Johannes Ghiselin (Verbonnet) (
fl. 1455–1511) was a
Flemish
Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
composer of the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
, active in France, Italy and in the Low Countries. He was a contemporary of
Josquin des Prez, and a significant composer of
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 eleme ...
es,
motets, and secular music. His reputation was considerable, as shown by music printer
Ottaviano Petrucci
Ottaviano Petrucci (born in Fossombrone on 18 June 1466 – died on 7 May 1539 in Venice) was an Italian printer. His '' Harmonice Musices Odhecaton'', a collection of chansons printed in 1501, is commonly misidentified as the first book of sheet ...
's decision to print a complete book of his masses immediately after his similar publication of masses by Josquin – only the second such publication in music history.
Life
Little is known about his early life, but it can be inferred that he was from the south
Netherlands
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, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, from archival mentions of him as being "da Piccardia" and "fiamengo".
[Gottwold, Grove] He may have been associated with the
Burgundian chapel in the 1470s during the time of
Charles the Bold
Charles I (Charles Martin; german: Karl Martin; nl, Karel Maarten; 10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), nicknamed the Bold (German: ''der Kühne''; Dutch: ''de Stoute''; french: le Téméraire), was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477. ...
, since he composed ''Je lay empris'' for him; however, no documentary record of his having been there has yet been found.
The first direct record of Ghiselin is in 1491, when he was in
Ferrara.
Isabella d'Este
Isabella d'Este (19 May 1474 – 13 February 1539) was Marchioness of Mantua and one of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance as a major cultural and political figure. She was a patron of the arts as well as a leader of fashion, whos ...
sent him to France to get some singers for the Este chapel that same year. In 1492 and 1493 he was a singer in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
, and it is possible that he went to France and/or the Low Countries immediately after that. Since he is listed in
Jean Crétin's poem (1497) on the death of
Ockeghem along with other students of that famous composer, it has been inferred that he may have studied with Ockeghem, although if so, it is not known if this occurred before coming to Italy or during the mid-1490s.
Ghiselin maintained a connection both with the French court and Ferrara, occasionally serving as an emissary. After Josquin accepted the offer of employment in Ferrara in 1503, Ghiselin traveled with him from Paris to Ferrara, arriving on April 12 "in a splendid carriage".
Ghiselin apparently remained in Ferrara until 1505, when both he and Josquin fled the outbreak of the plague there;
, who had recently joined the spectacular musical establishment at the Estense court, remained behind, and succumbed to the contagion in July 1505.
Ghiselin evidently returned to the Low Countries after fleeing Ferrara, for he was in
Bergen op Zoom
Bergen op Zoom (; called ''Berrege'' in the local dialect) is a municipality and a city located in the south of the Netherlands.
Etymology
The city was built on a place where two types of soil meet: sandy soil and marine clay. The sandy soil ...
in 1507, receiving a considerable stipend at the
Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gilde. He probably died between then and 1511, since the records for those years are missing, and when the records resume his name is absent, and there are no further records of his activity.
Music and influence
As with Josquin, Ghiselin was interested in solutions to the musical problems posed by the multiple-movement 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 eleme ...
. Ghiselin's masses were well-known and respected, as is made clear by Petrucci choosing to publish an entire book of them, only the second book he published devoted to masses by a single composer (1503). Most of his masses are based on
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 so ...
s, including works by
Antoine Busnois
Antoine Busnois (also Busnoys; – before 6 November 1492) was a French composer, singer and poet of early Renaissance music. Busnois and colleague Johannes Ockeghem were the leading European composers of the second half the 15th century, and ...
,
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 ...
,
Guillaume Dufay
Guillaume Du Fay ( , ; also Dufay, Du Fayt; 5 August 1397(?) – 27 November 1474) was a French composer and music theorist of the early Renaissance. Considered the leading European composer of his time, his music was widely performed and repr ...
,
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 ...
, and himself.
Ghiselin also wrote motets, chansons, secular songs in
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
, as well as some instrumental music. His setting of "La Spagna" for four parts is probably one of the earliest settings of this famous
bassadanza tune for multiple parts, although its date has not been determined.
References and further reading
*
Richard Sherr
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...
, ed., ''The Josquin Companion''. Oxford, Oxford Univ. Press, 2000.
*
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.
* Clytus Gottwold: "Johannes Ghiselin", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed November 28, 2006)
(subscription access)
Notes
External links
*
Recording
*''Salve Mater Salve Jesu, Chant and Polyphony From Bohemia Around 1500'',
Capilla Flamenca Capilla Flamenca is a vocal and instrumental early music consort based in Leuven, Belgium. The group specialises in 14th to 16th century music from Flanders and takes its name from the historical Flemish chapel (capilla flamenca), the choir of the c ...
together with
Schola Gregoriana Pragensis
Schola Gregoriana Pragensis (English: ''The Gregorian School of Prague'') is an '' a cappella'' male voice choir from the Czech Republic, founded in 1987 by David Eben. Their core repertoire consists of Gregorian chant, Bohemian plainchant, and ...
and Barbara Maria Willi, 2007 (KTC 1346). Contains a recording of ''O gloriosa Domina'', a motet by Johannes Ghiselin.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghiselin, Johannes
Renaissance composers
French composers of sacred music
1455 births
16th-century deaths
French classical composers
French male classical composers