Johannes Pullois

Johannes Pullois (* before 1430 in Pulle , today in Zandhoven near Antwerp (?); † 23 August 1478 in Antwerp) was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of the early Renaissance .

Live and act

Nothing is known about the family of origin or the early years of life of Johannes Pullois, so that the year of his birth can only be roughly estimated on the basis of the documents of his first job. Between the years 1443 and 1447 he worked as choir vicar and singing master ( zangmeester ) at the Cathedral of Our Lady Antwerp. During this time Johannes Ockeghem and Johannes Philibert were also employed there as singers.

In the autumn of 1447 he applied as a singer in the Burgundian court orchestra of Duke Philip the Good , but was unsuccessful. He then traveled to Rome and became a member of the papal chapel there in December 1447. It is listed in the accounts of this institution for almost 20 years, until August 1468. During this time it collected an astonishing number of charities in French, Belgian and Dutch dioceses, such as Tournai , Thérouanne , Utrecht and Cambrai . On October 24, 1466 Pullois acted as procurator for the acquisition of a benefice for Johannes Ockeghem. In the late summer of 1468 he returned to his previous place of work at the Church of Our Lady in Antwerp and took over the function of canon . Two years before his death, he was also appointed head of the cathedral chapter at the same church .

meaning

The Missa sine nomine by Johannes Pullois shows an almost identical sequence of scale marks , the characteristic use of an opening motto and a tenor melody that is similar in all parts of the fair . Thus it belongs to the earliest generation of cyclic masses on the continent, probably dates from the 1450s and shows a clear English influence. The remaining works were probably created later. The motet “Flos de spina” is more influenced by Ockeghem and was probably created during his Italian time. In many of his chansons , which are generally of average quality, there are motivic similarities, e.g. B. the descending ninth in the contratenor of “Pour toutes fleurs” and “Se ung bien peu” or the identical beginning of the contratenor part in “Puisque fortune” and “Quelque cose”. He also makes frequent use of imitations , in which the contratenor is also involved from time to time, e.g. B. in "He n'esse pas". In two of Pullois' chansons, material from works by contemporaries is used, for example in “Le serviteur” (from a rondeau by Guillaume Dufay ) and in the untextured “Pour prison” (from a rondeau quatrain by Gilles Binchois ). The multiple handed down rondeau “Se ung bien peu” is quoted by the poet Jean Molinet (1435–1507) and in a composition by Loyset Compère . Instrumental arrangements of his chansons “De madame” and “Pour toutes fleurs” are included in the Buxheim organ book . However, it must be mentioned that most of his compositions have been lost.

Works

• Spiritual works
  • Missa sine nomine with three votes
  • Gloria to four votes
  • Credo to three voices (different version of the Credo from the Missa sine nomine )
  • “Flos de spina”, motet for four voices
  • “Globus igneus”, motet with three voices ( counterfactor from “Quelque cose”);
  • "O beata Maria", motet for three voices (counterfactor from "De madame");
  • "Resone unice genito", motet with three voices (counterfactor from "Puisque fortune");
  • “Victime paschali laudes”, motet with three voices
• Secular works
  • “De madame”, rondeau with three votes; Instrumental arrangement in the Buxheim organ book
  • "He n'esse pas", Rondeau to three votes
  • “Je ne puis”, a rondeau with three votes, textless and anonymous
  • “La bonté du Saint Esperit”, sacred ballad for three voices
  • “Le serviteur”, rondeau to three votes; Superius (upper part) from Dufay's chanson of the same name
  • “Les larmes”, rondeau with three voices, without text
  • “Op eenen tijd”, song for three voices
  • “Pour prison”, rondeau with three votes, without text
  • “Pour toutes fleurs”, a rondeau with three voices; Instrumental arrangement in the Buxheim organ book
  • "Puisque fortune", rondeau with three voices (= counterfactor of "Resone unice genito")
  • "Quelque cose", rondeau with three voices (= counterfactor of "Globus igneus")
  • "Quelque langage", Rondeau to three voices
  • “Se ung bien peu”, Rondeau to three votes
  • "So lanc so meer", rondeau with three voices, also attributed to Willem Braxatoris with the German text "So lang si mir"

Literature (selection)

• Gustave Reese : Music in the Renaissance , WW Norton & Co., New York 1954
• Gareth RK Curtis: Jean Pullois and the Cyclic Mass - Or a Case of Mistaken Identity? , in: Music and Letters, Vol. 62, No. 1, 1981, ISSN  0027-4224 , pp. 41-59
• Pamela F. Starr:  Pullois, Johannes. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
• Pamela Starr: Music and Music Patronage at the Papal Court, 1447–1464 , dissertation at Yale University, New Haven CT 1987
• G. Montagna: Johannes Pullois in the Context of His Era , in: Revue belge de musicologie No. 42, 1988, pages 83-117
• W. Arlt: Italy as productive experience of Franco-Flemish musicians in the 15th century , Basel 1993 (= lectures by the Aeneas Silvius Foundation at the University of Basel No. 26)
• E. Schreurs / A. Wouters: De Lierse biotoop van Antonius Busnoys en Johannes Pullois: Muziek in Sint-Gummarus ten tijde van het huwelijk van Philips de Schone en Johanna van Castilië (October 20, 1496) , in: Musica antiqua 13, 1996, Page 106–132
• David Fallows: A Catalog of Polyphonic Songs, 1415-1480 , Oxford / New York 1999

Web links

• Sheet music and audio files by Johannes Pullois in the International Music Score Library Project
• Works by and about Johannes Pullois in the catalog of the German National Library
• Johannes Pullois in the Dutch online encyclopedia ENCYCLO.NL

swell

1. ^ The Music in Past and Present (MGG), Person Part Volume 13, Bärenreiter Verlag Kassel and Basel 2005, ISBN 3-7618-1133-0
2. ↑ Keith Mixter: Johannes Pullois. In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Reprint with corrections. Grove, London 1980, ISBN 1-56159-174-2 .