Jehan Fresneau (also Fresnau, Frasnau) (fl. ca. 1468 – 1505) was a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

composer of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

. He was one of the composers in the renowned

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

chapel in the mid-1470s, which was disbanded after the assassination of Duke

Galeazzo Maria Sforza Galeazzo Maria Sforza (24 January 1444 – 26 December 1476) was the fifth Duke of Milan from 1466 until his assassination a decade later. He was notorious for being lustful, cruel, and tyrannical. He was born to Francesco Sforza, a popula ...

Life

Fresneau was from

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; pcd, Kimbré; nl, Kamerijk), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department and in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, regio ...

, and was probably a priest. A "Jo. Fremniau" active at

Cambrai Cathedral Cambrai Cathedral (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Grâce de Cambrai) is a Catholic church located in Cambrai, Nord, France, and is the seat of the Archbishop of Cambrai. The cathedral was registered as a '' monument historique'' on 9 August ...

from 1468 to 1469 has tentatively been identified as the same person. He was employed by the French royal chapel between 1469 and 1475, at which time he went to Milan; however, he did not stay there long, for in December 1476 Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza was assassinated, and the many singers and composers of the chapel scattered. Fresneau was among those listed on a safe pass for exit from Milan on 6 February 1477, along with

Loyset Compère Loyset Compère ( – 16 August 1518) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. Of the same generation as Josquin des Prez, he was one of the most significant composers of motets and chansons of that era, and one of the first musicians ...

Johannes Martini Johannes Martini (c. 1440 – late 1497 or early 1498) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. Life He was born in Brabant around 1440, but information about his early life is scanty. He probably received his early training in Flan ...

, Colinet de Lannoy, and others. It is not known where he went immediately; his next documented appearance is at the church of St. Martin in

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

in 1486, where he was also in the employ of

Louis XII Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, he succeeded his 2nd cousin once removed and brother in law at the tim ...

. Between 1494 and 1505 he was at the singing school attached to

Chartres Cathedral Chartres Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres), is a Roman Catholic church in Chartres, France, about southwest of Paris, and is the seat of the Bishop of Chartres. Mostly con ...

, where he held various positions, including canon, provost, notary, and procurator. No records documenting his life after 1505 have yet been found.Atlas/Alden, Grove online He is mentioned in

Guillaume Crétin Guillaume Dubois or Guillaume Crétin (c. 1460 – 30 November 1525) was a French poet who is considered to belong to the school of the Grands Rhétoriqueurs ("rhetoricians"). Life He was treasurer of the Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes, then cantor ...

's elegy on the death of

Johannes Ockeghem Johannes Ockeghem ( – 6 February 1497) was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of early Renaissance music. Ockeghem was the most influential European composer in the period between Guillaume Du Fay and Josquin des Prez, and he was—with his ...

(6 February 1497) as one of the living composers; however, Crétin does not list him with the most prominent, which included

Alexander Agricola Alexander Agricola (; born Alexander Ackerman; – 15 August 1506) was a Netherlandish composer of the Renaissance writing in the Franco-Flemish style. A prominent member of the ''Grande chapelle'', the Habsburg musical establishment, he wa ...

Johannes Ghiselin Johannes Ghiselin (Verbonnet) ( fl. 1455–1511) was a Flemish composer of the Renaissance, active in France, Italy and in the Low Countries. He was a contemporary of Josquin des Prez, and a significant composer of masses, motets, and secular mus ...

Johannes Prioris Johannes Prioris (c. 1460 – c. 1514) was a Netherlandish composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the first composers to write a polyphonic setting of the Requiem Mass. On the basis of documents surrounding Saint-Sauveur in Blois, Theodor D ...

Josquin des Prez Josquin Lebloitte dit des Prez ( – 27 August 1521) was a composer of High Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he was a central figure of the ...

Gaspar van Weerbeke Gaspar van Weerbeke ( – after 1516) was a Netherlandish composer of the Renaissance. He was of the same generation as Josquin des Prez, but unique in his blending of the contemporary Italian style with the older Burgundian style of Dufay. L ...

Antoine Brumel Antoine Brumel (c. 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 des Prez, was one of the most influential composers of his gene ...

, and

. The term "nostre maistre" in Crétin's ''Déploration'' has been taken to suggest that all of these composers, including Fresnau, were students of Ockeghem.

Music and manuscript sources

Of his music, only six examples survive, including five

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic s ...

s and a setting of the

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

. The mass, ''Missa quarti toni'', is for four voices. The chansons, probably written in the 1470s, all use the ''

formes fixes The ''formes fixes'' (; singular: ''forme fixe'', "fixed form") are the three 14th- and 15th-century French poetic forms: the ''ballade'', '' rondeau'', and ''virelai''. Each was also a musical form, generally a ''chanson'', and all consisted of ...

''; all are in French, and all are for three voices. Several are preserved in the Florentine

chansonnier A chansonnier ( ca, cançoner, oc, cançonièr, Galician and pt, cancioneiro, it, canzoniere or ''canzoniéro'', es, cancionero) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings o ...

''I-Fr 2794'', which contains 60 chansons and 8 pieces in Latin.Hamm/Call, Grove online

Works

Sacred

*''Missa quarti toni'' (four voices)

Secular

*''C'est vous seulle'' (three voices) *''De vous servir'' (three voices) (also attributed to

Hayne van Ghizeghem Hayne van Ghizeghem ( 1445 – 1476 to 1497) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance Burgundian School. While many of his works have survived, little is known about his life. He was probably born in Gijzegem (near Aalst, in modern ...

) *''Ha qu'il m'ennuye'' (three voices) (also attributed to Alexander Agricola) *''Notres assouemen'' (three voices (also attributed to Alexander Agricola) *''Nuit et jour'' (three voices) *''Perget'' (three voices) (

contrafactum In vocal music, contrafactum (or contrafact, pl. contrafacta) is "the substitution of one text for another without substantial change to the music". The earliest known examples of this procedure (sometimes referred to as ''adaptation''), date back ...

of ''Nuit et jour'')

References

*Allan W. Atlas/Jane Alden: "Fresneau, Jehan", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed July 1, 2007)
(subscription access)
*Charles Hamm/Jerry Call: "Sources, MS, §IX: Renaissance polyphony." Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed July 1, 2007)
(subscription access)
*

Gustave Reese Gustave Reese ( ; 29 November 1899 – 7 September 1977) was an American musicologist and teacher. Reese is known mainly for his work on medieval and Renaissance music, particularly with his two publications ''Music in the Middle Ages'' (1940) ...

, ''Music in the Renaissance''. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fresneau, Jehan 15th-century births 16th-century deaths French classical composers French male classical composers Renaissance composers