Nicolas Gombert

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Nicolas Gombert (* around 1495 in La Gorgue near Lille (uncertain), † around 1560 in Tournai ) was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of the Renaissance .

Live and act

Since the composer's surname occurs frequently in the village of La Gorgue west of Lille, according to music historians this speaks for a possible descent from there; However, there is no evidence of this. The music theorist Hermann Finck reports in his Practica musica (1556) that Gombert was a pupil of Josquin Desprez († 1521), who had been provost in Condé-sur-l'Escaut, about 40 km away, since 1504 . Gombert's funeral music Déploration “musae Jovis” on Josquin's death also supports such an assumption. Further information about his life before entering the chapel of Charles V in 1526 is not available. But because he had ecclesiastical benefices in Béthune , Courtrai , Metz and Tournai, this means that he was a cleric .

The name of Gomberts appears for the first time in a document signed by Charles V in Granada on October 2, 1526, in which he was named as a singer in Karl's court orchestra; In the first three years up to 1529 he stayed with this chapel in Toledo , Seville , Granada, Valladolid , Valencia and Madrid because the chapel accompanied the emperor on his travels. In 1529 the composer was appointed maitre des enfants . Kapellmeister at this time were Adrien Thibault and later Thomas Crécquillon . As master of the choirboys, Gombert was responsible for the musical and vocal training of the boys as well as for their upbringing, their accommodation and their well-being. At that time the choir consisted of 14 adults, an organist , a "prompter" (chalk or bellows treadmill of the organ) and about twelve choirboys. Further trips with the court orchestra took Gombert to Bologna , Mantua , Innsbruck , Munich and Augsburg in 1530 . In the following year there were stays in Cologne and the so-called Spanish Netherlands , then in Regensburg . From 1532 Gombert stayed in Spain for a longer period of time.

While Charles V undertook a campaign against Tunis in 1533 , Gombert recruited additional staff for the court orchestra in the Netherlands and returned to Valladolid in 1537 with around 20 adult singers and choirboys, a Latin teacher, a few curates and an organist. The last major event in which he could have participated was the meeting of the three largest European court orchestras in Aigues-Mortes in 1538; these were the papal chapel of Paul III. , the French court orchestra of King Franz I and that of Charles V. After 1538 Gombert's name no longer appears in the invoices of the imperial court; Cornelius Canis appears in his place in the account book of December 28, 1540 . The Italian humanist Hieronymus Cardanus (1501–1576) writes in two of his publications that Gombert had been sentenced to galley penalty for sexual offenses against one of the choirboys . By dedicating a series of compositions, he later obtained his pardon from Charles V after Cardanus accepted it. For a long time, music historians considered the eight Magnificat cycles to be Gombert's petition for mercy; in the meantime, a letter from Gombert to Ferrante I. Gonzaga from 1547 and other temporal references suggest that the first book of the four-part motets , published in Venice in 1539, brought about this pardon and that Gombert might not even have to face the sentence. It is also difficult to imagine the abundance of motet prints published after 1540 without the cooperation of the composer.

In the mentioned letter from 1547, Gombert described himself as a canon in Tournai, where he had held a church sinecure since 1534 . His name does not appear in the list of clergymen who have read masses in Tournai, and he probably no longer held any priestly functions. Here he must have met Pierre de Manchicourt , who was Kapellmeister at the local cathedral and teacher of the choirboys in 1545. The music theorist Hermann Finck had spoken of a living composer in his Practica musica 1556, while Cardanus (1561) and later the writer Lodovico Guicciardini in his Descrizione de tutti i Paesi Bassi ( Antwerp 1566) counted Gombert among the dead.

meaning

Nicolas Gombert, together with Adrian Willaert , Jacobus Clemens non Papa and other Franco-Flemish composers, was one of the outstanding masters of sacred music in the period between Josquin and Orlando di Lasso . Gombert's acquisition and mastery of Josquin's compositional techniques made a decisive contribution to the fact that they became the benchmark for the composers of the second half of the 16th century. He can be considered one of the greatest masters of counterpoint in the 16th century; he writes melodically far reaching lines without a concise rhythmic structure and thus sets himself in a certain contrast to Josquin's way of writing. His imitation richer, hardly breaks and pronounced cadences interrupted style is for many of his contemporaries, especially Clemens non Papa, become exemplary. His spelling is strikingly constant in the genres he has worked on and is characterized by the unity of the movement and the equality of all voices, so that the contrast between main and secondary voices, but also between musical theme and free counterpoint voices, is almost completely eliminated.

With the exception of two masses, which are based on a liturgical cantus firmus , Gombert uses the parody technique in this genre , drawing on models by Matthaeus Pipelare , Philippe Verdelot , Noel Bauldeweyn , Jean Richafort and his own motets. In his more than 160 motets, Gombert shows a full-voiced, thoroughly imitating spelling; More than a quarter of these compositions deal with the veneration of Mary. Relatively few of his motets are directly related to courtly events. Gombert made important contributions to the genre of the gospel motets. At the beginning of the 17th century, Claudio Monteverdi wrote his six-part Mass a appella on the basis of Gombert's motet “In illo tempore”, which was printed in 1610 together with the Marian Vespers. Gombert's eight Magnificat settings combine the relevant liturgical conventions with the highest artistic standards. Most of the composer's more than 70 chansons differ stylistically only slightly from his motets, and only a few are in the more homophonic Parisian style.

Works

Complete edition: Nicolas Gombert. Opera omnia , edited by Joseph Schmidt-Görg, Rome or without location information 1951–1975 (= Corpus mensurabilis musicae VI, 1–11; Volume 1–3: Masses and Credo, Volume 4: Magnificat, Volume 5–10: Motets, Volume 11: Chansons). The following list always shows the year of first publication; without year: the work is handwritten.

  • Measure and Credo
    • Missa "Quam pulchra es" for six voices (1532)
    • Missa "Da pacem" for four voices (1532)
    • Missa "Sancta Maria succurre miseris" for four voices (1540)
    • Missa "Media vita" with five voices (1542)
    • Missa “Sur tous regretz” with five voices (perhaps for the coronation of Charles V as emperor on February 24, 1530 in the Church of San Petronio in Bologna, in print in 1542 with the title “A la Incoronation”)
    • Missa "Philomena praevia" for five voices (1542)
    • Missa "Dulcis amica" (1556)
    • Missa "Je suis desheritée" for four voices (1557)
    • Missa “Beati omnes” with four voices
    • Missa tempore paschali to six voices
    • Credo to eight votes
  • Magnificat compositions (all for four parts)
    • Magnificat primi toni
    • Magnificat secundi toni
    • Magnificat tertii et octavi toni
    • Magnificat quarti toni
    • Magnificat quinti toni
    • Magnificat sexti et primi toni
    • Magnificat septimi toni
    • Magnificat octavi toni
  • Book I of the four-part motets (Venice 1539)
    • "Aspice Domine quia facta est"
    • "Ave regina caelorum"
    • "Ave sanctissima Maria"
    • "Dicite in magni"
    • "Dignare me laudare te"
    • "Domine, pater et Deus vitae meae"
    • "Domine si do it jube"
    • "Duo rogavi te Domine"
    • "Ecce nunc tempus acceptabile"
    • "Fidelium Deus omnium conditor"
    • "Fuit homo missus"
    • "Inter natos mulierum"
    • "Levavi oculos meos" (also attributed to Jean Richafort)
    • "Miserere pie Jesu"
    • "O gloriosa Dei genitrix"
    • "O gloriosa domina Dei genitrix"
    • "Quae est ista, quae processit"
    • "Quam pulchra es et quam decora"
    • "Saluto te sancta virgo Mariae"
    • "Salvum me fac Domine"
    • "Super flumina Babylonis"
    • "Venite filii, audite me"
  • Book I of the five-part motets (Venice 1539)
    • "Adonai Domine Jesu Christe"
    • "Anima mea liquefacta est"
    • "Anima nostra sicut passer"
    • "Audi filia et vide"
    • "Ave Maria"
    • "Ave mater matris Dei"
    • "Ave sanctissima Maria"
    • "Beati omnes qui timent Dominum"
    • "Domine Deus omnipotens pater"
    • "Ego flos campi "
    • "Emendemus in Melius"
    • "Gaudeamus omnes et laetemur"
    • "Haec dies quam fecit Dominus"
    • "Hodie beata virgo Maria"
    • "Inviolata integra et casta"
    • "Judica me Deus"
    • "Laus Deodorant, pax vivis"
    • "O beata Maria"
    • "O flos campi"
    • "Pater noster"
    • "Tota pulchra es"
    • "Tribulatio et angustia" (after Philippe Verdelot)
    • "Tu Deus noster"
    • "Vias tuas Domine"
  • Book II of the four-part motets (Venice 1541)
    • "Averte oculos meos"
    • "Beata Mater, et innupta Virgo"
    • "Cur quisquam corradat opes"
    • "Domine non secundum peccata nostra"
    • "Ergo ne vitae quod super est meae"
    • "Fac tibi mortales"
    • "Miserere nostri, Deus omnium"
    • "O Domina mundi"
    • "Quidquid appositum est"
    • "Reminiscere miserationum tuarum"
    • "Salve, Regina"
    • "Salve regina" / "Ave regina" / "Inviolata, integra et casta es" / "Alma Redemptoris mater"
    • "Sancta Maria mater Dei"
    • "Sancta Alphonse"
    • "Si ignoras te o pulchra"
    • "Surge, Petre"
    • "Uae, uae Babylon"
    • "Vita, dulcedo"
  • Book II of the five-part motets (Venice 1541)
    • "Ad te levavi oculos meos"
    • "Ave regina caelorum"
    • "Caeciliam cantate pii"
    • "Cantemus virgini canticum novum"
    • "Conceptio tua Dei genitrix"
    • "Confitebimur tibi, Deus"
    • "Da pacem domine"
    • "Hodie nata es Virgo Maria"
    • "Hodie nobis caelorum Rex"
    • "Hortus conclusus es Dei genitrix"
    • "Ne reminiscaris Domine"
    • "O adorandum sacramentum"
    • "O felix Anna"
    • "O magnum mysterium"
    • "Patefactae sunt januae caeli"
    • "Sit Trinitati sempiterna gloria"
    • "Surge, Petre" (also attributed to Jean Mouton and Philippe Verdelot)
    • "Veni dilecta mea" (= "In tua patientia")
    • Veni electa mea (for the wedding of Charles V with Isabella of Portugal , 1526 in Seville)
    • "Venite ad me omnes"
  • Individual motets in collective prints
    • "Ad te levavi oculos meos" for four voices (1539, also attributed to Jean Richafort )
    • "Angelus Domini ad pastores" with four voices (1529, also attributed to Philippe Verdelot )
    • "Aspice Domine in testamentum" to five votes (1538)
    • "Ave salus mundi" to six voices (1539)
    • "Ave sanctissime Jesu Christe" to four votes (1538)
    • "Beatus vir qui non abiit" with six voices (1539)
    • "Benedicta es caelorum regina" to six voices (1564)
    • "Christe fili Dei" for four voices (1555)
    • "Descendi in hortum meum" to six parts (1539)
    • "Domine quis habitabit" to five votes (1556)
    • "Dulcis amica Dei" for four voices (1532)
    • "Duo rogavi te Domine" with six voices (1539)
    • "Ego sum qui sum" to six voices (1539)
    • "Egregie matyr Sebastiane" to five voices (1523)
    • "Felix Austriae domus" with five votes (1537, for Ferdinand I's coronation in 1531)
    • "Gabriel nuntiavit Mariae" to five voices (1538, also attributed to D. Phinot)
    • "Gaude mater ecclesia" for four voices (1538)
    • "Hic est discipulus" to five voices (1538)
    • "Homo erat in Jerusalem" to four votes (1534)
    • "In illo tempore dixit Jesus" / "Hic est panis" to five voices (1538)
    • "In illo tempore intravit Jesus" to five voices (1545)
    • "In illo tempore: Loquente Jesu" to six voices (1539)
    • "In illo tempore dicebat Jesus" / "Sed cum facis" with six voices (1555, also attributed to Petit Jean De Latre)
    • "In patientia vestra" to four voices (1540)
    • "In te Domine speravi" with six voices (1539)
    • "Media vita in morte sumus" to six voices (1539)
    • "Musae Jovis" for six voices (1545)
    • "O crux, spendidor" with six voices (1539)
    • "Oculi omnium in te sperantium" with six voices (1539)
    • "O Domine Jesu Christe" to six votes (1539)
    • "O Jesus Christe" to eight votes (1568, = "Que ne l'aymeroit")
    • "O Jesu Christe succurre" to six votes (1538)
    • "Omnis pulchritudo Domini" for six voices (1555)
    • "O Rex gloriae" to six voices (1539)
    • "Peccata mea, sicut sagittae" to six votes (1549)
    • "Quem dicunt homines" to six voices (1555)
    • "Qui colis Ausoniam" to six votes (1549, on the occasion of the meeting of Clement VII and Charles V in Bologna in 1533)
    • "Qui seminant in lachrymis" for four voices (1539)
    • "Regina caeli" to twelve voices (1534)
    • "Respice Domine" to five votes (1538)
    • "Salvator mundi, salva nos" to six voices (1535)
    • "Sancta et immaculata" to five voices (1538)
    • "Sancta Maria, succurre miseris" to six votes (1539; = "O Jesus Christe, succurre")
    • "Sancta Johannes apostole" to four votes (1539)
    • "Si bona suscepimus" for six voices (1539)
    • "Stabat autem Petrus" to five votes (1557)
    • "Suscipe verbum, virgo Maria" to five voices (1532)
    • "Tribulatio cordis mei" to five voices (1538)
    • "Tulerurnt Dominum" with eight voices (1552, = "Je prens congie"; also attributed to Josquin)
    • "Virgo sancta Catherina" to four voices (1534)
  • Individual motets in manuscripts
    • "Constitues eos" with six voices (partly attributed to Comprecht )
    • “Ecce quam bonum” to four voices
    • “Emendemus in melius” to four voices
    • “In illo tempore pastores” to four voices
    • "In tua patientia" (= "Veni dilecta mea" ). to five votes, lost
    • “Jubilate Dei omnis terra” with four votes
    • "Juravit Dominus" (= "Caeciliam cantate pii" ). to five votes, lost
    • “Philippe qui videt me” to five votes
    • “Regina caeli” with ten votes
    • “Speciosa facta es” to four votes
    • "Sustinuimus pacem" (= "Je prens congie" ). to eight votes
    • “Tota pulchra es” to six votes
  • Chansons in bulk prints
    • "A bien grand tort" to four voices (1538)
    • "Alleluya my fault chanter" for four voices (approx. 1528)
    • "Amours vous me faictes" for four voices (1533)
    • "Amys souffrez" to five votes (1550)
    • "A quoy tient-il" for four voices (1531)
    • "A traveil suis" to six voices (1544)
    • "Aultre que vous" for four voices (1535)
    • "Ayme qui vouldra" to five voices (1544)
    • "Celluy a qui mon cueur" for four voices (1535)
    • "Celluy qui est long" to three voices (1560)
    • "C'est à grand tort" to four voices (1544)
    • "Crainte et espoir" for four voices (1552)
    • "D'en prendre deux" for four voices (1557)
    • "D'estre amoureux" for four voices (1552)
    • "Dezilde al cavallero", Canción to five votes (1556)
    • "Dieu me fault il" to five voices (1550, also attributed to Thomas Crécquillon)
    • "En attendant l'espoir" to six voices (1545)
    • "En aultre avoir" for four voices (1534)
    • "En douleur et tristesse" to six voices (1550)
    • "En l'ombre d'ung buissonet" to six voices (1540)
    • "Gris et tanne" for four voices (1530)
    • "Hors envieulx" to four voices (1536)
    • "Jamais je n'euz tant" with four voices (1534, also attributed to Thomas Crécquillon)
    • "J'ay congé prins" to four votes (1534)
    • "J'ay eu congé" to four votes (1544)
    • "J'aymeray qui m'aymera" for four voices (1533)
    • "Je ne scay pas" to five votes (1544)
    • "Je suis trop jeunette" with five votes (1550)
    • "Joyeulx vergier" to four votes (1544)
    • "Laine et travéil" to six votes (?)
    • "Le bergier et la bergiere" to five votes (1544)
    • "Mille regretz" to six voices (1540)
    • "Mon coeur elist" for four voices (1541)
    • "Mon pensement ne gist" to four voices (1550)
    • "Mort et fortune" for four voices (1538)
    • "Nesse pas chose dure" to five voices (1544)
    • "O doulx regretz" for four voices (1549)
    • "O malheureuse journee" to five voices (1550)
    • "Or escoutez gentil veneurs" to four voices (1545; La chasse du lièvre)
    • "Or suis-je prins" for four votes (1544)
    • "Par ung regard" to three voices (1569)
    • "Pleust a Dieu quil fust" for three voices (1560)
    • "Pleust a Dieu" to six voices (1544)
    • "Plus de Venus" for four voices (1552)
    • "Pour parvenir bon pied" to four voices (1543; also attributed to Thomas Crécquillon)
    • "Puis qu'ainsi est" (I) for four voices (1544)
    • "Puis qu'ainsi est" (II) for four voices (1544)
    • "Quant je suis au prez de mamye" for five voices (1544)
    • "Qui ne l'aymeroit" (= "O Jesus Christ" ). to eight votes (1540)
    • "Raison le veult" to four voices (1549)
    • "Raison me dict" to four voices (1552)
    • "Raison requirt amour" to six voices (1550)
    • "Regret ennuy traveil" to five voices (1550; also attributed to Thomas Crécquillon)
    • "Resveillez vous cueurs endormis" to three voices (1545; Le chant des oyseaux )
    • "Secourez moy madame" for four voices (1544)
    • "Se dire je losoye" to five voices (1544; also attributed to Thomas Crécquillon)
    • "Si le partir m'est dueil" to four voices (1544)
    • "Si le secours" for four voices (1544)
    • "S'io veggio sotto l'un e l'altro ciglio", Madrigal with six voices (1541)
    • "Souffrir me convient" to five voices (1544)
    • "Tant bien party" to three votes (1569)
    • "Tant de traveil" for four voices (1541)
    • "Tousiours souffrir" to five voices (1550)
    • "Tous les regretz" to six voices (1544)
    • "Triste départ m'avoit" to five voices (1544; also attributed to Ph. Van Wilder)
    • "Trop endurer" to five votes (1550)
    • "Tu pers ton temps" for four voices (1535)
    • "Ung jour viendra" to five voices (1543)
    • "Vous estes trop jeune" for four voices (1538)
  • Handwritten chansons
    • “Amoureulx suis d'une plaisante brunette” to five votes
    • “Au joly bois” to six votes
    • “Changons propos” to six votes
    • “En espoir d'avoir mieulx” to four voices
    • "Je prens congie" to eight voices (= "Sustinuimus pacem", "Tulerunt Dominum")
    • “Jouyssance vous donneray” with six votes
    • “Mon petit cueur” with six votes
    • "Mon seul" to seven voices (without text)
    • “Paine et travéil” with six votes
    • “Plus en sera garde” to four votes
    • “Qui porra dire ou croire” to six voices
    • “Si je ne my plains” to four votes
    • “Si mon traveil” with six voices
  • Works of doubtful authenticity
    • Missa "Fors seulement" with five voices (partly attributed to H. Vinders)
    • "Adversum me susurrabant" to four voices (partly attributed to E. Causin)
    • "Alleluia. Spiritus Domini "with five voices (partly attributed to N. des Celliers de Hesdin)
    • "Cantibus organicis" to four voices (partly attributed to H. Naich)
    • "Hodie Christ natus est" with five voices (partly attributed to V. Ruffo)
    • "Hodie in Jordane" with six voices (partly attributed to Maistre Jhan)
    • "Inclina Domine aurem tuam" with five voices (partly attributed to Jacquet de Berchem)
    • "Laqueus contritus est" with four voices (partly attributed to Jacobus Clemens non Papa)
    • "Lauda Syon" with five voices (= "Je ne me puis tenir d'aimer"; ed. Miguel de Fuenllana )
    • "Maria Magdalene et altera Maria" with five voices (partly attributed to Pierre de Manchicourt)
    • "Peto Domine et de vinculo" with five voices (partly attributed to E. Causin)
    • "Respice in me Deus" (= "Je ne me puis tenir d'aimer" ). to five votes
    • "Force sera sy de bref" with four voices (partly attributed to Thomas Crécquillon)
    • "J'ay mis mon cueur" to eight voices (attribution to Gombert not certain)
    • "Je ne me puis tenir d'aimer" with five voices (partly attributed to Josquin or Claudin de Sermisy)
    • "Plaisir n'ay plus mais vis" with five voices (partly attributed to Thomas Crécquillon)

Literature (selection)

  • Moritz Fürstenau: Gombert, Nicolaus. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. (ADB), Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, pp. 365-367.
  • D. von Bartha: Problems of Chanson History in the 16th Century. Nicolas Gombert - Benedictus Appenzeller. In: Journal of Musicology. No. 13, 1931, pp. 507-530.
  • Hans Eppstein : Nicolas Gombert as a motet composer. Wuerzburg 1935
  • Joseph Schmidt-Görg: Nicolas Gombert. Kapellmeister of Emperor Charles V, life and work. Bonn 1938, reprint 1971
  • EE Lowinsky: Review by Nicolai Gomberti, Opera omnia I (Corpus mensurabilis musicae 6). In: Musical Quarterly. No. 38, 1952, pp. 630-640.
  • A. Johnson: Review by Nicolai Gombert, Opera omnia IV: Magnificat (Corpus mensurabilis musicae 6). In: Journal of the American Musicological Society. No. 12, 1959, pp. 83-86.
  • MR Maniates: The Sacred Music of Nicolas Gombert. In: Canadian Music Journal. No. 6, 1961/62, No. 2, pp. 25-38.
  • J. Roche: Gombert's Motet "Aspice Domine". In: Choral music and analysis, contributions to form analysis and interpretation of polyphonic vocal music. edited by H. Poos, Volume 1, Mainz and others 1983, pp. 77-85.
  • E. Jas: Nicolas Gombert's Missa Fors seulement: a Conflicting Attribution. In: Revue belge de musicologie. No. 46, 1992, pp. 163-177.
  • Paul van Nevel: Nicolas Gombert en het avontuur van de vlaamse polyfonie. Libri Musicae, 1992, ISBN 90-73737-01-X .
  • L. Lockwood: Monteverdi and Gombert: the Missa "In illo tempore" of 1610. In: Festschrift H. Hucke, edited by P. Cahn, A.-K. Heimer, Hildesheim 1993, pp. 457-469.
  • CA Elias: Imitation, Fragmentation, and Assimilation of Chansons in the Masses of Gombert, Clemens, and Crecquillon. Dissertation. University of Chicago, 1994.
  • A. Newcomb: Unnotated Accidentals in the Music of the Post-Josquin Generation: Mainly on the Example of Gombert's First Book of Motets for Four Voices. In: Festschrift L. Lockwood, edited by JA Owens, AM Cummings 1997, pp. 215-225.
  • Michael Zywietz: Music in the court culture of Karl V. Dissertation. University of Frankfurt am Main, 2003

Web links

Commons : Nicolas Gombert  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ↑ Michael Zywietz :  Gombert, Nicolas. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 7 (Franco - Gretry). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2002, ISBN 3-7618-1117-9  ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  2. ↑ Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (ed.): The great lexicon of music. Volume 3: Elsbeth - Haitink. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1980, ISBN 3-451-18053-7 .
personal data
SURNAME Gombert, Nicolas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Franco-Flemish composer and singer of the Renaissance
DATE OF BIRTH around 1495
PLACE OF BIRTH La Gorgue near Lille
DATE OF DEATH around 1560
Place of death Tournai