Thomas Crécquillon

Thomas Créquillon or Crecquillon (* around 1505 to 1510; † February 1557 in Béthune ) was a Franco-Flemish composer , singer , bandmaster and cleric of the Renaissance .

Concert in the Egg, by Hieronymus Bosch , with notes by Crécquillon

Live and act

So far, no reliable information has been found about the origin, the early period and the education of Thomas Crécquillon. Ghent was often given as the place of birth , but it could just as well come from the then Flemish, northern French border area with today's Belgium. Conclusions from tangible data about his life and his publications indicate a year of birth between 1505 and 1510, possibly even before 1505. It is assumed that he was a choirboy; it is certain that he had the academic degree of an MA (Magister Artium), which suggests a university education. A note on the youth of the composer perhaps lies in its unusual Parodiemotette hidden "Quem pastores vidistis" which a composition by Jean Mouton has the same text as a template. Further speculations about Crécquillon's activities consist of an employment as a music teacher in Regensburg and the performance of musical tasks at the Church of Our Lady Antwerp , which, however, have not yet been proven. Similar assumptions emerge from the motet “Surge Badilo” to the local saint of the city of Leuze and from the use of the poem “Dedans Paris” by Clément Marot (1496–1544) in Crécquillon's chanson “Dedens Tournai ” for an activity in this area.

The composer had contacts with the court of Emperor Charles V since 1540 ; in December of this year he was listed three times in a list of benefices as "maistre de la chapelle", namely as the successor to Adrian Thiebaut (dit Pickart) after the court returned from Spain. It is possible that after Nicolas Gombert left there, he assumed the role of director of the choirboys before Cornelius Canis was appointed to it in 1542. The publisher Tielman Susato published a collection "Tiers Livre de chansons" in 1544, which, with the exception of a single response, contained only works by Crécquillon; this was almost the only publication of his compositions in print during his lifetime. This collection saw two reprints, and his name appeared on the title pages of all editions with the title of the imperial court conductor. In another document, Crécquillon is also referred to as a singer and composer. It is also recorded that Charles V was particularly touched by his music. The court orchestra also accompanied the emperor on his travels, which is why the composer's stays in Spain between November 1541 and May 1543 are very likely and in Germany between 1545 and 1546 and 1548 are documented. These stays may have contributed to the relatively wide distribution of his works. In 1549 Crécquillon's lamentations were published in print by Berg & Neuber (Nuremberg), and in 1550 he apparently received a benefice at the Church of St. Pierre in Leuven . He also had such benefices in Dendermonde , Namur and Béthune. There is still a document from 1553 in which he is named without an official title. Crécquillon had retired by 1555 at the latest, because that year he was referred to as a former imperial singer; from that year he also held a canonical in Béthune. In March 1557 a successor was appointed for this canonical, from which it follows that Crécquillon had died shortly before.

meaning

During his lifetime and for a long time afterwards, Crécquillon was highly regarded. After Clemens non Papa and the late Orlando di Lasso , he is at least in third place among his Dutch contemporaries with the distribution of his works. In the early collective prints of Tielman Susato and Pierre Phalèse , his share outweighs that of the other composers included. The music theorists of his time, such as Hermann Finck , Adrianus Petit Coclico and Domenico Pietro Cerone (1566–1625), attached great importance to him. In the late 17th century, the Italian music theorist Angelo Berardi considered Crécquillon to be the most representative composer of his time in his work Miscellanea musicale (1689). Works by him have served a number of composers as models for parody masses, such as Francisco Guerrero , Jakob Handl , George de La Hèle , Orlando di Lasso, Jacobus Vaet and others.

His work comprises twelve masses, over 200 chansons and around 125 motets. With one exception, all of Crécquillon's masses are parody masses, and individual motifs up to quoting entire sections can be used from the template. However, freely composed sections are always included. The one cantus firmus mass “Cain [eagle] in the world” was most likely written on the occasion of the wedding of Philip II to Maria of Portugal in 1543 and uses a tenor song by Jobst von Brandt , alluding to the heraldic animal the Habsburg was certainly no coincidence. Because of the strict handling of the imitation principle , there are numerous harmonic hardships that particularly shape the sound of his masses. The composer's motets are three to eight-part, with an emphasis on the four-part and especially the five-part works. Imitation prevails; There are only a few cantus firmus motets, but Gregorian chant is often quoted. Occasionally, it also includes homophonic sections with great impact, and dissonances are used to enhance expression . In Crécquillon's chansons, too, four and five voices predominate; they were stylistically very appropriately characterized by the musicologist HM Brown as “polyphonically animated homophony”. Some of these pieces refer to settings by Claudin de Sermisy . In contrast, Chansons by Crécquillon often served as models for later composers. The majority of the texts in question are anonymous, and most of the texts found go back to the poets Jehan († 1526?) And Clément Marot. Quite a few chansons, like the motets, are based on current contemporary people or events. The chansons in particular were extremely popular in his time and are among the most widespread of the entire century. The Austrian musicologist August Wilhelm Ambros (1816–1876) commented on the appreciation of the complete works of Thomas Crécquillon : “Power, melodious sound, ingenious invention and simple size of expression with rich development of the composition characterize his works, which give him a place on the heights of his Secure time and with the best of all time. "

Works (summary)

Complete edition: Thomas Crécquillon: Opera omnia , edited by B. Hudson and others, 21 volumes, without location details 1974–2002 (= Corpus mensurabilis musicae LXIII, 1–20); Volumes 1–4: Masses; Volumes 5–13: Motets and Latin works, Volumes 14–21: Chansons and vernacular works.

• 12 masses with four to six voices
• 128 motets and Latin works of three to eight voices
• 216 chansons and vernacular works with three to twelve voices
• 6 Mis attributions and spurious works

Literature (selection)

• August Wilhelm Ambros: History of Music , Volume 3, revised by O. Kade, Leipzig 1893, Reprint Hildesheim 1968, page 311
• E. Lowinsky: The Antwerp motet book Orlando di Lassos and its connections to the motets of the Dutch contemporaries , The Hague 1937
• W. Lueger: A forgotten master of the 16th century: Thomas Crequillon. In: Zeitschrift für Kirchenmusik No. 74, 1954, pages 83–86
• R. Trotter: The Chansons of Thomas Crequillon: Text and Forms. In: Revue belge de musicologie No. 14, 1960, pages 56–71
• H. Marshall: The Four-Voice Motets of Thomas Crequillon , 4 volumes, Brooklyn 1970/71 (= Musicological Studies and Documents No. 21)
• G. Walter: The Five-Voive Motets of Thomas Crecquillon , dissertation at the University of Morgantown / West Virginia 1975
• B. Blackburn: Thomas Crecquillons Salamander: An Italian Import. In: Festschrift W. and U. Kirkendale, edited by S. Gmeinwieser and others, Florence 1994, pages 125-138
• C. Elias: Imitation, Fragmentation, and Assimilation of Chansons in the Masses of Gombert, Clemens, and Crecquillon: a Kaleidoscopic Process , dissertation at the University of Chicago / Illinois 1994
• Martin Ham: Thomas Crecquillon in Context: a Reappraisal of His Life and of Selected Works , dissertation at Guildford University (Surrey) 1998
• W. Stockton: The Masses of Thomas Crecquillon , dissertation at Rutgers University, New Jersey 1998

Web links

• Works by and about Thomas Crécquillon in the catalog of the German National Library
• Sheet music and audio files by Thomas Crécquillon in the International Music Score Library Project
• Sheet music in the public domain by Thomas Crécquillon in the Choral Public Domain Library - ChoralWiki (English)

swell

1. ↑ Martin Ham:  Créquillon, Thomas. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 5 (Covell - Dzurov). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2001, ISBN 3-7618-1115-2  ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
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 .
3. ↑ Barton Hudson, Martin Ham:  Crecquillon, Thomas. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
4. ↑ August Wilhelm Ambros: History of Music . tape 3 . Leipzig 1893, p. 311 ( archive.org [accessed on May 18, 2020] revised by Otto Kade).