Johannes Prioris

Johannes Prioris (* around 1460 in Brabant (uncertain), † around 1514 in France) was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of the Renaissance .

Live and act

The name Prioris is a Latinization of the Flemish word "De Veurste" or "De Vorste", which indicates a Flemish descent from the city of Vorst in the wider area of Brussels . In a register of this city from 1536, 20 years after the composer's lifetime, a resident named "Prioirs" is recorded. There is little direct evidence of his résumé; Music research was only able to determine most of the statements presented below indirectly, which thus represent plausible but unproven assumptions.

The large number of works by Prioris in Italian sources is striking; in particular, his earliest masses , two Magnificats and half of his motets have survived only in manuscripts that were copied for the papal chapel in Rome . In addition, two Magnificat settings have the peculiarity that all twelve stanzas were set polyphonically, a tradition that was practically only common in the papal chapel. In addition, Prioris' motet “Dominus non secundum peccata nostra” is one of the earliest settings of this tract , composed at a time when this text was only sung with several voices in the papal chapel. These traditional features indicate that the composer stayed in Italy at the beginning of the 1480s, where he spent some time in Rome , perhaps in the service of one of the cardinals , and was close enough to the papal chapel. However, a stay of Prioris in Italy has not yet been proven.

Other early sources of his works include manuscripts that were copied in the 1490s, including a number of French chanson collections ( chansonniers ) with a repertoire that was mostly limited to composers associated with the French court orchestra. This suggests that Prioris was a member of this court orchestra as early as the late 1480s. If this is the case and he was a member there during the 1490s, also in this capacity according to a document from 1503 maître de chapelle , it is quite possible that he was the successor of Johannes Ockeghem († 1497) in this office .

The definite evidence of the composer's membership of the aforementioned court orchestra ranges from 1503 to 1512, after the ambassador of the city of Ferrara at the French court wrote to Duke Ercole I of Ferrara (reign 1471–1505) on June 8, 1503 , he sent him a mass by Prioris, the conductor of King Ludwig XII. from France. However, this mass was not given a specific name, and no compositions by Prioris have survived in the archives of the city of Ferrara. In the same year 1503, the royal court chronicler Jehan d'Authon (around 1466–1527) reported an incident where some officials of the royal court had quarreled with highwaymen on a trip to Genoa , and these “have the travelers, one of them Kapellmeister named Prioris, so terrified that he thought he was going to die ”. The same chronicler reports of the maître de chapelle Prioris , who met King Louis XII. stayed there during the siege of Genoa in 1507. In 1510 Prioris was appointed first chaplain , but only amulatoire , i.e. for a limited period, with which the task of building a choir school (similar to a maîtrise ) of the Sainte-Chapelle was connected.

The contemporary poet Guillaume Crétin turned to "nostre bon père et maîstre" Johannes Prioris after the death of the musician Jehan Braconnier , known as Lourdault († January 1512), with the request that he compose a "Ne recorderis" for the deceased. From this request, expressed in poetry, it emerges that Prioris still belonged to the court orchestra; but he was no longer their conductor, but a certain Conrad . King Ludwig XII. von France died at the beginning of 1515. In the reports of the funeral ceremonies, Prioris' name is not included, from which it was concluded that the composer was either retired in January 1515 or had already died.

meaning

The masses by Johannes Prioris are varied, written with great craftsmanship and show the influence of Johannes Ockeghem. Probably the earliest is the homorhythmic Missa Allez regrets and combines a cantus firmus structure with early parody techniques; she is perhaps the first to process the Chanson Allez regrets by Hayne van Ghizeghem . On the other hand, in the Missa de angelis one encounters paraphrases of the chorales of Kyrie and Gloria , but also a great variety of compositional techniques and contrapuntal developments. His Requiem and the six-part masses “De venerabili sacramento” and “Tant bel mi sont pensade” are probably late works. Most of the composer's four-part motets are typical of the French court composers at the turn of the 16th century; The five-part motet “Benedicta es caelorum regina”, the six-part “Da pacem Domine” and the eight-part “Ave Maria”, on the other hand, are consistently canonical , probably also late works because they only spread after the composer's death. His two motet chansons combine a spiritual cantus firmus with the secular text of a rondeau . The three-part rondeaus, influenced by Antoine Busnoys and Hayne van Ghizeghem, are duets of treble and tenor , combined with a contratenor with trendsetting features in the treatment of the motif. Particularly noteworthy is the rondeau “Par vous je suis”, where Prioris sets the Flemish melody “In minem sin” in the version used by Josquin , based on the example of Josquin and his contemporaries, almost canonically.

The music of Johannes Prioris shows a remarkable ingenuity and a mature compositional technique. For many years he headed one of the most important European music centers of his time. He was appreciated by a number of authors, including Guillaume Crétin , Eloy d'Amerval , Jehan Daniel and François Rabelais ; In the second part of the motet "Mater Floreat" by Pierre Moulu (around 1484 - after 1540) he is one of the composers who are famous there. Some of his works, such as his Requiem, which appeared in print in 1532 and reprinted in 1553, enjoyed special esteem until well after his death, for example from the singer Pernot Vermont († 1558), who made a will that this Requiem was decreed to be sung in memory of him.

Works

• measure up
  • Missa “Allez regrets” with four voices, based on the chanson of the same name by Hayne van Ghizeghem
  • Missa de angelis to four voices
  • Missa de venerabili sacramento to six voices
  • Missa "Je ne demande" with four (?) Voices, burned in 1906 (identified in 1973 with the Missa "Je ne demando" = "Elle est bien malade" = sine nomine)
  • Missa “Tant bel mi sont pensade” with six voices based on an anonymous chanson
  • Requiem for four voices, perhaps on the death of Anne of Brittany († January 9, 1514)
• Motets and Magnificats
  • "Alleluia: O filii, o filiae" for four voices
  • “Ave Maria” to three voices
  • "Ave Maria" to eight voices (quadruple canon, four voices notated)
  • “Benedicta es caelorum regina” with five voices
  • "Da pacem Domine" with six voices (triple canon, three voices notated)
  • “Domine non secundum peccata nostra” with four voices
  • “Dulcis amica Dei” with three to four voices
  • “Factum est cum bapticaretur” with four voices
  • “In principio erat verbum” to four voices
  • Magnificat primi toni with three to four voices
  • Magnificat tercii toni to two to four voices
  • Magnificat quarti toni for four to five voices (2 versions)
  • Magnificat quinti toni with three to five voices
  • Magnificat octavi toni with four to six voices
  • “Mater Dei genitrix” to four voices
  • “Quam pulchra es” to four voices
  • “Regina caeli” with four voices
  • "Stabat mater" (fragment, only tenor preserved)
• Motet chansons, for four voices
  • "Deuil et ennui" / "Quoniam tribulatio"
  • "Royne du ciel" / "Regina caeli"
• Rondeaux, to three votes
  • "C'est pour aymer"
  • "Elle l'a pris"
  • "Entré je suis" (see "Par vous je suis")
  • "Mon plus que riens"
  • "Par vous sermens"
  • "Plus qu'autre"
  • "Riens ne me plaist"
  • "Vostre oeul s'est bien" / "Consomo la vita mya" (Text: Serafino dall'Aquila , who probably also wrote the 3rd sentence. Prioris probably only wrote the fourth part)
• More secular pieces
  • Free chanson form “Par vous je suis” with five voices, imitating, probably instrumental, movement of a melody
  • Strambotto “Consommo la vita mya” with three to four voices
• Doubtful compositions and incorrect attributions
  • “Ait latro ad Jesum” with four voices, anonymous insertion into the Missa de angelis , probably not by Prioris
  • "Gentils galans" with four voices, attributed to Prioris and Crispinus van Stappen (around 1465–1532), probably by van Stappen
  • “Mon cueur et moi” with three votes, anonymous and attributed to Prioris, both manuscripts from the early 1460s, probably not by Prioris
  • “Royne du ciel” / “Regina caeli” with three voices, ascribed to Prioris in 1 manuscript, is by Loyset Compère .

Literature (selection)

• E. vander Straeten: La Musique aux Pays-Basavant le XIXe siècle , Brussels 1867–1888, Volumes 1 and 6
• R. de Maulde la Clavière (editor): Chronique de Louis XII par Jean d'Auton , Volume 4, Paris 1895
• TH Keahey: The Masses of Johannes Prioris , dissertation at the University of Texas 1968
• C. Douglas: The Motets of Johannes Prioris with a Prefatory Bio-bibliographical Study , dissertation at the University of Illinois 1969
• M. Staehelin: Possibilities and practical applications of determining the author of anonymous compositions from the Josquin period. In: Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor nederlandse muziekgeschiedenis No. 23, 1973, pages 79-91
• R. Wexler: The Complete Works of Johannes Prioris , dissertation at New York University 1974
• C. Reynolds: Musical Careers, Ecclesiastical Benefices, and the Example of Joh. Brunet. In: Journal of the American Musicological Society No. 37, 1984, pp. 49-97
• R. Sherr: Illibata Dei Virgo Nutrix and Josquin's Roman Style. In: Journal of the American Musicological Society No. 41, 1988, pp. 434-464
• Same: The Membership of the Chapels of Louis XII and Anne de Bretagne in the Years Proceeding their Deaths. In: Journal of Musicology No. 6, 1988, pp. 60-82
• David Fallows: A Catalog of Polyphonic Songs, 1415-1480 , Oxford 1999

Web links

• Works by and about Johannes Prioris in the catalog of the German National Library
• Sheet music and audio files by Johannes Prioris in the International Music Score Library Project
• Christmas carols by Johannes Prioris

swell

1. ↑ The music in past and present (MGG), person part volume 13, Bärenreiter and Metzler, Kassel and Basel 2005, ISBN 3-7618-1133-0
2. ↑ Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (ed.): The great lexicon of music. Volume 6: Nabakov - Rampal. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1981, ISBN 3-451-18056-1 .