Jehan Vaillant

Jehan Vaillant ( fl.  ? 1360 to 1390 , also Jean or Johannes Vayllant ) was a French composer and music theorist of the Middle Ages.

life and work

There is great uncertainty about the biography of Jean Vaillant. There is evidence that he worked as a master at a music school in Paris . On the other hand, his works are preserved in the so-called Codex Chantilly , which also contains compositions by singers at the papal court in Avignon , which led to him being associated with a capellanus Johannes Valentis or Valhant , who died in papal service in 1361. However, since other indications point to musical activity still at the end of the 14th century, it is more likely that he was one of the several documented bearers of this name who worked in a higher position at the court of the then Duke of Berry between 1377 and 1387 .

Vaillant's polymetric compositional technique suggests that he was a younger contemporary of Guillaume de Machaut . Five compositions by Vaillant (a sixth work, the anonymously handed down rondeau “ Quiconques veut ”, is attributed to him) are preserved in the Codex Chantilly, including the isorhythmic rondeau “ Pour ce que je ne say ”, which was designed as a teaching piece for his students. The Virelai " Par maintes foys " with pictorial bird call imitations and counter rhythms (four against three) must have been one of the most popular works of its time, as it has been passed down in different versions in nine sources. Vaillant was also the author of a treatise on mood .

literature

• The New Grove, 2nd edition , article by Ursula Günther