Johannes Tinctoris

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Johannes Tinctoris (Jehan le Taintenier) (* around 1435 in Braine-l'Alleud near Nivelles ( Brabant ); † before October 12, 1511 in Nivelles or in Italy) was a Franco-Flemish composer , music theorist , singer and cleric of the Renaissance .

Live and act

Portrait of Johannes Tinctoris, title page of manuscript 835, Valencia, Biblioteca universitaria

Johannes Tinctoris comes from the small town of Braine-l'Alleud, ten kilometers north of Nivelles; his father Martin le Taintenier was a magistrate or aldermen (échevin). He probably received his early musical training in Nivelles. The earliest direct evidence of July 11, 1460 mentions payment for four months of service as a "petit vicaire" at the Cathedral of Cambrai ; there he was in contact with Guillaume Dufay , who was “maître des petits vicaires” at this time. After his stay in Cambrai, Tinctoris is documented as a succentor at the Sainte-Croix cathedral in Orléans in 1462/63 ; on April 1, 1463 he called himself “choralium pedagogus”. At that time he was also enrolled as a student at the German Nation among the “scholares” of the university there.

At the University of Orléans, Tinctoris was elected procurator on April 1, 1463 at a meeting of the suppositi of this department in the Church of Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle and had the task of organizing the general meetings of this department and performing various administrative tasks ( Registration book, goods, seals, archives and finances). His term of office ended on June 26, 1463. From this time he worked as a music teacher for the choirboys at Chartres Cathedral until 1472 . During this time, Tinctoris seems to have acquired a considerable reputation as a musician and theorist, because in the "Singer motet" Omnium bonorum plena of LOYSET COMPÈRE , published no later than 1472, it is listed among other important composers of his time.

In the early 1470s Johannes Tinctoris was chaplain and singer at the court of the King of Aragón in Naples , until about 1475. The court orchestra there of King Ferrantes I († 1494) comprised 26 singers, two organists and a large number of instrumentalists and was one of the largest in Italy. Members of the chapel also had administrative duties, and Tinctoris also acted here as legal advisor to the king; In 1474/75 he translated the statute of the Order of the Golden Fleece from Burgundian French into Italian on his behalf . He was also the music teacher ("preceptor") of Beatrix of Aragón , the daughter of King Ferrantes.

After this time, the information on his résumé becomes fragmented and uncertain; it is only certain that he has traveled several times. There is a document from May 1479, according to which the owner of the hostel "Alzanello" in Ferrara , Nicholli Matto, was reimbursed for the accommodation costs for "zoane de tintoris de Bourgogne" for the period from 7th to 11th of the month. Perhaps Tinctoris also visited his homeland on this trip and, as he mentions in De inventione et usu musice , met the composer Johannes de Stokem in Liège , who was employed there as a singing master at St. Lambert from 1455 to 1481. There is a document dated October 25, 1480 about a dressing room that Tinctoris received. On October 15, 1487, King Ferrantes wrote a letter to him asking him to recruit new singers for the court orchestra after the search for singers in the Kingdom of Naples was unsuccessful. Because letters of recommendation to the French king and other rulers were enclosed with this letter, it follows that Tinctoris may have extended this search to France, Burgundy and Flanders. A notarial document from September 1488 names him as the recipient of a benefice to Sainte-Gertrude in Nivelles. From a request to the Pope on October 24, 1490 for a doctorate in canonical and civil law, it emerges that Tinctoris was both a singer in the royal chapel in Naples and a cleric in Cambrai; it also becomes apparent that he had obtained the degree of licentiatus in Orléans .

When Johannes Tinctoris finally left Naples is unclear. He last had the rank of archicapellanus . The coronation of Rodrigo Borgia as Pope Alexander VI. on August 26, 1492, Tinctoris had arranged for the composition of the motet “Gaude Roma vetus”; however, this work has not survived. In view of the circumstances in which the motet was composed, Tinctoris' stay in Rome at this time is possible, but uncertain. In 1493 he probably visited his former pupil Beatrix of Aragón, widowed Queen of Hungary. A letter from Tinctoris to Juan Marco Cinico da Parma only proves that he stayed in Naples in 1495/96. There is also evidence of a stay in Rome in 1502. His benefice in Nivelles went to another cleric, a certain Peter de Concinck, on October 12, 1511, from which it emerges that Tinctoris had died shortly before. However, his place of death is not known.

meaning

The outstanding music-historical significance of Johannes Tinctoris is based on the fact that in his writings he offers the first and in-depth presentation of the theoretical foundations of the Franco-Flemish polyphony of the 15th century. His work Terminorum musicae diffinitorium ( Treviso around 1473) can be regarded as the earliest musical lexicon because the definitions of common musical terms are arranged alphabetically in it. His oeuvre deals systematically with all decisive aspects of the practice-oriented music theory of that era: solmization , mensural theory , i.e. the note and rest values, imperfection , alteration , points and proportions, up to the basics of the church modes (modes) and counterpoint . He did not neglect the questions about the origin and effects of music, which were discussed again in humanism . It is unclear whether his work De inventione et usu musice (written around 1481, but has been lost) also dealt with aspects of the “musica speculativa”.

His Franco-Flemish, or more precisely: his Franco-Burgundian identity was decisive for his historical-theoretical thinking. In the preface to his proportional he calls the music of his time an "ars nova" with its origin with John Dunstable and until now only realized with Guillaume Dufay, Gilles Binchois , Johannes Ockeghem , Antoine Busnoys , Johannes Regis and Firminus Caron while he criticized the "Anglici" for having stuck with one and the same sentence method. In his conviction of the dawn of a new art, he even goes so far that he claims that only compositions from the last 40 years are worth listening to. This period could also be meant symbolically; What is certain is that he has assumed polyphony in most of his writings since Dufay's time. But behind his praise for the progressive composers there is also a blame for the musical practices of his time, especially when he accuses them of a lack of mathematical and even Latin knowledge. His theoretical work not only contains a tribute, but with the detailed criticism also a pedagogical intention to correct contemporary music practice.

Although Tinctoris's theoretical work was not circulated in print from the outset, his teaching received considerable attention in the sixteenth century and his name did not fade from historical memory as quickly. With Franchinus Gaffurius , with whom he had personal contact in Naples, he is called "auctoritas", and until the 1530s he was quoted in the writings of Pietro Aron and Giovanni Del Lago (around 1490-1544). In the German-speaking countries, too, Gaffurius's printed treatises kept him in mind as an authority, for example with Nicolaus Wollick , Andreas Ornitoparchus , Sebald Heyden , Adrianus Petit Coclico and, not least, with Hermann Finck , who counts him among the "novi inventores" ( Practica musica , Wittenberg 1556).

Compared to the theoretical work, the compositional work of Tinctoris appears comparatively sparse, although it is not clear whether this is due to the gaps in the tradition. His fairs , in particular “L'homme armé”, are in the tradition of Ockeghem, Busnoys and Regis and, among other things, use the motto technique at the beginning and end of the respective measuring parts. A wide range of compositional solutions can be seen above all in his motets and chansons .

Works

(Complete edition of vocal music: Johanni Tinctoris opera omnia , edited by G. Melin, without location, 1976)

  • Spiritual works
    • Missa Helas (before 1482, lost)
    • Missa L'homme armé to four voices
    • Missa Nos amis (before 1475, lost, probably not identical to the mass identified by Reinhard Strohm in 1979)
    • Missa sine nomine (I) with three votes
    • Missa sine nomine (II) with three votes
    • Missa sine nomine with four voices
    • Missa Trium Vocum
    • Alleluia to two voices
    • Credo with four voices (= identical to the Credo of the Missa L'ami Baudichon ascribed to Josquin Desprez )
    • Fecit potentiam to two votes
    • Lamentationes Jeremie for four voices (before 1506)
    • O virgo miserere mei for three voices (summer 1476 for Beatrix of Aragón)
    • Father rerum (before 1482, missing)
    • Virgo Dei throno digna for three voices (summer 1476 for Beatrix of Aragón)
  • Secular works
    • Comme femme for two voices (on the tenor of a chanson by Gilles Binchois)
    • De tous biens playne for two voices (on the tenor of a chanson by Hayne van Ghizeghem )
    • Difficiles alios delectat pangere cantus to three voices
    • D'ung aultre amer to three voices (on the tenor of a chanson by Johannes Ockeghem)
    • Gaude Roma vetus (1492), missing, text preserved
    • Helas le bon temps for three voices (before 1501)
    • Le souvenir for three voices (on the tenor of a chanson by Robert Morton )
    • Le souvenir for four voices (on the treble of a chanson by Robert Morton)
    • O invida Fortuna to three votes
    • Tout a par moy for two voices (on the tenor of a chanson by Walter Frye or Gilles Binchois )
    • Vostre ruled to three votes
  • Music theory writings (complete edition: Johannis Tinctoris Opera theoretica. Edited by A. Seay, 2 volumes, without location, 1975 and 1978)
    • Speculum musices , lost before 1472 (?)
    • Complexus effectuum musices , around 1472–75, reworked before 1481, dedicated to Beatrix of Aragón
    • Expositio manus , around 1472/73
    • Liber imperfectionum notarum musicalium , around 1472–75
    • Proportional musices , around 1472–75
    • Articuli et ordinatione dell'ordine del Toson d'oro , around 1474–77
    • Tractatus de regulari valore notarum , around 1474/75
    • Scriptum [...] super punctis musicalibus , around 1475
    • Tractatus alterationum , around 1475
    • Tractatus de notis et pausis , around 1475
    • Liber de natura et proprietate tonorum , dated November 6, 1476
    • Liber de arte contrapuncti , dated: October 11, 1477
    • De inventione et usu musice , around 1481, only excerpts preserved; Dedication letter to Johannes de Stokem
    • Terminorum musicae diffinitorium , written in 1472, printed Treviso in 1495
    • Letter to Juan Marco Cinico da Parma, around 1495/96

See also

Literature (selection)

  • Robert Eitner :  Tinctoris, Johannes . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 38, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, p. 355 f.
  • Karl Weinmann : Johannes Tinctoris (1445–1511) and his unknown treatise “De inventione et usu musicae”, a historical-critical investigation , Pustet, Regensburg 1917, digitized (PDF; 2.57 MB) , (corrected and provided with a foreword New edition by Wilhelm Fischer , Schneider, Tutzing 1961)
  • Anthony Baines: Fifteenth-Century Instruments in Johannes Tinctoris's De inventione et usu musicae. In: The Galpin Society Journal. Vol. 3, 1950, pages 19-26, doi : 10.2307 / 841898
  • William Eugene Melin: The Music of Johannes Tinctoris (c. 1435-1511). A Comparative Study of Theory and Practice , Columbus OH 1973, (Columbus OH, Ohio State University, dissertation)
  • Günther Gerritzen: Studies on the theory of counterpoint by Johannes Tinctoris , Cologne 1974, (Cologne, University, dissertation, 1974)
  • Reinhard Strohm : The Missa super "Nos amis" by Johannes Tinctoris. In: Die Musikforschung, Volume 32, Issue 1, 1979, ISSN  0027-4801 , pp. 34-51, JSTOR 23231488
  • Bonnie J. Blackburn: A Lost Guide to Tinctoris's Teachings Recovered. In: Early Music History, Volume 1, 1981, pages 29-116, doi : 10.1017 / S0261127900000267
  • Peter Gülke : Epilogue. In: Johannes Tinctoris: Terminorum musicae diffinitorium (= Documenta musicologica, Series 1: Druckschriften-Faksimiles. Vol. 37), facsimile of the Treviso incunabula 1495, with the translation by Heinrich Bellermann and an afterword by Peter Gülke, Bärenreiter, Kassel and others 1983 , ISBN 3-7618-0707-4
  • Thomas A. Schmid: The Complexus effectuum musices of Johannes Tinctoris. In: Basler Jahrbuch für Historische Musikpraxis, Volume 10, 1986, ZDB -ID 550278-0 , Pages 121–160
  • Leofranc Holford-Strevens: Tinctoris on the Great Composers. In: Plainsong and Medieval Music Volume 5, No. 2, 1996, pages 193-199, doi : 10.1017 / S0961137100001157
  • Bonnie J. Blackburn: Did Ockeghem Listen to Tinctoris. In: Philippe Vendrix (editor), Johannes Ockeghem. Actes du XLe Colloque International d'Études Humanistes, Tours, 3–8 février 1997 (= Collection épitome musical. Vol. 1), Klincksieck, Paris 1998, ISBN 2-252-03214-6 , pages 597-640
  • Gianluca D'Agostino: Note sulla carriera napoletana di Johannes Tinctoris. In: Studi musicali, Volume 28, 1999, ISSN  0303-4631 , pages 327-362
  • Peter Gronemann: Varietas delectat. Manifold in masses by Johannes Tinctoris (= Folkwang texts, Volume 16), Verlag Die Blaue Eule, Essen 2000, ISBN 3-89206-521-7 (At the same time: Essen, Folkwang University, dissertation, 2000: Varietas as compositional manifold in Masses of Johannes Tinctoris )
  • Rob C. Wegman: Johannes Tinctoris and the "new art". In: Music and Letters, Volume 84, No. 2, 2003, pages 171-188, doi : 10.1093 / ml / 84.2.171
  • Jennifer Bernard: Tinctoris's Missa l'homme armé: Music and Context. In: Music Research Forum, Volume 20, 2005, ZDB -ID 1449049-3 , pages 1-22
  • Gianluca D'Agostino: Reading Theorists for Recovering “ghost” Repertoires: Tinctorius, Gaffurio and the Neapolitan Context. In: Studi musicali, Volume 34, 2005, pages 25-50
  • Thomas Miller:  Tinctoris, Johannes. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 30, Bautz, Nordhausen 2009, ISBN 978-3-88309-478-6 , Sp. 1494-1498.

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ Michele Calella :  Tinctoris, Johannes. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 16 (Strata - Villoteau). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2006, ISBN 3-7618-1136-5  ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  2. ↑ Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (ed.): The great lexicon of music. Volume 8: Štich - Zylis-Gara. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1982, ISBN 3-451-18058-8 .
personal data
SURNAME Tinctoris, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES de Taintenier, Jehan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Franco-Flemish composer, music theorist and singer of the Renaissance
DATE OF BIRTH around 1435
PLACE OF BIRTH Braine-l'Alleud near Nivelles ( Brabant )
DATE OF DEATH before October 12, 1511
Place of death Nivelles or Italy