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Jacob Obrecht

February 18, 2023

Jacob Obrecht (also Hobrecht; 1457/8[1] – late July 1505) was a Flemish composer of masses, motets and songs.[1] He was the most famous composer of masses in Europe of the late 15th century and was only eclipsed after his death by Josquin des Prez.[2]

Jacob Obrecht. Ascribed to Hans Memling or Quentin Matsys, dated 1496 on the frame.

Life

What little is known of Obrecht's origins and early childhood comes mostly from his motet Mille quingentis.[3] He was the only son[4] of Ghent city trumpeter Willem Obrecht and Lijsbette Gheeraerts.[5] His mother died in 1460 at the age of 20,[6] and his father in 1488 in Ghent.[7]

Details of his early education are sparse,[8] but he probably learned to play the trumpet, like his father, and in so doing learned counterpoint and how to improvise over a cantus firmus.[9] He is likely to have known Antoine Busnois at the Burgundian court, and certainly knew his music, since Obrecht's earliest mass shows close stylistic parallels with the elder composer.[10]

Scholar, composer and clergyman,[11] Obrecht seems to have had a succession of short appointments, two of which ended in less than ideal circumstances.[12] There is a record of his compensating for a shortfall in his accounts by donating choirbooks he had copied.[13] Throughout the period he was held in the highest esteem both by his patrons and by his fellow composers.[14] Tinctoris, writing in Naples, singles him out in a shortlist of contemporary master composers[15]—all the more significant because he was only 25 when Tinctoris created his list, and on the other side of Europe.[16] Erasmus served as one of Obrecht's choirboys around 1476.[17]

While most of Obrecht's appointments were in Flanders in the Low Countries, he made at least two trips to Italy, once in 1487 at the invitation of Duke Ercole d'Este I of Ferrara,[18] and again in 1504.[19] Ercole had heard Obrecht's music, which is known to have circulated in Italy between 1484 and 1487,[20] and said that he appreciated it above the music of all other contemporary composers;[21] consequently he invited Obrecht to Ferrara for six months in 1487.[22] In 1504 Obrecht returned to Ferrara,[23] but on the death of the Duke at the beginning of the next year he became unemployed.[24] In what capacity he stayed in Ferrara is unknown, but he died in the outbreak of plague there just before 1 August 1505.[25]

Works

Obrecht wrote mainly sacred music—masses and motets[26]—and he also wrote some chansons.[27]

Combining modern and archaic elements, Obrecht's style is multi-dimensional.[28] Perhaps more than those of the mature Josquin, the masses of Obrecht display a profound debt to the music of Johannes Ockeghem in the wide-arching melodies and long musical phrases that typify the latter's music. Obrecht's style is an example of the contrapuntal extravagance of the late 15th century.[29] He often used a cantus firmus technique for his masses:[30] sometimes he divided his source material up into short phrases;[31] at other times he used retrograde versions of complete melodies or melodic fragments.[32] He once even extracted the component notes and ordered them by note value, long to short, constructing new melodic material from the reordered sequences of notes.[33] Clearly to Obrecht there could not be too much variety,[34] particularly during the musically exploratory period of his early twenties.[35] He began to break free from conformity to formes fixes, especially in his chansons. Of the formes fixes, the rondeau retained its popularity longest.[36] However, he much preferred composing Masses, where he found greater freedom.[37] Furthermore, his motets reveal a wide variety of moods and techniques.

In his Missa Sub tuum presidium, the number of voice parts in the five movements increases from three in the Kyrie, to four in the Gloria, and so on up to seven in the Agnus Dei.[38] The title chant is clearly heard in the top voice throughout the work, and five additional Marian chants are found in movements other than the Kyrie and Gloria: Ave preclara maris stella (Sequence verse 7, Soprano II, Credo), Aurea virga prime matris Eve (Sequence verse 9b, Soprano II and Tenor II, Sanctus), Aurea virga prime matrix Eve (Sequence verse 3b, Soprano II and Tenor I, Agnus Dei I & II), Regina caeli (Antiphon, Soprano II and Tenor I, Agnus Dei III), and Verbum bonum et suave (Sequence verse 3b, Alto I, Agnus Dei).[39] His late four-voice mass, Missa Maria zart (tender Maria), tentatively dated to around 1504, is based on a devotional song popular in the Tyrol, which he probably heard as he went through the region around 1503 to 1504.[40] Requiring more than an hour to perform, it is one of the longest polyphonic settings of the Mass Ordinary ever written[41] and is considered among his finest works.[42]

Despite working at the same period, Obrecht and Ockeghem (Obrecht's senior by some 30 years) differ significantly in musical style.[43] Obrecht does not share Ockeghem's fanciful treatment of the cantus firmus but chooses to quote it verbatim.[44] Whereas the phrases in Ockeghem's music are ambiguously defined, those of Obrecht's music can easily be distinguished, though both composers favor wide-arching melodic structure.[45] Furthermore, Obrecht splices the cantus firmus melody with the intent of audibly reorganizing the motives; Ockeghem, on the other hand, does this far less.[46]

Obrecht's procedures contrast sharply with the works of the next generation, who favored an increasing simplicity of approach (prefigured by some works of his contemporary Josquin).[47] Although he was renowned in his time, Obrecht appears to have had little influence on subsequent composers; most probably, he simply went out of fashion along with the other contrapuntal masters of his generation.[48]

Recordings

  • Flemish Masters, Virginia Arts Recordings, VA-04413, performed by Zephyrus, 2004. Includes the Obrecht Missa Sub tuum presidium, as well as motets by Willaert, Clemens non-Papa, Ockeghem, Des Prez, Mouton, and Gombert.
  • Obrecht, Missa Maria zart, performed by the Tallis Scholars, directed by Peter Phillips, Gimell CDGIM 032, 1996.
  • Jacob Obrecht. Chansons, Songs, Motets, Capilla Flamenca and Piffaro, Eufoda 1361, 2005
  • "Missa Sub Tuum Praesidium", The Clerks' Group, Gaudeamus, 2003.
  • "Missa Malheur Me Bat", The Clerks' Group, Gaudeamus, 1998.
  • "Missa de Sancto Donatiano", Cappella Pratensis, Fineline, 2009.
  • "Jacob Obrecht", The Sound and the Fury, ORF, 2009.

Notes

  1. ^ a b [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/20231 Rob C. Wegman. "Obrecht, Jacob." In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, (accessed 24 September 2020).
  2. ^ Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.477.
  3. ^ Wegman 1994, p.21.
  4. ^ Wegman 1994, p.39.
  5. ^ Wegman 1994, p.36.
  6. ^ Wegman 1994, p.39.
  7. ^ Wegman 1994, p.147.
  8. ^ Wegman 1994, p.21.
  9. ^ Wegman 2007.
  10. ^ Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".
  11. ^ Atlas 1998, p.295.
  12. ^ Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".
  13. ^ Sparks, "Obrecht, Jacob, p.477.
  14. ^ Atlas 1998, p.295.
  15. ^ Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".
  16. ^ Atlas 1998, p.294.
  17. ^ Reese 1959, p.107.
  18. ^ Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".
  19. ^ Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".
  20. ^ Wegman 1994, p.81-2.
  21. ^ Wegman 1994, p.139.
  22. ^ Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".
  23. ^ Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".
  24. ^ Atlas 1998, p.295.
  25. ^ Atlas 1998, p.295.
  26. ^ Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.478.
  27. ^ Sternfeld 1973, p.198.
  28. ^ Sternfeld 1973, p.196.
  29. ^ Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.477.
  30. ^ Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.482.
  31. ^ Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.478.
  32. ^ Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.478.
  33. ^ Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.478.
  34. ^ Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.478.
  35. ^ Wegman 1994, p.87.
  36. ^ Sternfeld 1973, p.198.
  37. ^ Sternfeld 1973, p.197.
  38. ^ Wegman 1994, p.338.
  39. ^ Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".
  40. ^ Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".
  41. ^ Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".
  42. ^ Fallows, David (9 January 2013). "Obrecht Missa Maria Zart". www.gramophone.co.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  43. ^ Sparks 1975, p.312.
  44. ^ Sparks 1975, p.312.
  45. ^ Sparks 1975, p.312.
  46. ^ Sparks 1975, p.312-3.
  47. ^ Sternfeld 1973, p.198-9.
  48. ^ Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.482.

References

  • Atlas, Allan W. 1998. Renaissance Music. New York: W.W. Norton.
  • Reese, Gustav, 1959. Music in the Renaissance. New York: W.W. Norton.
  • Sparks, Edgar H. 1975. Cantus Firmus in Mass and Motet: 1420–1520. New York: Da Capo Press.
  • (Sparks, Edgar H. "Obrecht, Jacob" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1980 ed.)
  • Sternfeld, F.W. 1973. Music from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. New York: Preager Publishers.
  • Wegman, Rob C. 1994. Born for the Muses: The Life and Masses of Jacob Obrecht. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Wegman, Rob C. "Obrecht, Jacob", in New Grove Music Online Dictionary, accessed 20 November 2007.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jacob Obrecht.
  • Obrecht biography and discography
  • Free access to high-resolution images of manuscripts containing works by this composer from Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music
  • MP3 files from Umeå Akademiska Kör
  • Free scores by Jacob Obrecht in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)

February 18, 2023
jacob, obrecht, also, hobrecht, 1457, late, july, 1505, flemish, composer, masses, motets, songs, most, famous, composer, masses, europe, late, 15th, century, only, eclipsed, after, death, josquin, prez, ascribed, hans, memling, quentin, matsys, dated, 1496, f. Jacob Obrecht also Hobrecht 1457 8 1 late July 1505 was a Flemish composer of masses motets and songs 1 He was the most famous composer of masses in Europe of the late 15th century and was only eclipsed after his death by Josquin des Prez 2 Jacob Obrecht Ascribed to Hans Memling or Quentin Matsys dated 1496 on the frame Contents 1 Life 2 Works 3 Recordings 4 Notes 5 References 6 External linksLife EditWhat little is known of Obrecht s origins and early childhood comes mostly from his motet Mille quingentis 3 He was the only son 4 of Ghent city trumpeter Willem Obrecht and Lijsbette Gheeraerts 5 His mother died in 1460 at the age of 20 6 and his father in 1488 in Ghent 7 Details of his early education are sparse 8 but he probably learned to play the trumpet like his father and in so doing learned counterpoint and how to improvise over a cantus firmus 9 He is likely to have known Antoine Busnois at the Burgundian court and certainly knew his music since Obrecht s earliest mass shows close stylistic parallels with the elder composer 10 Scholar composer and clergyman 11 Obrecht seems to have had a succession of short appointments two of which ended in less than ideal circumstances 12 There is a record of his compensating for a shortfall in his accounts by donating choirbooks he had copied 13 Throughout the period he was held in the highest esteem both by his patrons and by his fellow composers 14 Tinctoris writing in Naples singles him out in a shortlist of contemporary master composers 15 all the more significant because he was only 25 when Tinctoris created his list and on the other side of Europe 16 Erasmus served as one of Obrecht s choirboys around 1476 17 While most of Obrecht s appointments were in Flanders in the Low Countries he made at least two trips to Italy once in 1487 at the invitation of Duke Ercole d Este I of Ferrara 18 and again in 1504 19 Ercole had heard Obrecht s music which is known to have circulated in Italy between 1484 and 1487 20 and said that he appreciated it above the music of all other contemporary composers 21 consequently he invited Obrecht to Ferrara for six months in 1487 22 In 1504 Obrecht returned to Ferrara 23 but on the death of the Duke at the beginning of the next year he became unemployed 24 In what capacity he stayed in Ferrara is unknown but he died in the outbreak of plague there just before 1 August 1505 25 Works EditObrecht wrote mainly sacred music masses and motets 26 and he also wrote some chansons 27 Combining modern and archaic elements Obrecht s style is multi dimensional 28 Perhaps more than those of the mature Josquin the masses of Obrecht display a profound debt to the music of Johannes Ockeghem in the wide arching melodies and long musical phrases that typify the latter s music Obrecht s style is an example of the contrapuntal extravagance of the late 15th century 29 He often used a cantus firmus technique for his masses 30 sometimes he divided his source material up into short phrases 31 at other times he used retrograde versions of complete melodies or melodic fragments 32 He once even extracted the component notes and ordered them by note value long to short constructing new melodic material from the reordered sequences of notes 33 Clearly to Obrecht there could not be too much variety 34 particularly during the musically exploratory period of his early twenties 35 He began to break free from conformity to formes fixes especially in his chansons Of the formes fixes the rondeau retained its popularity longest 36 However he much preferred composing Masses where he found greater freedom 37 Furthermore his motets reveal a wide variety of moods and techniques In his Missa Sub tuum presidium the number of voice parts in the five movements increases from three in the Kyrie to four in the Gloria and so on up to seven in the Agnus Dei 38 The title chant is clearly heard in the top voice throughout the work and five additional Marian chants are found in movements other than the Kyrie and Gloria Ave preclara maris stella Sequence verse 7 Soprano II Credo Aurea virga prime matris Eve Sequence verse 9b Soprano II and Tenor II Sanctus Aurea virga prime matrix Eve Sequence verse 3b Soprano II and Tenor I Agnus Dei I amp II Regina caeli Antiphon Soprano II and Tenor I Agnus Dei III and Verbum bonum et suave Sequence verse 3b Alto I Agnus Dei 39 His late four voice mass Missa Maria zart tender Maria tentatively dated to around 1504 is based on a devotional song popular in the Tyrol which he probably heard as he went through the region around 1503 to 1504 40 Requiring more than an hour to perform it is one of the longest polyphonic settings of the Mass Ordinary ever written 41 and is considered among his finest works 42 Despite working at the same period Obrecht and Ockeghem Obrecht s senior by some 30 years differ significantly in musical style 43 Obrecht does not share Ockeghem s fanciful treatment of the cantus firmus but chooses to quote it verbatim 44 Whereas the phrases in Ockeghem s music are ambiguously defined those of Obrecht s music can easily be distinguished though both composers favor wide arching melodic structure 45 Furthermore Obrecht splices the cantus firmus melody with the intent of audibly reorganizing the motives Ockeghem on the other hand does this far less 46 Obrecht s procedures contrast sharply with the works of the next generation who favored an increasing simplicity of approach prefigured by some works of his contemporary Josquin 47 Although he was renowned in his time Obrecht appears to have had little influence on subsequent composers most probably he simply went out of fashion along with the other contrapuntal masters of his generation 48 Recordings EditFlemish Masters Virginia Arts Recordings VA 04413 performed by Zephyrus 2004 Includes the Obrecht Missa Sub tuum presidium as well as motets by Willaert Clemens non Papa Ockeghem Des Prez Mouton and Gombert Obrecht Missa Maria zart performed by the Tallis Scholars directed by Peter Phillips Gimell CDGIM 032 1996 Jacob Obrecht Chansons Songs Motets Capilla Flamenca and Piffaro Eufoda 1361 2005 Missa Sub Tuum Praesidium The Clerks Group Gaudeamus 2003 Missa Malheur Me Bat The Clerks Group Gaudeamus 1998 Missa de Sancto Donatiano Cappella Pratensis Fineline 2009 Jacob Obrecht The Sound and the Fury ORF 2009 Notes Edit a b http www oxfordmusiconline com subscriber article grove music 20231 Rob C Wegman Obrecht Jacob In Grove Music Online Oxford Music Online accessed 24 September 2020 Sparks Jacob Obrecht p 477 Wegman 1994 p 21 Wegman 1994 p 39 Wegman 1994 p 36 Wegman 1994 p 39 Wegman 1994 p 147 Wegman 1994 p 21 Wegman 2007 Wegman Obrecht Jacob Atlas 1998 p 295 Wegman Obrecht Jacob Sparks Obrecht Jacob p 477 Atlas 1998 p 295 Wegman Obrecht Jacob Atlas 1998 p 294 Reese 1959 p 107 Wegman Obrecht Jacob Wegman Obrecht Jacob Wegman 1994 p 81 2 Wegman 1994 p 139 Wegman Obrecht Jacob Wegman Obrecht Jacob Atlas 1998 p 295 Atlas 1998 p 295 Sparks Jacob Obrecht p 478 Sternfeld 1973 p 198 Sternfeld 1973 p 196 Sparks Jacob Obrecht p 477 Sparks Jacob Obrecht p 482 Sparks Jacob Obrecht p 478 Sparks Jacob Obrecht p 478 Sparks Jacob Obrecht p 478 Sparks Jacob Obrecht p 478 Wegman 1994 p 87 Sternfeld 1973 p 198 Sternfeld 1973 p 197 Wegman 1994 p 338 Wegman Obrecht Jacob Wegman Obrecht Jacob Wegman Obrecht Jacob Fallows David 9 January 2013 Obrecht Missa Maria Zart www gramophone co uk Retrieved 24 July 2019 Sparks 1975 p 312 Sparks 1975 p 312 Sparks 1975 p 312 Sparks 1975 p 312 3 Sternfeld 1973 p 198 9 Sparks Jacob Obrecht p 482 References EditAtlas Allan W 1998 Renaissance Music New York W W Norton Reese Gustav 1959 Music in the Renaissance New York W W Norton Sparks Edgar H 1975 Cantus Firmus in Mass and Motet 1420 1520 New York Da Capo Press Sparks Edgar H Obrecht Jacob in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 1980 ed Sternfeld F W 1973 Music from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance New York Preager Publishers Wegman Rob C 1994 Born for the Muses The Life and Masses of Jacob Obrecht Oxford Clarendon Press Wegman Rob C Obrecht Jacob in New Grove Music Online Dictionary accessed 20 November 2007 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jacob Obrecht Obrecht biography and discography Free access to high resolution images of manuscripts containing works by this composer from Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music MP3 files from Umea Akademiska Kor Free scores by Jacob Obrecht in the Choral Public Domain Library ChoralWiki Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Jacob Obrecht amp oldid 1133407810, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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