Marbrianus de Orto (Dujardin; also Marbriano, Marbrianus) ( – January or February 1529) was a
Dutch 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 ide ...
(
Franco-Flemish school). He was a contemporary, close associate, and possible friend of
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 ...
, and was one of the first composers to write a completely
canonic setting of the
Ordinary of the Mass.
Life
The illegitimate child of a priest, Orto was probably born in
Tournai
Tournai or Tournay ( ; ; nl, Doornik ; pcd, Tornai; wa, Tornè ; la, Tornacum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt. Tournai is part of Eurome ...
, and spent the early part of his life there. While his original surname was Dujardin, he used "de Orto" (the Italian translation of Dujardin) throughout his life. In June 1482, in the household of
Ferry de Clugny, Cardinal-
Bishop of Tournai (who died 7 October 1483), he went to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, where he became a singer in the papal chapel; he may have become an accomplished composer around this time, since his ''Missa ad fugam'' seems to have been written in response to the similar composition by Josquin des Prez, tentatively dated to the early 1480s, and Orto's
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 ele ...
was copied for the Capella Sistina between 1487 and 1490.
While he served in the
Sistine Chapel Choir until at least 1499, during the papacies of
Innocent VIII
Pope Innocent VIII ( la, Innocentius VIII; it, Innocenzo VIII; 1432 – 25 July 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death in July 1492. Son of t ...
and
Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI ( it, Alessandro VI, va, Alexandre VI, es, Alejandro VI; born Rodrigo de Borja; ca-valencia, Roderic Llançol i de Borja ; es, Rodrigo Lanzol y de Borja, lang ; 1431 – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Chur ...
, he began to acquire other posts and benefices. He was particularly popular with Innocent, who awarded him benefices and allowed him to rise in the hierarchy in spite of his illegitimacy. During this time he and Josquin worked closely together, even seeking similar positions at
Cambrai
Cambrai (, ; pcd, Kimbré; nl, Kamerijk), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the ...
in their mutual homeland. One of the things he may have done in collaboration with Josquin was a revision of a cycle of hymns by
Guillaume Dufay, composed around 1430, which had fallen out of use. At some time in the early 1490s Orto acquired the post of dean at the
Collegiate Church of St. Gertrude of Nivelles, present-day
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
; he was to remain closely associated with this institution for the rest of his life. It is not known exactly when he moved there, but he left Nivelles in late 1504 in order to join the choir of
Philip the Handsome, ''la Grande Chapelle'', a distinguished musical body which included
Pierre de La Rue, and which went to
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
in 1506.
[Picker, Grove online]
Orto joined the choir at a very high level, becoming ''premier chapelain'' in short order—by 30 November 1505—indicating the high level of respect as both composer and singer he had attained.
[Meconi, p. 74] After Philip's death in September 1506 the choir was kept on by
Juana of Castile
Joanna (6 November 1479 – 12 April 1555), historically known as Joanna the Mad ( es, link=no, Juana la Loca), was the nominal Queen of Castile from 1504 and Queen of Aragon from 1516 to her death in 1555. She was married by arrangement to P ...
, "Juana the Mad", and Orto was one of the singers who left shortly after, between October and December 1506, leaving the duties of ''premier chapelain'' to
Pierre de La Rue. During this time and for the next three years Juana traveled with her singers, each night singing a requiem to her husband's corpse which went with them in its coffin, in a bizarre journey through
Castile until Juana's father Ferdinand finally imprisoned her in the fortress at
Tordesillas
Tordesillas () is a town and municipality in the province of Valladolid, Castile and León, central Spain. It is located southwest of the provincial capital, Valladolid at an elevation of . The population was c. 9,000 .
The town is located ...
.
Back in the
Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
, Orto remained in the employ of the
Habsburgs
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
, from at least 1509 until 1517, during which time he shared the duties of ''premier chapelain'' with
Anthoine de Berghes Anthoine is a given name and a surname, which is derived from the Antonius root name. Notable people with this name include the following:
Given name
*Anthoine Hubert (1996–2019), French racing driver
*Anthoine Lussier (born 1983), French ice hoc ...
. Sometime during this period he was likely the teacher of
Arnold von Bruck, who was a choirboy. No certain documentation of Orto's activities during 1507 and 1508 is known.
In the later years of his life he acquired additional posts, as canon both at the
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, Church of Our Lady and at
Ste Gudule in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, and a record from 1518 lists him as the "first chaplain" in the
Flemish chapel (capilla flamenca)
The Flemish chapel (Spanish: capilla flamenca) was one of two choirs employed by Philip II of Spain, the other being the Spanish chapel (or capilla española).
La Grande Chapelle
Philip I of Castile, "Philip the Handsome", son of Maximilian I, ...
of
Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infa ...
. He possibly died of the plague which swept through Nivelles in 1529, and was buried in the church of Ste Gertrude, where he worked for the longest time. His tomb in the choir had an inscription which remained legible until the church was destroyed by the Germans on 14 May 1940, during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
.
Music and influence
Marbrianus de Orto was a moderately prolific composer of masses,
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 Ma ...
s,
lamentations, and
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, many of which have survived. He was famous enough that
Ottaviano Petrucci published a book of his masses in 1505—one of his earliest publications, and one of the earliest collections of printed music. De Orto's book of masses followed after those by Josquin,
Jacob Obrecht,
Antoine Brumel,
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 music. ...
, Pierre de La Rue, 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 ...
.
[Fallows, Grove online]
Petrucci published five of de Orto's masses in this collection. All are
cantus firmus
In music, a ''cantus firmus'' ("fixed melody") is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.
The plural of this Latin term is , although the corrupt form ''canti firmi'' (resulting from the grammatically incorrect tre ...
masses, and include a ''
Missa L'homme armé Over 40 settings of the Ordinary of the Mass using the tune ''L'homme armé'' survive from the period between 1450 and the end of the 17th century, making the tune the most popular single source from the period on which to base an imitation mass.
...
'', based on the
famous tune, probably composed in the early to mid 1480s.
Among his masses is the unusual ''Missa
d fugam', one of only a handful of freely composed
canonic masses from the period, including
Johannes Ockeghem's ''
Missa prolationum
The ''Missa prolationum'' is a musical setting of the Ordinary of the Mass by Johannes Ockeghem, dating from the second half of the 15th century. Based on freely written material probably composed by Ockeghem himself, and consisting entirely of ...
'', based entirely on
mensuration canons. De Orto's ''Missa
d fugam' may be related another canonic mass in a Vatican manuscript, later named "
Missa ad fugam" and attributed to Josquin by Petrucci. Both masses use strict canon at the fifth between ''superius'' and ''tenor,'' as well as a
head motive in most movements.
The same title was used to describe the canonic "Missa Sine nomine" in a later print by Antico.
De Orto's motets also usually use cantus firmus technique. The ''Salve regis mater sanctissima'', though anonymous in its only surviving source, is probably by de Orto and was composed for the accession of
Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI ( it, Alessandro VI, va, Alexandre VI, es, Alejandro VI; born Rodrigo de Borja; ca-valencia, Roderic Llançol i de Borja ; es, Rodrigo Lanzol y de Borja, lang ; 1431 – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Chur ...
in 1492.
Some of the
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 are akin to the typical French style of the early 16th century—quick, light, and imitative; others are more in line with the
Burgundian style of the ''
formes fixes.'' De Orto also wrote an early setting of
Dido's lament, ''Dulces exuviae'', from the ''
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of ...
'' (iv.651–4), containing extensive
chromatic
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a p ...
writing.
Notes
References and further reading
*
*
*
Sherr, Richard, ed. ''The Josquin Companion''. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2000. .
* Meconi, Honey. ''Pierre de la Rue and Musical Life at the Habsburg-Burgundian Court''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
* Rodin, Jesse. "Josquin and the Polyphonic Mass in the Sistine Chapel." PhD diss., Harvard Univ., 2007.
* Davison, Nigel St. J. "Mabriano de Orto, Latin Compositions I Missa Ad Fugam Antico Edition RCM43"
* Davison, Nigel St. J. "Mabriano de Orto, Latin Compositions II Missa DominicalisAntico Edition RCM44"
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orto, Marbrianus De
1460s births
1529 deaths
15th-century Franco-Flemish composers
Musicians from Tournai
Renaissance composers
16th-century Franco-Flemish composers