Robert Morton

Robert Morton (* around 1430; † after March 13, 1479) was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of the Renaissance who came from England and served the dukes of Burgundy .

Live and act

There is little documentary evidence of the life of Robert Morton; neither the place and date of his birth are known, nor has his place of death and the date of his death been determined. Music historical research assumes that he was born either in England or as the son of English parents in Burgundy. He was first mentioned at the end of 1457 in an entry in the Burgundian bookkeeping, where he is referred to as "clerc" of the Chapel of Philip the Good (1419–1467) and where payments for his uniforms were granted. Here he also appears as "chapellain angloix", which is the only reference to his English ancestry; the source also suggests that Morton worked in Brussels before he was employed in Burgundy .

The list of the members of the band has a gap in the records at this time, which means that Robert Morton is only noted in the list of October 1460 and is called "Messire" here. This title indicates that he was already a priest . From June 1, 1464 to March 12, 1465 and for three months between October 1, 1465 and September 30, 1466, his employer loaned him to the household of Count Karl von Charolais, who later became Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy (1467– 1477). It stands to reason that Morton also accompanied him on his campaigns. After Philip's death (1467), he was taken over to the chapel of Charles the Bold. Later, from July 20 to August 13, 1470, he received leave of absence. Morton retained the rank of clercs until 1471/72, an unusual duration for the Burgundian chapel, because usually clercs were promoted to "chapelain" within a few years. Morton received this rank between June 20, 1471 and July 20, 1472.

In 1475 it appears only irregularly in the accounts; he only got a quarter of the full annual salary. On February 1, 1476, Pierre Basin Mortons took over as chapelain , apparently in fulfillment of an entitlement that had existed since 1475. In 1477, the Burgundian administration tried to promote Robert Morton's career. The content of the document in question is not of great importance, but it does show that Morton was still alive in 1477. The last testimony about him is a letter confirming his renunciation of a benefice in Goutswaard-Koorndijk on March 31, 1479.

The music researcher David Follows suspects in a publication from 2001 political reasons for Robert Morton's long lingering in the relatively low status of a clerc and for the lack of any evidence about him in Burgundy from 1479. A certain Robert Morton became a canon in 1478 in Salisbury and at St Paul's Cathedral in London , a year later Master of the Rolls , then Bishop of Worcester in 1486 and died in 1497. If it were the same person, this would speak for a return of Morton to England and a spiritual career there . Fallows has also pointed out that there is no evidence of the person named bishop between 1457 and 1476 in England; in addition, Morton's uncle John Morton was ambassador to the Burgundian court in early 1475. John was later appointed Bishop of Ely and thereupon renounced the canonical in Salisbury, which then fell to Robert. When John Morton was transferred to Canterbury in 1486 , John Alcock was transferred to Ely and Robert Morton was promoted to Bishop of Worcester. Against such considerations, however, the fact that there is no evidence of musical activities from Morton's later English years speaks. Ultimately, Morton's move to England remains a relatively plausible, but unproven assumption.

Further biographical information can only be found in the work of Morton and other contemporary composers. Fallows' assumption that the rondeau “Le souvenir de vous me tue” alludes to a motto by Claude Bouton (1473–1553) and his play “Souvenir tue” and thus indicates a relationship to Bouton's family is unlikely because Morton's Rondeau was certainly made before Bouton's birth. The rondeau "Il sera pour vous / L'homme armé" contains an allusion to Simon le Breton († 1473), who went to Cambrai in May 1464 after leaving the Burgundian court orchestra . In this city Morton and Hayne van Ghizeghem amazed audiences with their singing and playing, as reported in the anonymous rondeau “La plus grant chiere”, an event that could have taken place in 1468 or 1472. Under the text “Mon bien ma joyeux” a piece of music has been handed down, the text of which is probably the correct one of the poem “Mon bien, m'amour, ma joye et mon desir”, which also contains the acrostic Marie M [o] relet .

meaning

During his lifetime Robert Morton enjoyed a remarkable reputation as a composer. Most of his compositions have been handed down anonymously. Those pieces that can be attributed to him with certainty show a dense and contoured stylistic profile, but without the melodic features typical of English music of the middle decades of the 15th century. The upper voice parts have an unusually large range and are characterized by expressiveness and special technical security. The contratenor voices avoid the filling function that is characteristic of his Burgundian colleagues (Hayne van Ghizeghem and others); instead, larger interval jumps are more frequent, with which the tonality is often consolidated.

Some of Morton's works were quite common. For example, “N'arais je jamais” has been handed down in 16 sources, and “Le souvenir” appears in 15 sources, including three intabulations . The composer is highly praised by his contemporaries John Hothby ( Dialogus in arte musica ) and Johannes Tinctoris ( Complexus effectuum musices ). His composition “N'arai je jamais” served as a template for a motet and three masses by Johannes Ghiselin , Jacob Obrecht and Josquin Des Prez . Robert Morton's chansons represent the pinnacle of the Burgundian court style between Gilles Binchois and Antoine Busnois .

Works

• Authentic works (Morton's authorship secured); all pieces are rondeaux with three voices:
  • “Cousine trop vous abusés”, handed down in two slightly different versions
  • "Le souvenir de vous me tue"
  • “Mon bien ma joyeux”, at the beginning incorrectly handed down, instead of the poem text “Mon bien, m'amour, ma joye et mon plaisir” with the acrostic poem “Marie M [o] relet”
  • “N'aray je jamais mieulx que j'ay”, in two versions, one with a second contratenor
  • "Paracheve ton enterprise", (= La perontina )
  • "Plus j'ay le monde regardé" (= "Madonna bella")
  • "Que pourroit plus faire une dame" (= "Numine Iesu")
• Inauthentic works (Morton's authorship doubtful):
  • “C'est temps perdu”, attributed to Firminus Caron
  • "Ellend you have embraced me" (= "Lent et scolorito" / "Vive ma dame par amours", Motectus)
  • "Pues serviçio vos desplaze" ("Enrique"; text by Pere Torroella)
  • "Vien'avante morte dolente" ( presumed authorship by Pierre Basin )
  • “Il sera pour vous conbatu” / “L'homme armé”, combined rondeau, has been handed down in two versions, attribution to Morton only recently

Literature (selection)

• J. Marix: Histoire de la musique et des musiciens de la cour de Bourgogne sous le règne de Philippe de Bon (1420−1467) , Strasbourg 1939
• Gustav Reese: Music in the Renaissance , WW Norton & Co., New York 1954, ISBN 0-393-09530-4
• Heinrich Besseler: German songs by Robert Morton and Josquin. In: Contributions to Musicology No. 13, 1971
• David Fallows: R. Morton's Songs, a Study of Styles in the Mid-Fifteenth Century , dissertation at the University of California, Berkeley 1978
• David Fallows: Robert Morton. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., London 1980, ISBN 1-56159-174-2
• R. Taruskin: A. Busnois and the L'Homme armé Tradition. In: Journal of the American Musicological Society No. 39, 1986, pp. 255-293
• Alejandro Enrique Planchart: Two Fifteenth-Century Songs and Their Texts in a Close Reading. In: Basler Jahrbuch für Historische Musikpraxis No. 14, 1990, pages 13–36
• D. Fiala: Le Mécénat musical des ducs de Bourgogne et des princes de la maison de Habsbourg, 1467−1506 , dissertation at the University of Tours 2002
• Alejandro Enrique Planchart: The Origins and Early History of L'Homme armé. In: Journal of Musicology No. 20, 2003, pp. 305-357

Web links

• Sheet music and audio files by Robert Morton in the International Music Score Library Project
• Robert Morton in the Dutch online encyclopedia ENCYCLO.NL

swell

1. ↑ The Music in Past and Present (MGG), Person Part Volume 12, Bärenreiter Verlag Kassel and Basel 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1122-5
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 .