Johannes Ciconia

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Johannes Ciconia (* around 1370-1375 in Liège ; † between June 10 and July 12, 1412 in Padua ) was a Dutch composer and music theorist of the late Middle Ages.

Origin, life and work

In the historical documents there are several people with this name, although research today assumes that the person born around 1335/1340 is most likely the father of the composer Ciconia.

This older Johannes Ciconia (name variant "Jehan de Chywongne") came from the family of a wealthy furrier ("pelletier"), received a thorough training in his hometown of Liège and was there priest and canon at the church of Saint Jean-l'Evangéliste. In 1348 he had the opportunity to accompany Cardinal Gilles d'Albornoz to Italy, where he stayed longer and got an insight into the Italian style of music and composition. From 1350 he worked in Avignon . From 1359 to 1362 he held the post of canon in Cesena . He is said to have returned to Liège around 1370 and started a family there. The date of his death is not recorded; However, there is a document from Padua dated August 30, 1405, in which he is mentioned as "quondam Johannis, de civitate Leodii", that is, he died without mentioning his status as canon and priest. The mother of the younger Ciconia was probably the daughter of Jacques d'Heur, who is described by the chronicler Jacques de Hemricourt as "une filhe mal provée, qui at plusieurs enfans natureis de saingnor Johan de Chywogne, canonne de Saint-Johan".

In 1385 a "Jo Chiconia" is recorded as a choirboy at the church in Liège mentioned; the next surviving list from 1389 no longer contains the name of the younger Ciconia. As early as 1391 he was in Rome , which is evident from a letter from Pope Boniface IX. (Term of office 1389–1404) of April 27, 1391: Here an earlier dispensation of his illegitimate parentage is recognized (“super defectu natalium quem pateris de presbitero genitus”) and he is called “clericus capelle” of Cardinal Philippe d'Alençon († 1397). The further wording of the document suggests that Ciconia stayed in his household for at least six months. Ciconia may have stayed in Rome until the cardinal's death in 1397, but this is not certain. It is likely that he lived at the court of Giangaleazzo Visconti (1385–1402) in Pavia in the late 1390s , as can be seen from the dating of the madrigal "Una panthera" and other compositions on current events.

It is certain that Ciconia stayed in Padua from 1401; there granted him on July 11, 1401 Francesco Zabarella (1360-1417) the transfer of a benefice to the church of San Biagio di Roncaglia, and only three days later Ciconia got the position of chaplain at the cathedral of Padua . In the following year (March 3, 1402) he switched to the post of "mansionarius", and on April 26, 1403 he is mentioned on the same cathedral as "cantor et custos". It is almost certain that he was not a priest. Ciconia stayed in Padua until the end of his life and created a large part of his works here. His patron here was the composer Antonio Zacara da Teramo (1350 / 1360-1413 / 1416), who granted him a "beneficium". On June 10, 1412, Ciconia authenticated a final document with his signature, and on July 13, 1412 his successor Luca da Lendenara received the post of cantor at the cathedral, with the note "per mortem M. Johannis Ciconia". Large sums of money were spent on Ciconia's funeral shortly afterwards.

meaning

Johannes Ciconia was one of the first Dutch people to work in Italy. More music has come down from him than from any other composer active around 1400 (Antonio Zacara da Teramo and Paolo Tenorista da Firenze should be mentioned here ), but only a few of these show a comparable variety of styles and originality. Ciconia's early works are written both in the purely French style and in the purely Italian style and belong to the Ars subtilior epoch ; In contrast, his later compositions show a peculiar synthesis of Dutch and Italian stylistic elements. For his motets he has taken over the upper voice canon of the Italian caccia , as well as the imitating spelling of the Italian madrigal , thus creating the new type of “imitating motet”. Another new feature of Ciconia's motets is the gradual transformation of the compositional function of the tenor , who is no longer the carrier of a given melody, as it used to be, but appears as a “carrier of harmony”, thus pointing to Guillaume Dufay (1400–1474) (Heinrich Besseler ). His novel melody is strongly related to the word and apparently very much influenced by the melody style of Francesco Landino (around 1335-1397). The later works are among the most interesting and original pieces of his generation, with his motets and late songs having a long-lasting influence on the beginning era of Franco-Flemish music . This now recognized importance of Ciconia arose through the fundamental work of the musicologists Heinrich Besseler (1952) and Suzanne Clercx-Lejeune (1953), but especially through the two-volume study of the latter from 1960.

The treatise “Nova musica” by Johannes Ciconia, consisting of five books, represents a striking synthesis of music theory, interval and mode theory and contains many quotations from works by earlier music theorists, but only from the period before the year 1100; the youngest of the numerous cited authors is Berno von Reichenau (around 970-1048). On the other hand, it contains many passages that obviously come from the “Lucidarium” of Marchetto da Padova (14th century) without naming his name. The whole of Nova musica impresses with its well-documented erudition, but completely dispenses with statements. which concern your own innovative way of composing. In his theory of proportions, he demands that, in addition to controlling the duration of the tone, the overall form must also be proportionate, a view that Guillaume Dufay later adopted. Only in the last chapter of “De proportionibus” does Ciconia describe, rather imprecisely and superficially, the innovations in the notation introduced by Franco von Köln (13th century), Philippe de Vitry (1291–1361) and the aforementioned Marchetto da Padova . What is striking, however, is that Ciconia not only carefully avoids any reference to the hexachord theory of Guido von Arezzo (shortly before 1000 − around 1050) in his treatises , but also repeatedly and sharply criticized it and his followers. Apparently he tried to return to the system of Anicius Boethius (around 480-524), which provided simple letter designations for the pitches, which refer to precise mathematical calculations of the intervals on the monochord .

Musical works (selection)

  • Una panthera in compagnia de Marte , Italian madrigal with 3 voices, probably 1399
  • Ben che da vui donna, sia partito , ballata for 2 voices, only treble survived
  • Per quella strada lactea del cielo , Italian madrigal for 2 voices, describes in detail the arms of the Carrara family, 1401
  • Gli atti col danzar Francesch 'inanzi passa , Ballata to 3 voices
  • Chi nel servir anticho me conduce , Ballata to 3 voices
  • Sus un fontayne en remirant , Virelai to 3 votes
  • Quod jactatur , riddle canon with 3 parts
  • Please send me a message , Ballata
  • I cani sono fuora per le mosse , Italian madrigal for 2 voices
  • O rosa bella, o dolce anima mia , ballata to 3 voices
  • Cazando un giorno vidi una cervetta , Italian madrigal for 2 voices
  • Lizadra donna che 'l mo cor contenti , Ballata to 3 votes
  • Deduto sey a quel , Ballata grande with 2 to 3 voices, now definitely attributed to Antonio Zachara da Teramo
  • Mercé, o morte, o vaga anima mia , Ballata to 3 voices
  • La fiamma del to amor che già me strinze , Ballata for 2 voices
  • O Padua, sidus praeclarum , non-isorhythmic motet with 3 parts
  • Venecie mundi splendor / Michael, qui Stena domus , non-isorhythmic motet with 3 parts in honor of Doge Michele Steno, probably January 3, 1406
  • Le ray au soleyl qui dret som karmeyne , canonical French song about the coat of arms of Giangaleazzo Visconti († 1402)
  • Aler m'en veus en strangne ​​partie , Virelai to 2 votes
  • Albane misse celitus / Albanus, doctor maxime , isorhythmic motet with 4 (or 3?) Voices, probably March 8, 1406
  • Gloria and Credo , mass movements with 4 voices, tenor and cantus with repetition and diminution with an introductory duo [the connection to the Latin song "Regina gloriosa", which Suzanne Clercx (1960) presented, is given by Bent / Hallmark, based on BJ Layton 1960, discarded]
  • Gloria to 4 voices alternating with 2 voices, dripping "Spiritus et alme"
  • Gloria with 3 voices, with an otherwise unknown trope "Suscipe, Trinitas"
  • Gloria to 3 voices with 1-part introduction
  • Credo to 3 votes alternating with 2 votes, based on the "Credo festivus"
  • O virum omnimoda / O lux et decus / O beate Nicholae , non-isorhythmic motet of 4 (or 3?) Voices in honor of St. Nicholas of Trani, dated 1393/94 with reservations and certainly the only motet without clear references Padua; von Besseler, on the other hand, regarded it as a distinctly late work
  • O proles Hispanie , isorhythmic motet, only two parts survived, in honor of St. Anthony of Padua, with two panisorhythmic parts
  • Petrum Marcello venetum / O Petre, antistes inclite , isorhythmic motet for 4 parts with 2 panisorhythmic parts, presumably for the appointment of Pietro Marcello as Bishop of Padua on November 16, 1409
  • Ut te per omnes celitus / Ingens alumnus padue , isorhythmic motet of 4 (or 3?) Parts with 2 panisorhythmic parts, in honor of Francesco Zabarella
  • O Petre, Christi discipule , Latin song for 2 voices, possibly for the coronation of Pope Alexander V (Pietro Filargo da Candia) on July 7, 1409

Theoretical writings

  • Nova musica or Musica nova (? Shortly after 1400), both existing sources anonymous; however, the work is mentioned in De proportionibus (Chapters 9, 12, 14 and 15) as Ciconia's writing
  • De proportionibus (dated 1411, is a revision of Book III of the Nova musica ), dedicated to Giovanni Gasparo da Castelgumberto, Canon of Vicenza

Recordings

  • Opera Omnia , Diabolus in Musica, La Morra on the English label Ricercar (Presto Classical), recording 2010, 2011 (double CD)

Literature (selection)

  • Suzanne Clercx-Lejeune: Johannes Ciconia: Un musicien liégeois et son temps (verse 1335–1411) , 2 volumes, with a complete edition of the works, Bruxelles, Palais des Académies, 1960
  • Richard H. Hoppin: Medieval Music , WW Norton & Co., New York 1978, ISBN 0-393-09090-6
  • Annette Kreutziger-Herr : Johannes Ciconia (approx. 1370–1412) , Hamburg 1991, Verlag Karl-Dieter Wagner, ISBN 3-88979-051-8
  • Philippe Vendrix, editor: Johannes Ciconia: musicien de la transition , Turnhout, Belgium, Brepols 2003, ISBN 2-503-51455-3
  • Heinrich Besseler: Bourdon and Fauxbourdon , Leipzig 1950, supplemented and edited by Peter Gülke 1974
  • Heinrich Besseler: Johannes Ciconia, founder of choral polyphony. In: Congress report Rome 1950, Rome 1952
  • Kurt von Fischer: On Ciconia research. In: Die Musikforschung No. 14, 1961
  • Edward Stam: The correct solution to the riddle canon "Quod jactatur" by Johannes Ciconia. In: Tijdschrift der Vereeniging voor Nederlandsche Muziekgeschiedenis No. 21/3, 1970
  • David Fallow: Ciconia padre e figlio. In: Rivista Italiana di Musicologia No. 11, 1976
  • Willem Elders: Humanism and Early-Renaissance Music. A Study of the Ceremonial Music by Ciconia and Dufay. In: Tijdschrift der Vereeniging voor Nederlandsche Muziekgeschiedenis No. 27, 1977
  • Suzanne Clercx-Lejeune: Ancora su Johannes Ciconia. In: Nuova Rivista Musicale Italiana 11, 1977

Web links

swell

  1. ^ Margaret Bent, David Fallows, Giuliano Di Bacco, John Nádas:  Ciconia, Johannes. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  2. ↑ Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (ed.): The great lexicon of music. Volume 2: C - Elmendorff. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1979, ISBN 3-451-18052-9 .
  3. ↑ David Fallows:  Ciconia, Johannes. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 4 (Camarella - Couture). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2000, ISBN 3-7618-1114-4  ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
personal data
SURNAME Ciconia, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch composer of the Middle Ages
DATE OF BIRTH around 1372
PLACE OF BIRTH Liege
DATE OF DEATH June 1412
Place of death Padua