Matheus de Sancto Johanne (died after 10 June 1391), also known as Mayshuet, was a French composer of the late Medieval era. Active both in France and England, he was one of the representatives of the complex, manneristic musical style known as the ''

ars subtilior ''Ars subtilior'' (Latin for 'subtler art') is a musical style characterized by rhythmic and notational complexity, centered on Paris, Avignon in southern France, and also in northern Spain at the end of the fourteenth century.Hoppin 1978, 47 ...

'' which flourished around the court of the

Avignon Papacy The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1376 during which seven successive popes resided in Avignon – at the time within the Kingdom of Burgundy-Arles, Kingdom of Arles, part of the Holy Roman Empire; now part of France – rather than i ...

during the Great Schism..Ursula Günther, "Matheus de Sancto Johanne". Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/18061 (accessed 17 December 2011).

Life and career

Matheus was probably born in the diocese of

Noyon Noyon (; pcd, Noéyon; la, Noviomagus Veromanduorum, Noviomagus of the Veromandui, then ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Oise Departments of France, department, northern France. Geography Noyon lies on the river Oise (river), Oise, a ...

, northeast of Paris. Nothing of his early life is known, nor is his age when he begins to appear in historical records. He worked in England from about 1366 as a clerk for the son-in-law of

Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...

, and later for

Philippa of Hainault Philippa of Hainault (sometimes spelled Hainaut; Middle French: ''Philippe de Hainaut''; 24 June 1310 (or 1315) – 15 August 1369) was Queen of England as the wife and political adviser of King Edward III. She acted as regent in 1346,Strickla ...

, queen consort of Edward. In 1368 he came back to France. The next ten years are a blank, but at some time during this period he had begun working for Robert of Geneva, who later became

Antipope Clement VII Robert of Geneva, (french: Robert de Genève; 1342 – 16 September 1394) elected to the papacy as Clement VII (french: Clément VII) by the cardinals who opposed Pope Urban VI, was the first antipope residing in Avignon, France. His election l ...

. In November 1378 – the same year Clement became pope – he is recorded as being a clerk for the

Louis I, Duke of Anjou Louis I, Duke of Anjou (23 July 1339 – 20 September 1384) was a French prince, the second son of John II of France and Bonne of Luxembourg, Bonne of Bohemia. His career was markedly unsuccessful. Born at the Château de Vincennes, Louis was th ...

, and between 1382 and 1387 he was at the papal court in

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

as a chaplain.

Music

Six of his compositions have survived with reliable attribution. They include an unusual

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...

for five voices, ''Ave post libamina/Nunc surgunt'' (very few motets of the period have more than four voices), and five secular works: three ballades and two rondeaux. Two of the ballades, and one of the rondeaux, are for three voices, and these are later compositions more associated with the ''ars subtilior'' style; the others are four voices, and were possibly written earlier. That he was well-appreciated in England can be seen in late copies of his motet made there around 1430, for example, in the

Old Hall Manuscript The Old Hall Manuscript (British Library, Add MS 57950) is the largest, most complete, and most significant source of English sacred music of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and as such represents the best source for late Medieval English ...

. Two of his works are in the Codex "ModA" (Modena, Biblioteca Estense, α.M.5.24), but without attribution.Hoppin, 489 The motet ''Ave post libamina'' is included in

Corpus mensurabilis musicae The ''Corpus mensurabilis musicae'' (CMM) is a collected print edition of most of the sacred and secular vocal music of the late medieval and Renaissance period in western music history, with an emphasis on the central Franco-Flemish and Italian re ...

, vol. 46 (1969).

Notes

References

Ursula Günther Ursula Günther (15 June 1927 – 20 or 21 November 2006) was a German musicologist specializing in the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries and the music of Giuseppe Verdi. She coined the term , to categorize the rhythmically complex music tha ...

, "Matheus de Sancto Johanne", in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie. Vol 11, p. 820. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. * Richard H. Hoppin, ''Medieval Music''. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1978. 14th-century French composers French classical composers French male classical composers Medieval male composers Ars subtilior composers {{France-composer-stub