Johannes Ockeghem

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Johannes Ockeghem as Premier Chappellain with his singers, posthumous miniature 1523

Johannes Ockeghem (* around 1420 to 1425 in Saint-Ghislain ( Hainaut ); † February 6, 1497 in Tours (?)) Was a Franco-Flemish composer , singer and cleric of the early Renaissance . |

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According to a document from the beginning of the 17th century, Ockeghem is described as "en son temps trésoir de l'église St. Martin de Thour et natif de St. Ghislain". He was thus born about twelve kilometers west of Mons in what is now French-speaking Belgium; however, his family may come from the village of Okegem, about 50 kilometers north of it (today part of Ninove ) in the Flemish-speaking area. It can be assumed that he received his musical training at the collegiate church of Saint-Germain in Mons, the closest church with a good musical facility. This would also explain his relationship to Gilles Binchois , who after leaving Mons in 1423 kept lifelong contact with the city of Mons and the churches there. For the first time, Ockeghem is personally recorded from June 24, 1443 to June 23, 1444 as an adult singer at the Marienkirche Antwerp under Johannes Pullois ; the documents of this church from before and after have not survived. An entry in the account books of the court of Duke Charles I of Bourbon (term of office 1434-1456) results in Ockeghem's employment in Moulins as the first of seven band singers who have received material for their robes . The undated entry does not reveal how long he had worked at court at the time and how long he stayed; it is believed that its activity lasted from 1446 to 1448.

A later document states that from October 1, 1451, he was a singer in the court orchestra of the French King Charles VII ; the oldest original payment receipt comes from the accounting year that ended on September 30, 1453. As a New Year's gift in 1454, he presented his employer with a musical manuscript and received a large amount of scarlet material worth 44 livres tournois and is called “premier chapelain”. Numerous documents show that he held this office for over 40 years, even during the reign of the two following kings, Louis XI. and Charles VIII of France. By comparing the usual payments to the singers of the court orchestra with his salary, it can be seen that he often got more and sometimes doubled; were added additional fees for special services, such as for participation in the "los de Noël" for the Queen on December 24, 1454 and at a Te Deum in the castle Vendôme on November 5, 1458 to celebrate the papal election of Pius II. , also on the Exequies and the funeral of Charles VII in July 1461. In addition, he was able to win a number of benefices over the following years , including one to Notre-Dame in Paris .

At the well-known church of Saint-Martin in Tours, Ockeghem was, in parallel to his office at court, canon since March 10, 1454 and was appointed treasurer ( trésoir de l'église ) there on April 17, 1459 - an office that dated King and was one of the most influential and highest paid offices in France. Although he had a royal leave of absence (April 18, 1461), according to numerous documents, he was regularly present in Tours until his death. The number of documents relating to Ockeghem during this period by far exceeds the number of documents from all other composers of this time, without giving any more detailed information about his compositional activity (evidence of the acquisition of houses, numerous legal disputes over financial and ecclesiastical affairs, especially from 1465). The last-mentioned disputes lasted up to two years before his death and may have limited his activities as a composer, at least at times.

Johannes Ockeghem (?)

When Louis XI. When he became King of France, he chose Tours as his preferred residence. This made Ockeghem's dual duties as “premier chapelain” and treasurer of Saint-Martin much easier, and his salary was often topped up with extra payments. In addition, as a recognized composer, he seems to have made extensive use of his travel opportunities. For example, stays in Cambrai and Bourges in the 1460s and a diplomatic trip to Spain in January 1470 are documented. In the 1470s, references to Johannes Ockeghem, which indicate a special esteem (written statements by the humanist poet Petrus Paulus Senilis , a Motet by Loyset Compère , a letter from Galeazzo Maria Sforza from Milan , multiple mentions in the writings of Johannes Tinctoris , Jean Molinet and the Italian author Francesco Florio ). The reference to the “aurea vox Okegi” comes from Erasmus von Rotterdam . As a person and a musician, Ockeghem was valued and outstanding. Guillaume Crétin praised him in his déploration that he had never humbled himself in dealing with people of higher rank and that he was never presumptuous towards people of lower rank. Human kindness was a need for him, and during his lifetime he gave considerable support to the poor in his place. Its outward appearance is said to have been impressive and impressive.

The last document in which he is mentioned is from July 28, 1486 and speaks of him as the "prothocapellanus" of King Charles VIII. In his will of March 14, 1488, Ockeghem bequeathed all his property to the Chapter of Saint-Martin. The date of his death on February 6, 1497 is evident from the receipt of a repayment claim from his successor as treasurer, Evrard de la Chapelle. His death found a great echo in French and Latin mourning compositions and necrologists , including in particular the several hundred stanzas "Déploration" by Guillaume Crétin , in which some of Ockeghem's traditional works are mentioned and the composers of the younger generation are asked to commemorate the " maistre et bon père “ to dedicate lamentationes . The poet Jean Molinet wrote two such funeral chants, which were then set to music by Josquin des Prez .

meaning

Today Johannes Ockeghem is considered the most important composer of the generation between Dufay and Josquin. He was the first composer to pay special attention to the cyclical mass . His Requiem is the first complete setting of the funeral mass. In his works he was very likely the first in whom the bass part of the music took on the central role that it would retain for the next 400 years. In addition, his compositions show a remarkable stylistic range. Hardly anything from the invoice, that is, the way he composes his chansons, is reminiscent of the style that can be found in his measuring cycles. Of his motets, the déploration on the death of Gilles Binchois and the impressive “Gaude, Maria” deserve special attention. It can be assumed that more of Ockeghem's works were lost than is usual for a composer of his format, but the part that has survived to this day astonished connoisseurs even during his lifetime. There is no work from the 15th century by other composers with more than twelve parts, but several independent witnesses ensure that there must have been a 36-part motet by Ockeghem that has not survived. The details of the "Missa prolationum" also make it clear that Ockeghem's contrapuntal abilities have far surpassed those of any other. Guillaume Crétin and Nicole le Vestu agree that the work aroused astonishment because of its flawless contrapuntal work.

The historical significance of Johannes Ockeghem is not exhausted in his special art of compositional means, but is based above all on the fact that he developed the polyphonic style of Franco-Flemish music in all directions and thus paved the way for subsequent generations of composers has prepared. Ockeghem's music gave rise to the classical vocal polyphony that shaped European music for more than a century.

Works

Ockeghems Kyrie from the Missa Ecce ancilla Domini from the Codex Chigi
  • measure up
    • Missa “Au travail suis” with four voices
    • Missa “Caput” for four voices; Model: the anonymous English Missa "Caput"
    • Missa “Cuiusvis toni” with four voices
    • Missa “De plus en plus” with four voices, fragment of “Pleni” with two voices and “Benedictus” with three voices
    • Missa “Ecce ancilla Domini” with four voices; Material from the final section of the antiphon "Missus est angelus Gabriel"
    • Missa “Fors seulement” with five voices; only Kyrie, Gloria and Credo received
    • Missa “La belle se siet” with four voices (?); Tenor probably a unison song; only a two-part fragment from the beginning of the Credo preserved
    • Missa “L'homme armé” with four voices; Tenor a unison song
    • Missa “Ma Maistresse” for four voices, based on treble and tenor from Ockeghem's Virelai , only Kyrie and Gloria survived
    • Missa quarti toni “Mi-Mi” for four voices
    • Missa Prolationum to four voices
    • Missa quinti toni to three voices
    • Missa sine nomine [primi toni] for three voices, authorship partly doubted, partly attributed to Joh. Touront
    • Missa sine nomine [De feria] to five votes, only Kyrie, Gloria and Credo received
    • Missa pro defunctis (Requiem) with three, four and five voices, introit, kyrie, gradual, tract and offertory have been preserved
  • Individual sets of measurements
    • Credo sine nomine with four votes
    • "Domine Deus" to two votes, from an unidentified mass
  • Lost and Dubious Spiritual Works
    • Missa della madonna to four voices (?)
    • Missa "Domine non secundum peccata nostra" with four voices (?)
    • Missa “Gaudeamus” with four voices, almost certainly by Josquin, wrongly attributed to Ockeghem
    • Missa "Iocundare" for five voices (?)
    • Missa “Le serviteur” with four voices, based on: Chanson by Dufay, partly attributed to Guillermus Faugues
    • Missa “Le serviteur” with three voices, based on: Chanson by Dufay, possibly authentic
    • Missa “Pour quelque paine” with four voices, partly Ockeghem, partly attributed to Cornelius Heyns
    • Missa sine nomine for three voices, partly attributed to Lanoy, partly to Ockeghem
  • Motets
    • “Alma redemptoris mater” to four votes
    • “Ave Maria gratia plena” with four votes
    • “Intemerata Dei mater” with five voices, text in hexameters apparently unique, perhaps for a specific occasion
    • “Lamentationes de Obghuen” for four voices (?), Copied in Cambrai 1475/76, lost
    • “Noel de Okegen. Per totum adventum ”to four voices (?), Beginning of a choir book for Ludwig XI. 1471, lost
    • “Salve Regina” (I) to four voices
    • “Ut heremita solus” with four voices, authorship doubtful, also attributed to Alexander Agricola
    • “Vivit Dominus” to two voices, authorship somewhat uncertain
    • 36 votes without text (ex 6), mentioned in many contemporary reports, lost
  • Other lost or dubious sacred works
    • “Benedictus” with three to four voices; is clearly the "Benedictus" from the Missa "Quant j'ay au cueur" by Heinrich Isaac
    • “Celeste beneficium introivit” with five votes
    • “Deo gratia” with 36 parts (ex 4), often regarded as Ockeghem's lost 36-part motet
    • “Gaude Maria” to five voices, Marian responsory
    • “Salve regina” (II), almost certainly by Philippe Basiron
  • Secular works
    • “Aultre Venus estés sans faille”, rondeau with three votes
    • “Baisiés moy donc fort ma maistresse”, rondeau with three votes
    • “D'ung aultre amer mon cuer s'abesseroit”, a rondeau with three voices, only ascribed to Busnoy by one author
    • “Fors seulement l'attente que je meure”, rondeau with three voices
    • “Fors seulement contre ce qu'ay promis”, rondeau with three voices
    • “Il ne m'en chault plus de nul ame”, Rondeau with three votes
    • “J'en ay dueil que je ne suis morte”, Rondeau to four votes
    • “La despourveue et la bannye”, a rondeau with three votes
    • “L'aultre d'antan l'autrier passa”, rondeau with three voices
    • “Les desléaulx ont la Saison”, a rondeau with three voices
    • “Ma bouche rit et ma pensée pleure”, Virelais with three voices
    • “Ma maistresse et ma plus que autre ayme”, Virelais with three voices
    • “Mort, tu as navré de ton dart” / “Miserere pie” with four votes, complaint for the death of Gilles Binchois
    • “O rosa bella” for two voices, a single added part to the treble of the movement, which was probably by Johann Bedyngham
    • “Prenez sur moi vostre exemple amoureux”, rondeau with three voices
    • “Presque transi ung peu mains qu'estre mort”, Virelais with three voices
    • “Quant de vous seul je pers la veue”, a rondeau with three voices
    • “Qu'es mi vida preguntays”, two new countertenor voices under the treble and tenor of the setting by Juan Cornago
    • “S'elle m'amera je ne scay” / “Petite camusette”, rondeau with four voices
    • "Se vostre cuer eslongne de moy a tort", Rondeau to three votes
    • “Tant fuz gentement resjouy”, Virelais with three votes
    • “Ung aultre l'a n'en querès plus”, rondeau with three votes
  • Lost and dubious secular works
    • “Au travail suis que peu de gens croiroient”, chanson with three voices, almost certainly by Barbignant
    • “Ce n'est pas jeu d'esloigner ce qu'on ayme” with three voices, probably by Hayne van Ghizeghem
    • “Departés vous Malebouche et Envie” with three voices, probably by Guillaume Dufay
    • “En l'ombre d'ung buissonnet” with four voices (ex 2), elsewhere more convincingly attributed to Josquin or Bolkin
    • "Malheur me bat" to three votes, probably by Abertijne Malcourt (around 1450 - around 1510)
    • “Permanent vierge plus digne que nesune” / “Pulchra es et decora” / “Sancta Dei genitrix” with five voices, attribution by August Wilhelm Ambros
    • “Quant ce viendra au droit destraindre” with three voices, certainly by Antoine Busnoys
    • “Resjois toi terre de France” / “Rex pacificus magnificus est”, ballad for four voices
    • Textless piece with three voices, Ockeghem's authorship presumed only on the basis of stylistic characteristics

Literature (selection)

  • Wilhelm Bäumker :  Okeghem, Johannes . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, pp. 210-216.
  • Wolfgang Stephan: The Burgundian-Dutch motet at the time of Ockeghem (= Heidelberg Studies in Musicology. Vol. 6, ZDB -ID 1002005-6 ). Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel 1937, (reprint. Ibid 1973, ISBN 3-7618-0315-X ).
  • Ernst Krenek : Johannes Ockeghem. Sheed & Ward, London 1953.
  • Ernst Krenek: A "modern" master of the XV. Century, creative encounter with Johannes Ockeghem. In: New magazine for music . Vol. 119, No. 1, 1958, pp. 3-8.
  • Edward F. Houghton: Rhythmic Structure in the Masses and Motets of Johannes Ockeghem. Berkeley CA 1971 (University of California, Berkeley CA, dissertation).
  • René Bernhard Lenaerts: Comments on Johannes Ockeghem and his compositional style. In: Heinrich Hüschen, Dietz-Rüdiger Moser (ed.): Convivium musicorum. Festschrift for Wolfgang Boetticher's 60th birthday on Aug. 19, 1974 (= Edition Merseburger. 1140). Merseburger, Berlin 1974, ISBN 3-87537-085-6 , pp. 163-167.
  • Martin Picker: Johannes Ockeghem and Jacob Obrecht. A Guide to Research (= Garland Composer Resource Manuals. 13 = Garland Reference Library of the Humanities. 748). Garland, New York NY et al. 1988, ISBN 0-8240-8381-4 .
  • Clemens Goldberg: The Chansons Johannes Ockeghem. Aesthetics of the musical space (= New Heidelberg Studies in Musicology. Vol. 19). Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 1992, ISBN 3-89007-270-4 .
  • Wolfgang Thein: Musical composition and text presentation in the work of Johannes Ockeghem (= Würzburg music history contributions. Vol. 13). 2 volumes (main volume. Transfers). Schneider, Tutzing 1992, ISBN 3-7952-0687-1 (main volume), ISBN 3-7952-0708-8 (transfers), (also: Würzburg, University, dissertation, 1988/1989).
  • Daniel van Overstraeten: Le Lieu de naissance de Jean Ockeghem (ca 1420–1497): une énigme élucidée. In: Revue belge de musicologie. Vol. 46, 1992, pp. 23-32, doi : 10.2307 / 3686780 .
  • Philippe Vendrix (Ed.): Johannes Ockeghem. Actes du XLe Colloque International d'Études Humanistes, Tours, February 3–8, 1997 (= Collection épitome musical. Vol. 1). Klincksieck, Paris 1998, ISBN 2-252-03214-6 .
  • Gayle Kirkwood: Kings, Confessors, Cantors and Archipellano: Ockeghem and the Gerson Circle at St-Martin of Tours. In: Philippe Vendrix (Ed.): Johannes Ockeghem. Actes du XLe Colloque International d'Études Humanistes, Tours, February 3–8, 1997 (= Collection épitome musical. Vol. 1). Klincksieck, Paris 1998, ISBN 2-252-03214-6 , pp. 101-138.
  • Agostino Magro: “Premièrement ma baronnie de Chasteauneuf”: Jean de Ockeghem, Treasurer of St Martin's in Tours. In: Early Music History. Vol. 18, 1999, pp. 165-258, doi : 10.1017 / S0261127900001868 .
  • Armin Raab:  Ockeghem, Johannes. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 17, Bautz, Herzberg 2000, ISBN 3-88309-080-8 , Sp. 1045-1047.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Web links

Commons : Johannes Ockeghem  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ↑ David Fallows:  Ockeghem, Johannes. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 12 (Mercadante - Paix). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1122-5  ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  2. ↑ Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (ed.): The great lexicon of music. Volume 6: Nabakov - Rampal. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1981, ISBN 3-451-18056-1 .
  3. ↑ The portrait of a musician was identified as Ockeghem in a hypothesis by Reinhard Strohm , in: Philippe Vendrix (ed.): Johannes Ockeghem: actes du XLe Colloque international d'études humanistes, Tours, February 3-8, 1997 . Paris, Klinckseick, 1998. [pp. 167-172.] In WorldCat are copies of the Proceedings at the Sorbonne and the Bibliotheque nationale de France proved WorldCat page op. Cit. . It is noteworthy that this portrait is circulating on the Internet in several variants of two versions that are mirror images of each other - the reflection can be caused by a reproductive oversight or intentionally to conceal the source. Which version is the original is unknown.
personal data
SURNAME Ockeghem, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ockenhem, Johannes; Ockengem; Ockenghem; Okeghem
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Flemish composer, singer and cleric
DATE OF BIRTH between 1410 and 1430
PLACE OF BIRTH Saint-Ghislain
DATE OF DEATH February 6, 1497
Place of death Tours