays-Bas avant le XIXe siècle , Volume 8, Part 2, Brussels 1888, Reprint 1969

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ The Music in Past and Present (MGG), Person Part Volume 3, Bärenreiter and Metzler, Kassel and Basel 2000, ISBN 3-7618-1112-8
  2. ^ The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , edited by Stanley Sadie, 2nd Edition, Volume 3, McMillan, London 2001, ISBN 0-333-60800-3
personal data
SURNAME Bonmarché, Jean de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bonmarchié, Jean de; Bonmarchier, Jean de; Bon Marchier, Jean de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Franco-Flemish composer and bandmaster of the Renaissance
DATE OF BIRTH around 1522
PLACE OF BIRTH unsure: Douai
DATE OF DEATH September 1570
Place of death Madrid