by Guy Shaked - Dedicated to
Haim Tischler (1904-1969)
Keywords: Biography, Busnois, Charles VII, Charles VIII, Jean Ockeghem, Johannes Ockeghem, Johannes Tinctoris, Louis XI, Shaked
1. No definite iconographical depiction of Johannes Ockeghem was identified to this day. The closest assumed image of the composer is the manuscript painting where he appears as a figure wearing dark glasses (obtainable at that time only from Italy) and a heavy hood [1]. There has been an attempt by Lowinsky to suggest that Ockeghem might be the handsome figure in the red gown [2]. However the major position of the figure wearing glasses occupies in the painting as well as its facial features which are different than the "standard" face of the other singers seem to suggest it, and not the figure in the red gown, is the figure of Ockeghem.
2. Ockeghem was a native of Saint Ghislain in Hainaut [3]. The birth date for Ockeghem ranges from 1425 to as early as 1410. It seems that a date nearer to 1425 should be preferred in order not to have to explain how the composer was unknown by any piece before the age of 45 [4].
3. The first time his name appears in the records is as a singer in the church of Notre-Dame in Antwerp [5]. During 1446-1448 Ockeghem served in the chapel of the Charler I, duke of Bourbon in Moulins[6]
4. Perhaps as early as 1450 Ockeghem was appointed to the employ of Charles VII , during who's reign he was the only composer among the musicians. Quickly he became the major figure in the king's choir. In 1452-53 he appears as a chaplain and even as the king's premier chappellain. In later years he appears as premier chaplain de chant as music was his occupation and in fact he was not a priest [7].
5. That Ockeghem was highly esteemed can be deduced also from the high payments and nomination he received. As between 1456 and 1459 he was nominated to the treasurer of the church of St. Martin in Tours, a position he held until 1470 when he exchanged it for a chaplaincy at the church of St. Benoit in Paris. Over all he his total yearly income was about 950 livres, more than 5 times what an average chaplain had earned (144 to 180 livres a year) [8]. Apparently, it was near the end of 1460, the last year of the reign of Charles VII that Ockeghem wrote the elegy on the death of Binchois [9].
6. The position held in Tours at that time might be the likliest to be the time and place a familiarity between Johannes Ockeghem and Busnoys and perhaps also the theoretican Johannes Tinctoris was made [10].
7. He is believed to be the author of Resjois toi terre de France to the accession of most likely Louis XI in 1461 as king of France [11]. In his court he served also as the first among the royal chaplains, however he no longer was the only composer. Two years afterwards, in 1463, Ockeghem was nominated to a canonicate in the church of Notre Dame in Paris, a benefice he held until 1470 [12]. It appears he also held another benefice at Saint Martin de Cande' [13]. At 1464 he is mentioned for the first time as a prist suggesting perhaps he was ordained the year before.
8. It appears that Ockeghem was the reciepient at this time of five Latin poems by the French humanist who was a secretary to Louis XI - Pierre-Paul Vieillot (Petrus Paulus Senilis). Four of these poems are elegies for the composer's death (written 27 years before his death) and one for the death of Ockeghem's friend Michael, who was perhaps Michel Sauvage - a sommelier of the royal chapel [14].
9. During his service for Louis it appears Ockeghem was also serving the king in diplomacy as he participated in the 1470's embassy to Spain, to discuss a royal marriage between the house of Spain and Louis's brother. Later, in 1471 he supervised the preperation of two large music books to the court, unfortunately now lost. [15]
10. During his later years, Ockeghem apperantly continued to serve under Louis XI succesor - Charles VIII participated in the court's visit to Flanders in 1484 [16]. He died six years later in 6 of February 1497 [17].
11. It has been suggested that among aging Ockeghem's students was Jehan Fresneau or at least that he enjoyed his protection. [18]
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[1] David Fallows, "Johannes Ockeghem: The changing image, the songs and a new source", Early Music 12 (1984): 218-219
[2] Edward Lowinsky, "Ockeghem's Canon for Thirty-six Voices: an Essay in Musical Iconography", Essays in Musicology in Honor of Dragan Plamenac on his 70th Birthday, G. Reese and R. J. Snow eds. (Pittsburgh 1977R): 162
[3] D. van Overstraeten, "Le lieu de naissance de Jean Ockeghem (ca 1420-1497): Une e'nigme e'lucide'e", RBM 46 (1992): 30-31
[4] Fallows, Johannes Ockeghem: 223
[5] J. Van Den Nieuwenhuizen, "De koralen, de zangers en de zangmeesters van de Antwerpse O.-L. Vrouwekerk tijdens de 15e eeuw", Gouden jubileum gedenkboek ter gelegenheid van de viering van 50 jaar heropgericht knapenkoor van Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekate-draal te Antwerpen (Anvers 1978): 38-41, 51-52
[6] L. Perkins, "Musical Patronage at the Royal Court of France under Charles VII and Louis XI (1422-83)", Journal of the American Musicological Society 37 (1984): 531
[7] Idem. 522
[8] Idem. 523-524, 527
[9] David Fallows, "English Song Repertories of the Mid-fifteenth Century", PRMA 103 (1976-7): 68
[10] That existed some familiarity between these three musicians was suggested by Leeman Perkins, Paula Higins and Pamela F. Starr. See: Pamela F. Starr, "Rome as the Centre of the Universe: Papal Grace and Music Patronage", Early Music History 11 (1992): 251-252
[11] Fallows, Johannes Ockeghem: 222
[12] Fracois Lesure, "Ockeghem a' Notre-Dame de Paris (1463-1470)", Essays in Musicology in Honor of Dragan Plamenac on His 70th Birthday, G. Reese and R. J. Snow eds. (Pittsburgh 1969): 147-154
[13] Perkins, Musical Patronage: 533, 535
[14] Reinhard Strohm, "'Hic miros cecinit cantus, nova scripta reliquit'", Johannes Ockeghem: Actes du XLe Colloque international d'e'tudes humanistes: Tours 3-8 fe'vrier 1997, ed. Philippe Vendrix, (Tours: Klincksieck, 1998): 139, 149, 152
[15] Perkins, Musical Patronage: 533, 535
[16] J. M. Vaccaro, "Jean de Ockeghem, tre'sorier de l'e'glise Saint Martin de Tours de 1459(?) a' 1497", Johannes Ockeghem en zijn tijd. Tentoonstelling gehouden in het stadhuis te Dendermonde: 14 november-6 december 1970 (Termonde 1970): 72-76
[17] Vaccaro, Jean de Ockeghem, tre'sorier: 66-67
[18] Perkins, Musical Patronage: 536
© 2003
Amnon and the Camel's Walk from the Opera Amnon
Keywords: Jean Ockeghem, Johannes Ockeghem, Rondeau, Shaked
Two main games of words, of textual and musical structure are to be found in Ockeghem's S'elle m'amera-Petite camusete. To examine these, first the full text of the piece is presented [1]:
|
Line No. |
Text |
Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | S'elle m'amera je ne scay | If she will love me I do not know |
| 2 | Mais je me mettray en essay | But I shall make an attempt |
| 3 | D'acquerir qualque peu sa grace | To obtain, at least a little, her favor |
| 4 | Force m'est que par la je passe' | I am obliged to go that way |
| 5 | Ceste fois j'en feray l'essay | This time I will make the attempt |
| - | - | - |
| 6 | L'aultre jour tant je m'avencay | The other day I went so far |
| 7 | Que Presque tout mon cuer lassay | That I almost let my heart |
| 8 | Aler sans que luy demandasse | Go without having asked he |
| - | - | - |
| 1-3 | S'elle m'amera je ne scay… | If she will love me I do not know… |
| - | - | - |
| 9 | Puis apre's le coup me pencay | Then after the fact I thought |
| 10 | Que long temps a que ne cessay | That for a long time I did not stop |
| 11 | Ne ne fut que je ne l'aimasse | Nor was it that I didn't love her |
| 12 | Mais c'est ung jeu de passe' passe' | But it is a game from one move to another |
| 13 | J'en suis comme je commencay | I am where I was when I began |
| - | - | - |
| 1-5 | S'elle m'amera je ne scay… | If she will love me I do not know… |
The first of the plays of meaning and structure is placed at the end of the third stanza. This third stanza last verse appears to be the beginning of the first verse of the first stanza, which follows it according to the structure of the rondeau.
Thus it reads : "(line 8) Aler sans que luy demandasse (line 1) s'elle m'amera” which translates as : "(line 8) Go without having asked her (line 1) if she will love me". The deception, i.e. that the eight's line is not the beginning of the first line is reveals once the song continues and the rest of the first line (and not only its beginning) are sung: "(line 8) Aler sans que luy demandasse (line 1) s'elle m'amera je ne scay" which translates as : "(line 8) Go without having asked her (line 1) if she will love me I do not know".
It remains to see how this play of words might have been expressed musically in the rondeau.
The ending of the first part musically (corresponds to the first and third stanzas textually) does not end in this piece conclusively on a specific bar. It rather continuous and intertwines with the second part (corresponds to the second stanza textually). This can be seen in the next figure:
The usual way to perform this piece these days is to create a sort of "barrier line" between the third and fourth stanza (who musically is the repetition of the third stanza from the beginning). So that the following melody is performed:
However, such a musical rendition of the text "takes the sting out" of the structural word game of the continuously of the eighth line of text as the beginning of the first line of text. There exists another way to perform the move from the third to the first stanza, a more continuous one, by intertwining the end of the third stanza with the beginning of the first:
In the above performance of the piece the third and first stanzas are intertwined, thus preserving the play of words that is prominent in the text.
Yet another "words game" is prominent in this piece. At the end of line 13 the speaker admits "J'en suis comme je commencay" (I am where I was when I began). He explains (line 12) that since it is a "jeu de pass? pass?" (a game from one move to another) and he did not do his first move although he swore he would – he returns to the exact place he was in the beginning.
This is expressed also structurally in the music, as in the rondeau form after the song ends (as it does here on line 13) there is an exact return on the first stanza to the music of the song from the beginning.
Furthermore, a unique way to perform this rondeau emerges from the features of the music and text. The first hint to that is at line 13 that only at the end of the rondeau the singer is "where he began". the second hint is that there is no real ending musically at the end of musical part A. The third hint is that Part B musically is as long as part A. This suggests the possibility to sing part A textually to the music of part B musically suggesting musically the repeating structure of the old rondo. This way of performance is explained in the following table:
|
Lines No. |
Text |
Textual Rondeau |
Musical Rondeau |
Musical Rondo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | S'elle m'amera...peu sa grace | A | A | A |
| 4-5 | Force m'est...feray l'essay | B | B | B |
| 6-8 | L'aultre jour...que luy demandasse | a' | A | A |
| 1-3 | S'elle m'amera...peu sa grace | A | A | B |
| 9-11 | Puis apres...je ne l'aimasse | a'' | A | A |
| 12-13 | Mais c'est...je commencay | b'' | B | B |
| 1-3 | S'elle m'amera...peu sa grace | A | A | A |
| 4-5 | Force m'est...feray l'essay | B | B | B |
From the table it could be seen that while the text runs structurally as ABa'Aa''b''AB the music should be performed as ABABABAB (with a B musical part performed to an A textual part in the middle of the piece) and not according to the textual structure as ABAAABAB.
Therefore, it could be said that in this piece there is perfect unity between the textual development and the repeating musical structure – a sort of game of meaning and structure [2].
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[1] For the partiture of the piece see: Richard Wexler (ed.), Johannes Ockeghem - Collected
Works: Motets and Chansons, Vol. 3, Boston: American Musicological Society, pp. 88-89
[2] It remains to be examined if other rondeau cinquain could be played to rondo music as suggested for this piece (for rondeau with four and six lines sure can having an equal numbers of syllables and lines in strophe A and B textually).
© 2003, 2007 (ed.)
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Josquin
Des Prez : Biography; At the court of Louis XI; Two Textual layers in Josquin
's 'Tu Solus'; The Motet-Lament 'Absalon, fili mi'
Strata's Polytextuality; Polytextuality: From Machaut to Ockeghem
The Philo-Semitic motets
of Philippe de Vitry
ABSTRACT: The
painting "Libreria Musicale" (Musical Library) by Giuseppe Maria Crespi,
as a source of information on the "Storia della Musica" (History of Music)
by Father Martini
The
music of Abraham Casseres (Jewish Music)
Music in
the Bible
Jacques Offenbach:
The Tales of Hoffmann
Short Story : "Letters
from the Grave: Mozart writing to Beethoven"
A translation of Girolamo
Mei's letters go Vincenzo Galilei and Giovanni Bardi
The allegory of
Monteverdi, Peri and Caccini's Operas on "Orfeo" (Orpheus)
Girolamo Mei's
biography
The harp
as a hidden symbol in Bernini's 'David'
Other articles by G. Shaked:
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BIBLICAL STUDIES -
BIOLOGY
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CINEMA
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LITERATURE
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MUSIC -
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PHYSICS
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