Severin Cornet

Title page of the alto part of a madrigal by Séverin Cornet; Publisher: Christoffel Plantijn, Antwerp

Séverin Cornet (* around 1530 in Valenciennes ; † March 1582 in Antwerp ) was a Franco-Flemish composer , conductor and singer of the Renaissance .

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The birthplace of Séverin Cornet results from prints of his works, in which he is mostly called "Severinus Cornet Valencenensis". At the beginning of his collection Chansons françoyses (Antwerp 1581) there is a sonnet which shows that he was in Italy in his youth. From 1555 to 1564 he lived in Antwerp, where he held a position as a singer. During this time he married Jeanne Barbé, the daughter of the composer Antoine Barbé , who held the position of zangmeester at the Antwerp Cathedral from 1527 to 1562 . In 1564 Cornet moved to Mechelen , where he took on the task of “pro magistro cantus et choralium” at St. Rombouts Cathedral . Thus he was responsible for the choir direction and for the music education of the choirboys. After eight years he left this position and in 1572 he succeeded Gérard de Turnhout as Kapellmeister of the Antwerp Cathedral, because Turnhout had moved to Madrid as a new member of King Philip II's court orchestra .

At the height of the religious conflicts, the Calvinists proclaimed the Calvinist Republic of Antwerp in July 1581, with the result that Catholic services at the cathedral were temporarily banned; thus Séverin Cornet lost his position there. Thereupon he tried to get a job as court conductor with Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in Innsbruck and took the mediation of Marc le Prévost, the contact person of the Archduke in Antwerp, to complete. Still, he was unsuccessful here. Music researchers assume that Cornet was able to print and publish his musical collections with the financial help of various patrons from this time until his death the following year . Cornet's students included Cornelis Verdonck and Rinaldo del Mel .

meaning

Séverin Cornet published a total of four music collections, one each with Neapolitan canzons , with motets , madrigals and chansons . The collection of canzons, published by Hubert Waelrant and Jan de Laet in 1563, contains arrangements of many of these canzons that are already known, with the homophonic movement being replaced by a polyphonic one. All other printed collections were published by the publisher's successor Christoffel Plantijn . The motet collection from 1581 is dedicated to Cornelis Pruenen (1533–1598), the Antwerp treasurer and patron of Cornet's pupil Verdonck, and mostly contains polyphonic religious pieces without cantus firmus . The secular motets are often individually addressed and provide information on contacts between the composer and public figures such as an Antwerp magistrate or the singer Clara Gabri; the collection also includes a piece composed for the birth of Catharina Belgica, daughter of William of Orange ; Cornet also wrote the music on the occasion of Wilhelm's visit to Antwerp in 1577. In addition to the setting of a number of frequently used texts, the madrigal collection from 1581 contains the religious madrigal “Vergine in tutto altissima Regina” and, as a special feature, three sonnets by the poet and historian Stefano Ambrogio Schiappalaria ( † 1581) from Genoa as well as the setting of the Spanish funeral poem "Nasci d'Aguelo y padre", written on the death of Don Carlos (1545–1568), the son of the Spanish King Philip II. Stylistically, the madrigals of Séverin Cornets are quite transparent and contain hardly any chromatic twists. The Samung Chansons françoyses , published in 1581, contains various occasional works, some pieces with clear allusions to the chansons by Orlando di Lasso and the Dutch polyphonic song "O edel Musica plaisant".

Works

• Spiritual works
  • 3 compositions for three voices in the “Second Livre… des pseaumes et cantiques”, Geneva 1577
  • Cantiones musicae for five to eight voices, Antwerp 1581
• Secular works
  • Canzoni napolitane for four votes, Antwerp 1563
  • 1 chanson in “Mellange de chansons” with five to eight voices, Paris 1572
  • 9 chansons with three voices in “La Fleur des chansons”, Antwerp 1574
  • 15 chansons for four voices in the “Livre de Meslanges”, Antwerp 1575
  • “Chansons françoyses” with five to eight voices, Antwerp 1581
  • Madrigali for five to eight votes, Antwerp 1581
  • 1 chanson in “Le Rossignol musical des chansons” for four to six voices, Antwerp 1597

Literature (selection)

• G. van Doorslaer: Séverin Cornet, compositeur - maître de chapelle (1530–1582). In: De Gulden Passer No. 3, 1925, pp. 163-206
• J. van Deun: Séverin Cornet. Composer and Kapellmeester uit de XVIe eeuw. In: Vlaams Muziektijdschrift No. 22, 1970, pages 97-103
• G. Spiessens: Stedelijk tabberdrecht van zangmesseters van de Antwerpse hoofdkerk (1555–1681). In: Taxandria. Jaarboek van de Koninklijke Geschied- en Oudheidkundige Kring van de Antwerpse Kempen No. 57, 1985, pages 41-49
• G. Spiessens: Zingende kelen must have been merged. Stedelijke wijnschenkingen, drinkgelden en bieraccijnzen voor de zangers van de Antwerpse hoofdkerk (1530–1681). In: B. Haggh / F. Daelemans / A. Vanrie (editors), Musicology and Archival Research. Colloquium Proceedings Brussels 22-23.4.1993, Brussels 1994, pages 411-440

Web links

• Works by and about Séverin Cornet in the catalog of the German National Library
• Sheet music and audio files by Séverin Cornet in the International Music Score Library Project

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1. ↑ The music in past and present (MGG), person part Volume 4, Bärenreiter and Metzler, Kassel and Basel 2000, ISBN 3-7618-1114-4
2. ↑ Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (ed.): The great lexicon of music. Volume 2: C - Elmendorff. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1979, ISBN 3-451-18052-9 .