Mattheus Le Maistre

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Mattheus Le Maistre (* around 1505 perhaps in Roclenge-sur-Geer in the Prince Diocese of Liège ; † March 1577 in Dresden ) was a Franco-Flemish composer and conductor of the Renaissance .

Live and act

No information has been passed on about Mattheus Le Maistre's youth and education. The few available sources show that he was born in the Principality of Liège and probably received his first musical training as a choirboy. In the preface to the German and Latin spiritual chants from the beginning of 1577, he writes that he has been interested in music since early childhood. His first creative period that followed was long in the dark. From the fact that there are a large number of compositions ( masses , responsories and Latin motets ) in the traditional manuscript-like choir books of the Munich court orchestra at that time , the German music researcher Adolf Sandberger ( Leipzig 1894/95) concluded that Le Maistre before 1554 was the Bavarian Hof in Munich, whose chapel was directed by Ludwig Daser . This is also indicated by an entry in the account books of the court pay office from 1552, in which a "Mathesz Nidlender" is mentioned. He can thus be regarded as the first foreign musician at the Bavarian court. From the mention of his name in two Leipzig registers from 1551 and 1564, it can be concluded that the composer had connections to the city of Leipzig earlier, perhaps even before his time in Munich.

In 1554 Mattheus Le Maistre took up the post of Saxon court conductor as successor to Johann Walter and converted to Protestantism; from this time on, his compositions have been handed down almost exclusively in print. At that time the court orchestra comprised 40 musicians. Here he also took over the traditions of Johann Walter and Georg Rhau , set parts of Luther's Little Catechism to music and created choral motets for Luther songs. For health reasons he asked for his release as early as 1565; but initially he only received an annual pension. On June 14, 1568, his assistant Antonio Scandello succeeded him. Le Maistre remained connected to the court in Dresden throughout his life and held the title of court conductor until his death in the spring of 1577. He had a son, Valerian, who worked as a musician in the imperial band.

meaning

The music theorist Hermann Finck counted Le Maistre in his Practica musica ( Wittenberg 1556) among the most outstanding composers of his time. His works were performed at his places of work for up to 20 years after his death. His mass “Praeter rerum seriem” is the first known setting based on the motet of the same name by Josquin Desprez . In this composition Le Maistre combines the stylistic elements of the cantus firmus mass and the parody mass . When setting the text selected from the Small Catechism to music, he writes simple three-part sentences without a bass part. In his collection of sacred and secular German songs (1566) he used Ludwig Senfl's style of tenor song. His “sacred songs” contain simple stanzas as well as complex motets with pronounced imitation and virtuoso cantus firmus treatment. Overall, the musical style of Mattheus Le Maistre can be described as extremely conservative, albeit on a par with his Franco-Flemish contemporaries.

Works

  • Single prints
    • Magnificat octo tonorum (Dresden 1557), lost
    • Catechesis numeris musicis inclusa for three voices (Nuremberg 1559)
    • Spiritual and secular Teutsche Geseng (Wittenberg 1566)
    • Liber primus sacrarum cantionum (Dresden 1570)
    • Officia de nativitate et ascensione Christi (Dresden 1574), lost
    • Beautiful and exquisite German and Latin sacred singing for 3 voices (Dresden 1577)
  • Collective prints
    • “Adjuva me Domine” to five votes
    • "Semper honorabile sit conjugium" with five voices (lost)
    • “Dixit Dominus Deus” with eight votes
    • “Estote prudentes” to four voices
    • Missa "I have a permanent house" to five votes
    • “Quod sit sponsa Dei donum” with five votes
  • Handwritten Masses and Magnificat
    • Missa “The holy Christian is risen” to four voices
    • Missa "God is my light"
    • Missa "I have a permanent house" to five votes (incomplete)
    • Missa “In Feriis” with four voices
    • Missa “Praeter rerum seriem” with six voices
    • Missa “Regnum mundi” with four voices
    • Missa “Super Doulce Memoire” with six voices
    • Missa “Toutes les nuitz” with four voices
    • Missa "II. toni ”to five votes
    • Missa "Where the Lord does not build the house" (only cantus preserved)
    • Magnificat sexti toni with four to eight voices
  • Handwritten motets
    • “Adjuva me domine” to five votes
    • "Don't break on me"
    • “De profundis clamavi” to five votes
    • "Dierum Quadragesimalium Liber Primus"
    • “Dispersit dedit pauperibus” to five votes
    • “Dixit Dominus Deus” with eight votes
    • "Ecce triumphator" for four voices (only Bassus preserved)
    • “Estote prudentes” to four voices
    • "Heart noble fruit"
    • “Lucerna pedibus meis” to four voices
    • “Omnia iudicia tua” to four votes
    • “Peccavimus cum patribus” to four voices
    • “Quin praefers rebus bona” to six voices
    • "I have chosen myself very deeply"
    • "Tristis est anima mea" (only Bassus received)
    • “Our Father, who are in heaven” to four votes
    • Two other motets identified by concordances
  • Intabulations of vocal works
    • "Almighty, good God" (Leipzig 1571)
    • "Lord God now be broken" (Leipzig 1571)
    • "Tristis est anima mea" (Leipzig 1583)

Literature (selection)

  • Moritz Fürstenau:  Le Maistre, Mattheus . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1883, p. 233 f.
  • Adolf Sandberger: Contributions to the music history of the Bavarian court orchestra under Orlando di Lasso , Leipzig 1894–1895
  • CD Gresch: Mattheus Le Maistre: a Netherlander at the Dresden Court Chapel , dissertation at the University of Michigan 1970
  • W. Dehnhard: The German Psalm Motets in the Reformation , Wiesbaden 1971
  • Friedhelm Brusniak: Le Maistre, Mattheus. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB), Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-428-00195-8 , page 181
  • H. Pottie: Mattheus Le Maistre's Motettenbundel van 1570. In: Revue belge de musicologie No. 43, 1989, pages 197-210
  • K. Wenk: The mass »Toutes les Nuitz« by Mattheus Le Maistre and its chanson , master's thesis at the University of Regensburg in 1996
  • Stefan Gasch: The Masses Mattheus Le Maistres from the Munich choir book, music manuscript 42 ; Master's thesis at the University of Munich in 2003

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ The Music in Past and Present (MGG), Person Part Volume 10, Bärenreiter and Metzler, Kassel and Basel 2003, ISBN 3-7618-1120-9
  2. ↑ Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (ed.): The great lexicon of music. Volume 5: Köth - Mystical Chord. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1981, ISBN 3-451-18055-3 .
  3. ^ The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , edited by Stanley Sadie, 2nd Edition, Volume 14, McMillan, London 2001, ISBN 0-333-60800-3
personal data
SURNAME Le Maistre, Mattheus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Magister, Mathias; Maystre, Matthew
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Franco-Flemish composer and bandmaster of the Renaissance
DATE OF BIRTH around 1505
PLACE OF BIRTH uncertain: Roclenge-sur-Geer , Bassenge (Belgium)
DATE OF DEATH March 1577
Place of death Dresden