Antoine Busnois

Manuscript of Missa O Crux Lignum, a mass by Busnois. The date is not certain but probably mid 15th century.

Antoine Busnois (also Busnoys) (c. 1430 – November 6, 1492) was a French composer and poet of the early Renaissance Burgundian School. While also noted as a composer of sacred music, such as motets, he was one of the most renowned 15th-century composers of secular chansons. He was the leading figure of the late Burgundian school after the death of Guillaume Dufay.

Biography

While details of his early life are largely conjectural, he was probably from the vicinity of Béthune in the Pas-de-Calais, possibly the hamlet of Busnes, to which his name seems to refer. He may have been related to the aristocratic family of Busnes; in particular, a Philippe de Busnes, canon of Notre-Dame in Lens, could have been a relative. He clearly received an excellent musical education, probably at a church choir school somewhere in northern or central France. An aristocratic origin may explain his early association with the French royal court: as early as the 1450s references to him appear there, and in 1461 he was a chaplain at Tours. That he was not entirely a man of peace is indicated by a petition for absolution he filed in Tours, dated February 28, 1461, in which he admitted to being part of a group that beat up a priest, "to the point of bloodshed", not one but five times.^[1] While in a state of anathema he was foolhardy enough to celebrate mass, an act which got him excommunicated; however Pope Pius II pardoned him.

He moved from the cathedral to the collegiate church of St. Martin, also in Tours, where he became a subdeacon in 1465. Johannes Ockeghem was treasurer at that institution, and the two composers seem to have known each other well. Later in 1465 Busnois moved to Poitiers, where he not only became "maîtrise" (master of the choirboys), but managed to attract a flood of talented singers from the entire region; by this time his reputation as singing teacher, scholar, and composer seems to have spread widely. However he departed just as suddenly as he came, in 1466; no reason was given, but the former maîtrise was given his old job back. Busnois then moved to Burgundy.

By 1467 Busnois was at the court of Burgundy, and he had begun composing for them immediately before the accession of Charles to the title of Duke on June 15, since one of his motets — in hydraulis — contains a dedication indicating that he was still Count. Charles, on becoming Duke of Burgundy, quickly became known as Charles the Bold, for his fierce and sometimes reckless military ambitions (which indeed led to his death in battle ten years later). In addition to his love of war, however, Charles loved music, and in his employ Busnois was appreciated and rewarded. Also in 1467 Busnois was listed along with Hayne van Ghizeghem and Adrien Basin as a "chantre et valet de chambre" to Charles.

In addition to his duties as a singer and a composer, Busnois accompanied the Duke on his military campaigns, as did Hayne van Ghizeghem. Busnois was at the siege of Neuss in Germany in 1475, and survived (or did not attend) the disastrous Battle of Nancy in 1477 at which Charles was killed and the expansion of Burgundy was forever stilled.

Busnois remained in the employ of the Burgundian court until 1482, but nothing exact is known about his exploits between then and 1492, when he died. At the time of his death, he was working for the church of St. Sauveur in Bruges. Throughout this time he was exceptionally well-known as a composer, and his music circulated widely.

Works and Style

The contemporary reputation of Busnois was immense; he was the probably the best-known musician in Europe between the time of Guillaume Dufay and Johannes Ockeghem.

Busnois wrote sacred and secular music. Of his sacred music, two cantus firmus masses and eight motets survive (most likely many others are lost). He wrote several settings of the Marian antiphon Regina coeli. Stylistically, his music can be heard as a mid-point between the simplicity and homophonic textures of Dufay and Binchois, and the pervading imitation of Josquin and Gombert. He uses imitation skillfully but occasionally, writes smooth and singable melodic lines, and has a strong feeling for triadic sonorities, anticipating 16th-century practice.

According to Pietro Aron, Busnois may have been the composer of the famous tune L'homme armé, one of the most widely distributed melodies of the Renaissance, and the one more often used than any other as a cantus firmus for mass composition. Whether or not he wrote the first mass based on L'homme armé, his was by far the most influential; Obrecht's mass, for example, closely parallels the setting by Busnois and even the mass by Dufay quotes from it directly. Busnois may even be the composer of a cycle of six masses all based on the same tune, found in Naples, based on stylistic comparison.

Busnois also wrote chansons, French secular songs, and these are the work on which his reputation mainly rests. Most are rondeaux, but they include some bergerettes as well; many of these compositions became popular songs, and some were perhaps based on popular songs, now lost. He probably wrote his own texts for almost every one. Some of his tunes were used as source material for cantus firmus mass composition more than a generation after he died, for instance Fortuna desperata (which was used both by Obrecht and Josquin). An unusual chanson is Terrible dame, which not only is an antiphonal dialogue, unique in the chanson literature, but has an Old French title which requires no specialized skill to translate.

While most of Busnois's secular songs are based on French texts, there are also at least two on Italian texts and one on a Flemish text. Most are for three voices, although there are a few for four.

Works

Masses

1. Missa L'homme armé;
2. Missa O crux lignum;
3. Patrem Vilayge.

Masses conjecturally attributed to Busnois

1. Missa L'Ardent desir;
2. Missa L'homme armé (I);
3. Missa L'homme armé (II);
4. Missa L'homme armé (III);
5. Missa L'homme armé (IV);
6. Missa L'homme armé (V);
7. Missa L'homme armé (VI) (these six masses from Naples, attributed based on stylistic similarity);
8. Missa sine nomine;
9. Missa Quant ce viendra.

Motets and magnificats

1. Ad coenam agni providi;
2. Alleluia, verbum caro factum est;
3. Anima mea liquefacta est / Stirps Jesse;
4. Anthoni usque limina;
5. Asperges me (lost);
6. Conditor alme siderum;
7. Gaude coelestis domina;
8. In hydraulis;
9. Lamentation on the death of Guillaume Dufay (probably written in 1474, lost);
10. Magnificat sexti toni;
11. Noel, noel;
12. Regina caeli (I);
13. Regina caeli (II);
14. Victimae paschali laudes.

Magnificats and motets, conjecturally attributed to Busnois

1. Magnificat octavi toni;
2. Magnificat secundi toni;
3. Incomprehensibilia / Preter rerum ordinem.

Secular music

1. Acordes moy;
2. Advegne que advenir pourra;
3. Amours nous traicte / Je m'en vois;
4. A qui vens tu tes coquilles;
5. Au gré de mes iculx;
6. A une dame;
7. Au povre par necessité;
8. A vous, sans autre;
9. Bel acueil;
10. Bone chére;
11. Ce n’est pas moy;
12. C'est bien maleur;
13. C'est vous en qui;
14. Con tutta gentileça;
15. Corps digne / Dieu quel mariage;
16. Cy dit benedicite;
17. En soustenant;
18. En tous les lieux;
19. En voyant sa dame;
20. Esaint-il merci;
21. Faictes de moy;
22. Faulx mesdisans;
23. Fortuna desperata;
24. (O) Fortune, trop tu es dure;
25. Ha que ville;
26. In myne zynn;
27. Ja que lui ne;
28. J'ay mayns de bien;
29. J'ay pris amours tout au rebours;
30. Je m'esbaïs de vous;
31. Je ne demande aultre degré;
32. Je ne demande lialté;
33. Je ne puis vivre ainsi;
34. Joye me fuit;
35. Laissez dangier;
36. L'autrier la pieça /En l'ombre du buissonet / Trop suis jonette;
37. L'autrier que passa;
38. Le corps s'en va;
39. Le monde a tel;
40. Ma damoiselle;
41. Maintes femmes;
42. Ma plus qu'assez;
43. Ma tres souveraine princesse;
44. M'a vostre cueur;
45. Mon mignault / Gracieuse, playsant;
46. Mon seul et sangle souvenir;
47. On a grant mal / On est bien malade;
48. Pour entretenir mes amours;
49. Pucellotte;
50. Quant j'ay au cueur;
51. Quant vous me ferez;
52. Quelque povre homme;
53. Quelque povre homme;
54. Resjois toy terre de France / Rex pacificus;
55. Seule a par moy;
56. Soudainementmon cueur;
57. Terrible dame;
58. Une filleresse / S'il y a compagnion / Vostre amour;
59. Ung grand povtre homme;
60. Ung plus que tous;
61. Vostre beauté / Vous marchez;
62. Vostre gracieuse acointance.

Works with conflicting attribution

1. Amours, amours, amours;
2. Amours fait moult / Il est de binne heure né /Tant que nostre argent dura;
3. Cent mile escus;
4. Et qui la dira;
5. J'ay bien choisi;
6. Il sera pour vous canbatu / L'homme armé;
7. Je ne fay plus;
8. Je suis venu;
9. Le serviteur;
10. Quant ce vendra;
11. Sans avoir (‚S' amours vous fiu' or 'Malagrota');
12. Se brief puis.

References

• Paula Higgins: "Antoine Busnoys", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed November 5, 2005), (subscription access)
• Articles "Antoine Busnois", "Burgundian School" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
• Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0-393-09530-4
• Harold Gleason and Warren Becker, Music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance (Music Literature Outlines Series I). Bloomington, Indiana. Frangipani Press, 1986. ISBN 0-89917-034-X
• Paula Higgins, ed. Antoine Busnoys: Method, Meaning, and Context in Late Medieval Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-198164068

Notes

External links

• Free scores by Antoine Busnois in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Antoine Busnois in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)