Gilles Binchois
(ca.
1400-1460)
Career Summary
- less cosmopolitan than Dufay
- spent mature working years
as chaplain at court of dukes of Burgundy
- little known of his life,
except years of service under Philip the Good
- grew up at court of William
IV of Hainaut
- served as soldier as young
man
- 1420's: Paris, working
for William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk
- some chansons as elegant
as those of Dufay; some merely strings of cliches
- motets and Mass movements
have charm, though not as good as those of Dufay
- not as elaborate, complex
- melodies short-breathed and
dis-connected
- attempt to homogenize texture,
partly by imitation
- could not sustain musical
thought, with motion stopping at regular intervals
- compositions cumulations
of shorter segments; "sausage" approach
- sacred music fulfills daily
liturgical needs; formulaic three-part chords, fauxbourdon
- text accents do not correspond
with bar lines
Motet
- one incompletely preserved
isorhythmic motet: Nove cantum melodie
- includes names of many of
his musical colleagues
Sacred
- most elaborate written in
treble-dominated style
- with or without paraphrase
of chant in top voice
- in antiphon Ave Regina
caelorum, mater regis angelorum, Binchois paraphrased chant in superius
and tenor, creating series of points of imitation which contrast with several
chordal passages
Mass
- Mass movements do not appear
to be based upon CF
- no cyclical Masses survive
- liturgical relationship between
Mass pairs; both members based on chants from same Gregorian Ordinary
- single Mass movements resemble
chansons
Chansons
- some chansons formulaic (Adieu
m'amour et ma maistresse)
- 4 lines of poetry, each set
to single phrase of music, with conventional cadential formula closing each
phrase
- cadences articulate form
- phrases begin with distinctive
melodic gestures, but are never developed
- outline triads, constructed
of thirds
- instrumental interludes substituted
for closing melismas
- short phrases: opening
gesture and closing cadential formula
- no single particular solution
in joining text to music
- most phrases begin syllabically,
broaden out into melisma on penultimate syllable, leads into cadential formula
- superius moves in 8th notes;
seldom conflicts with 6/8 time signature
- tenor lowest voice usually
- contratenor sometimes acts
as harmonic bass, but usually fills out harmony
- lower lines support superius;
little melodic activity
- late chansons (ballade Dueil
angoisseux)
- 3/4 meter, quarter note movement
- not as flexible as Dufay,
but superius exhibits variety of rhythms, planned contours
- range of an octave
- some attempt at functional
tonality: I & V emphasized at significant formal places
- subject matter doesn't always
express sentiments of courtly love
- most chansons written for
3 voices
- 47 of 55 chansons attributed
to Binchois are rondeaux; no virelais; 7 ballades
- 3 chansons on texts
by Charles d'Orleans (Mon cuer chante) Christine de Pisan (Dueil
angoisseux), and Alain Chartier (Triste plaisir):
literary taste
- chansons include many masterpieces
exhibiting distinct musical personality