Pierre Fontaine

Pierre Fontaine (* between 1390 and 1395 in the Archdiocese of Rouen ; † between 1447 and 1450 probably in Dijon ) was a French composer , bandmaster , singer and cleric of the early Renaissance.

Live and act

No information has survived about the early years of Pierre Fontaine and his apprenticeship. He probably had his first apprenticeship as a choirboy at the cathedral in his hometown. From May 25, 1403 he was listed in the lists of the Duchy of Burgundy under Duke Philip the Bold as a member of the court orchestra with the rank of sommelier ; this indicates that he also had organizational tasks to perform. A note from 1404 also describes it as “le petit Perrinet”. After Duke Johann von Berry (1360-1416) had re-founded a Sainte-Chapelle in Bourges , Pierre Fontaine was a member there from 1405 to 1407; Many other well-known musicians were also hired there, including Johannes Cesaris and Guillaume Legrant . His stay is not documented for the following eight years; from 1415 he can be traced back to the Burgundian service, namely as chaplain in the court chapel of Duke Johann Ohnefurcht . There he was a colleague of Nicholas Grenon , Guillaume Le Rouge and Richard Cardot. After his employer was murdered on September 10, 1419, Pierre Fontaine left Burgundy with other members of the chapel and turned to Italy. On March 30, 1420 he became a member of the chapel of Pope Martin V in Florence , where he stayed for eight years. During this time he received a canonical in Flanders , namely at the Church of St. Hermès in Ronse (French Renaix ).

Fontaine returned to Burgundy around 1429; he stayed here as a singer at the court of Duke Philip the Good, probably until the end of his life. In 1431, perhaps a little earlier, the composer had moved to the place of a second chaplain . His colleague Gilles Binchois , also chaplain in the court orchestra, mentions in his motet “Nove cantum melodiae”, written for January 18, 1431, the members of the chapel, including Fontaine and himself. Because at that time the position of premier chaplain represented a representative office with advice to the duke, the position of the second chaplain could have been connected with the direction of the choir. Pierre Fontaine was ordained a priest probably in 1433 and received several benefices up to 1445 . At the beginning of 1447 he appears for the last time in the list of band members. In the same year, another musician by the name of Nicolas de Graincourt is listed as the new chaplain , but it is not until 1451 that he is definitely named as a substitute for Fontaine. Gilles Binchois succeeded him as the second Chaplain in 1447.

meaning

Pierre Fontaine belongs to a generation of court composers who are considered to be the forerunners of Franco-Flemish music . Only a small part of the totality of his work has survived. The Burgundian court, at which he served most of the time, was a cultural center, and he himself was an above-average figure, well respected from a young age and well known by his contemporaries. Judging from the traditional works, he seems to have written only secular chansons . The seven compositions are six rondeaux and one ballad . Stylistically, they are typical examples of the new style at the beginning of the 15th century. They are “concise and structured in lines, and they show a clear individuality, sometimes even extravagance” (Hans-Otto Korth in the source MGG).

Works

• Secured works
  • “Pastourelle en un vergier”, ballad for three voices
  • “A son plaisir volentiers serviroye”, rondeau with three voices; as “Four hundred years on earth” to two voices by Oswald von Wolkenstein
  • “De bien amer quant l'ay enpris”, Rondeau with three votes
  • “J'ayme bien celui que s'en va”, rondeau with three voices
  • “Mon cuer pleure mais des ieux me faut rire”, a rondeau with three votes
  • “Pour vous tenir en la grace amoureuxe” / “Mon dulx amy tenés vous tout temps gay”, rondeau with four voices
  • “Sans faire de vous departie”, Rondeau to three votes
• Composition possibly attributable to Fontaine (G. Reaney 1969)
  • “Mon plus haut bien ma yoye et mon desir”, anonymous rondeau with three votes
• Works erroneously attributed to Fontaine
  • “Regali ex progenie” to three votes, by Fonteyns
  • Kyrie to three votes, from Perrinet

Literature (selection)

• E. Dannemann: The late Gothic music tradition in France and Burgundy before the appearance of Dufay , Strasbourg and others in 1936
• J. Marix: Histoire de la musique et des musiciens de la cour de Bourgogne sous le règne de Philippe le Bon , Strasbourg 1939, reprint Geneva 1972 and Baden-Baden 1974
• Craig Wright: Music at the Court of Burgundy, 1364–1419 , doctoral thesis at Harvard University 1972, Henryville / Pennsylvania 1979 (= Wissenschaftliche Abhandlung / Musicological Studies No. 28)
• Hans-Otto Korth: Studies on the cantilever type in the early 15th century. Cantilever movements with interchangeable contratenores , Munich / Salzburg 1986 (= Berlin musicological work No. 29)
• Paula Higgins: Music and Musicians at the Sainte-Chapelle of the Bourges Palace, 1405-1515. In: Congress report International Musicological Society Bologna 1987, Turin 1990, Volume 3, pages 689-701
• David Fallows: A Catalog of Polyphonic Songs, 1415-1480 , Oxford 1999

Web links

• Works by and about Pierre Fontaine in the catalog of the German National Library

swell

1. ↑ The Music in Past and Present (MGG), Person Part Volume 6, Bärenreiter and Metzler, Kassel and Basel 2001, ISBN 3-7618-1116-0
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 .
3. ^ The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , edited by Stanley Sadie, 2nd Edition, Volume 9, McMillan Publishers, London 2001, ISBN 0-333-60800-3