Antoine Brumel (around 1460 – 1512 or 1513) was a French composer. He was one of the first renowned French members of the Franco-Flemish school of the Renaissance, and, after Josquin Desprez, was one of the most influential composers of his generation. Events The first Portuguese navigators reach the coast of modern Sierra Leone. ... 1512 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1513 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... In music, the Dutch School refers, somewhat imprecisely, to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. ... Renaissance music is classical music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 to 1600. ... Josquin Des Prez Josquin Des Prez (diminutive of Joseph; latinized Josquinus Pratensis) (c. ...

Life

Little is known about his early life, but he was probably born west of Chartres, perhaps in the town of Brunelles, near to Nogent-le-Rotrou, making him one of the first of the Netherlandish composers who was actually French. He sang at Notre-Dame de Chartres from 9 August 1483 until 1486, and subsequently held posts at St Peter's in Geneva (until 1492) and Laon (around 1497) before becoming choirmaster to the boys at Notre-Dame de Paris from 1498 to 1500, and choirmaster to Alfonso I d'Este at Ferrara from 1506, replacing the famous composer Jacob Obrecht who had died of the plague there the previous year. The chapel there was disbanded in 1510, after which he evidently stayed in Italy; several documents connect him with churches in Faenza and Mantua, where he probably died in 1512 or shortly after. He is known to have written at least one work after his dismissal from Ferrara (the Missa de beata virgine), and he may have still have been alive in 1513 since there is a mention in a treatise of Vincenzo Galilei that Brumel was one of a group of composers who met with Pope Leo X in that year; however since Vincenzo was writing more than a generation later and reporting second-hand, and no other corroborating evidence has been found, this account is not considered to be certain. Then again, Heinrich Glareanus, writing later about Brumel, indicated that he lived to a "ripe old age", so it remains possible that he lived longer, but records have not survived. Cathedral of Chartres Cathedral of Chartres, western spires Chartres is a town and commune of France, préfecture (capital) of the Eure-et-Loir département. ... Nogent-le-Rotrou is a commune of the Eure-et-Loir département, in France. ... In music, the Dutch School refers, somewhat imprecisely, to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. ... The Cathedral of Chartres (Cathedral of Our Lady in Chartres, French: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres), located in Chartres, about 50 miles from Paris, is considered the finest example in all France of the high Gothic style of architecture. ... Events The São Tomé settlement is founded. ... Geneva (French: Genève, German: Genf, Italian: Ginevra) is the second most populous city in Switzerland, situated where Lake Geneva (French Lac Léman) flows into the Rhône River. ... Laon is a city and commune of France, préfecture (capital) of the Aisne département. ... This article is about the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris. ... 1498 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1500 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Portrait of Alfonso dEste by an unknown artist Alfonso dEste (1486–1534) was Duke of Ferrara during the War of the League of Cambrai. ... Ferrara is a town, an archiepiscopal see and a province in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, capital city of the province of Ferrara. ... 1506 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jacob Obrecht Jacob Obrecht (1457/1458 – late July, 1505) was a Dutch composer of the Renaissance. ... 1510 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Faenza is an old Italian cathedral town, situated 50 km southeast of Bologna. ... Mantua Mantua (in Italian Mantova) is an important city in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province with the same name. ... Vincenzo Galilei (1520 – July 2, 1591) was an Italian lutenist, composer, and music theorist, and the father of the famous astronomer Galileo Galilei. ... Leo X, born Giovanni di Lorenzo de Medici (11 December 1475, Florence – 1 December 1521, Rome), pope between 1513 and his death, is known primarily for his failure to stem the Protestant Reformation, which began during his reign when Martin Luther first accused the Roman Catholic Church of corruption. ... Heinrich Glarean (also Glareanus) (June 1488 – March 28, 1563) was a Swiss music theorist, poet and humanist. ...

A Jachet Brumel was organist for the Ferrara court in 1543, and is presumed to be Antoine's son.

Music

Brumel was at the center of the changes that were taking place in European music around 1500, in which the previous style of highly differentiated voice parts, composed one after another, was giving way to smoothly flowing, equal parts, composed simultaneously. These changes can be seen in his music, with some of his earlier work conforming to the older style, and his later compositions showing the polyphonic fluidity which became the stylistic norm of the Josquin generation.

Brumel is best known for his masses, the most famous of which is the twelve-voice Missa Et ecce terrae motus. Techniques of composition varied throughout his life: he sometimes used the cantus firmus technique, already archaic by the end of the 15th century, and also the paraphrase technique, in which the source material appears in other voices than the tenor, often in imitation. He used paired imitation, like Josquin, but often in a freer manner than the more famous composer. A relatively unusual technique he used in an untitled mass was to use different source material for each of the sections (mass titles are taken from the pre-existing composition used as their basis: usually a plainchant, motet or chanson: hence the mass is without title). Brumel wrote a Missa l'homme armé, as did so many other composers of the Renaissance: appropriately, he set it as a cantus firmus mass, with the popular song in long notes in the tenor, to make it easier to hear. This article discusses the Mass as a standard form of classical music composition. ... In music, cantus firmus is the basic material to be set using polyphony. ... Broadly speaking, plainsong is the name given to the body of traditional songs used in the liturgies of the Catholic Church. ... In Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions. ... Chanson is a French word for song, and in English-language contexts is often applied to any song with French words, particularly a cabaret song. ... Lhomme armé was a secular song from the time of the Renaissance. ...

He also wrote numerous motets, chansons, and some instrumental music. His style in these also evolved throughout his life, with his earlier works showing the irregular lines and rhythmic complexity of the Ockeghem generation, while the later ones used the smooth imitative polyphony of the Josquin style as well as the homophonic textures of the current Italian composers of popular songs (for example Tromboncino, who was in Ferrara at the same time as Brumel). One peculiar feature of Brumel's style is that sometimes he uses very quick syllabic declamation in chordal writing, anticipating the madrigalian fashion of later in the 16th century. This appears sometimes in the "Credo" sections of his masses—logically, since that section has the longest text to set, and if set identically to the other sections to the mass can be disproportionately long. Ockeghem (with glasses) and his singers Johannes Ockeghem (c. ... Josquin Des Prez Josquin Des Prez (diminutive of Joseph; latinized Josquinus Pratensis) (c. ... In music, the word texture is often used in a rather vague way in reference to the overall sound of a piece of music. ... Bartolomeo Tromboncino (c. ... In music and music theory, a chord (from the Middle English cord) short for accord is three or more different notes or pitches sounding simultaneously, or nearly simultaneously, over a period of time. ... A madrigal is a setting for 4–6 voices of a secular text, often in Italian. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ...

Brumel's Missa pro defunctis for four voices, a late work, is notable for being the first Requiem to include a polyphonic setting of the Dies Irae. The Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known formally (in Latin) as the Missa pro defunctis or Missa defunctorum, is a liturgical service of the Roman Catholic Church and its Eastern Rite. ... Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of several independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ... Dies Iræ (Day of Wrath) is a famous 13th-century Latin hymn written by Thomas of Celano. ...

After Josquin Desprez, Brumel is considered one of the greatest composers of his generation. During his life, Ottaviano Petrucci published a book of his masses, and a number of other composers wrote pieces commemorating him after his death. His impressive 12-voice Missa et ecce terrae motus survives from a part-book in Munich of 1570, long after his death, evidently used for performances by Lassus. Josquin Des Prez Josquin Des Prez (diminutive of Joseph; latinized Josquinus Pratensis) (c. ... Orlande de Lassus, a. ...

References and further reading

• Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0393095304
• Article "Antoine Brumel," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1561591742
• Barton Hudson: "Antoine Brumel", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed December 24, 2005), (subscription access)

Gustave Reese (November 29, 1899 – September 7, 1977) was an American musicologist and teacher. ...

External links

• Biography and discography