Robert Morton (also ''Mourton'', ''Moriton''; c. 1430 – after 13 March 1479) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
of the early
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 ...
, mostly active at the
Burgundian court. He was highly regarded at the time. Only secular vocal music, all
rondeaux for three voices, survive.
Life
Little can be reconstructed with certainty about his life except where his activity intersects with the
Burgundian court. He was born in England, but no details of his early life are known. From 1457 until 1476 he was a ''clerc'' or ''chappellain'' in the chapel choir, and unusually he never was promoted to a higher position. By 1460 he was a priest, since he was given that title ''Messire'' in chapel documents.
The long relatively peaceful period at the court under
Philip the Good
Philip III (french: Philippe le Bon; nl, Filips de Goede; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonge ...
's reign ended with Philip's death in 1467, and under his successor
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.
...
, the musical activities of the court were seriously disrupted; many of the singers and composers, including
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 ...
, took part in his many futile military campaigns. Morton must have known Hayne rather well, for an anonymous piece survives which describes the virtuosic singing and playing of the two of them together at
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 ...
.
Payment records for Morton end in 1476, and it was long assumed that he died then; however more recent evidence from the Vatican archive shows that he was alive as late as 1479, since he resigned a Dutch parish then.
There is a possibility, never established or fully investigated, that he may be the same Robert Morton who became
Bishop of Worcester
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
, and who died in 1497. Evidence for this connection includes the complete lack of documentation for the bishop between 1456 and 1476, when Morton was active in the Burgundian court, and the presence of Cardinal John Morton, uncle of the future bishop, in Burgundy at exactly the time when Robert disappears from the payment rolls.
Music
Given the almost complete elimination of 15th century music manuscripts in England, largely by
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
during the
Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s, it is not surprising that most of Morton's music survives in sources from the Continent, and if he was ever active as a musician in his native land, all trace is lost. Eight pieces survive, all rondeaux. One of the most famous of them is the earliest known setting of the tune
l'homme armé
"L'homme armé" (French for "the armed man") is a secular song from the Late Middle Ages, of the Burgundian School. According to Allan W. Atlas, "the tune circulated in both the Mixolydian mode and Dorian mode (transposed to G)." It was the most p ...
, which was used by many early
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 ...
composers as a
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 tr ...
for 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 ...
. This piece, a
quodlibet
A quodlibet (; Latin for "whatever you wish" from ''quod'', "what" and '' libet'', "pleases") is a musical composition that combines several different melodies—usually popular tunes—in counterpoint, and often in a light-hearted, humorous man ...
, is probably datable to May 1464; it seems to have been written as a departure gift for another court composer,
Simon le Breton.
Another of his rondeaux, ''Le souvenir de vous me tue'', was exceedingly famous, and copies of this piece were widely disseminated in Europe.
All of Morton's surviving music is in French, not surprising since it all dates from his time in Burgundy. Melodically it is somewhat simpler than the music of his contemporaries such as Hayne or
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 ...
.
The
music theorist
Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...
and writer
Johannes Tinctoris
Jehan le Taintenier or Jean Teinturier (Latinised as Johannes Tinctoris; also Jean de Vaerwere; – 1511) was a Renaissance music theorist and composer from the Low Countries. Up to his time, he is perhaps the most significant European writer ...
wrote glowingly of Morton, mentioning that he was "world-famous". Even though much of his music must have been lost—including any sacred music—he seems to have been influential on other composers at the court of Burgundy, and several of his compositions were used as source material for masses by later composers, including
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 ...
.
Works
Attribution considered secure
# ''Cousine trop vous abusés'' (rondeau, 3vv)
# ''Il sera pour vous conbatu/L'homme armé'' (quodlibet; rondeau, 3vv; in another source a fourth voice is added)
# ''Le souvenir de vous me tue'' (rondeau, 3vv)
# ''Mon bien ma joyeux'' (rondeau, 3vv)
# ''N'aray je jamais mieulx que j'ay'' (rondeau, 3vv)
# ''Paracheve ton entreprise'' (rondeau, 3vv)
# ''Plus j'ay le monde'' (rondeau, 3vv)
# ''Que pourroit plus faire une dame'' (rondeau, 3vv)
Doubtful
# ''C'est temps perdu''
# ''Elend du hast umbfangen mich'' (also known as ''Vive ma dame par amours'')
# ''Pues serviçio vos desplaze''
# ''Vien avante morte dolente''
References
* David Fallows, "Robert Morton", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.
* David Fallows, "Robert Morton", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed September 11, 2005)
(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.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morton, Robert
1430 births
1479 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
English classical composers
Renaissance composers
Burgundian school composers
French classical composers
French male classical composers