Gilles Binchois
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Gilles de Bins dit Binchois (also Binchoys; – 20 September 1460) was a Franco-Flemish composer of early Renaissance music. A central figure of the
Burgundian School The Burgundian School was a group of composers active in the 15th century in what is now northern and eastern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, centered on the court of the Dukes of Burgundy. The school inaugurated the music of Burgundy. The ...
, Binchois and his colleague
Guillaume Du Fay 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 ...
were deeply influenced by the ''
contenance angloise The ''Contenance angloise'', or English manner, is a distinctive style of polyphony developed in fifteenth-century England which uses full, rich harmonies based on the third and sixth. It was highly influential in the fashionable Burgundian court ...
'' style of
John Dunstaple John Dunstaple (or Dunstable, – 24 December 1453) was an English composer whose music helped inaugurate the transition from the medieval to the Renaissance periods. The central proponent of the ''Contenance angloise'' style (), Dunstaple was ...
. His efforts in consolidating a 'Burgundian tradition' would be important for the formation of the
Franco-Flemish School The designation Franco-Flemish School, also called Netherlandish School, Burgundian School, Low Countries School, Flemish School, Dutch School, or Northern School, refers, somewhat imprecisely, to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition or ...
. One of the three most famous composers of the early 15th century, Binchois is often ranked behind Du Fay and Dunstable by contemporary scholars, but his works were still widely cited, emulated and used as source material after his death. Described by the musicologist Anthony Pryer as a "supreme miniaturist", he generally avoided large scale works, and is most admired for his shorter secular
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. Despite this, it is thought that considerably more of his sacred music survives than secular music, creating a 'paradoxical image' of the composer. Reflecting on his style, the ''
Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...
'' comments that "Binchois cultivated the gently subtle rhythm, the suavely graceful melody, and the smooth treatment of dissonance of his English contemporaries".


Life and career


Early life

The composer's full name is Gilles de Bins dit Binchois, consisting of the
byname An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
'Gilles de Binche' (also spelled 'Gilles de Bins') and the ''dit'' name Binchois (also spelled 'Binchoys'). Obituary records from St Vincent,
Soignies Soignies (; nl, Zinnik, ; pcd, Sougniye; wa, Sougniye) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It consists of the following districts: Casteau, Chaussée-Notre-Dame-Louvignies, Horrues, Naast, Neufvilles, ...
name his parents as Johannes and Johanna de Binche, usually identified with Jean de Binch (?) and his wife Jeanne, née Paulouche (?). His parents were of the upper class in Mons and probably from the town of
Binche Binche (; wa, Bince; Dutch: ''Bing'') is a city and municipality from Wallonia, in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Since 1977, the municipality consists of Binche, Bray, Buvrinnes, Épinois, Leval-Trahegnies, Péronnes-lez-Binche, Ressaix, ...
; his father was a councillor to Duke William IV of Hainault and later
Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut Jacqueline ( nl, Jacoba; french: Jacqueline; german: Jakobäa; 15 July 1401 – 8 October 1436), of the House of Wittelsbach, was a noblewoman who ruled the counties of Holland, Zeeland and Hainaut in the Low Countries from 1417 to 1433. She ...
. The elder Binchois was also a councillor for the Ste Waudru church of Mons, and built a chapel for the St Germain church. Their son Gilles Binchois has probably born in Mons, the same city in which the composer
Orlande de Lassus Orlande de Lassus ( various other names; probably – 14 June 1594) was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Pale ...
would be born a century later. Nothing for certain is known about Binchois until 8 December 1419, when he is known to have been the
organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational h ...
at Ste Waudru in Mons. It is possible that Gilles Binchois received an early musical education near the court of Mons, and like other composers of his time, he probably trained as a choristers in his youth, perhaps at St Germain. An account from (1880) which refers to the chorister Jean de Binche at
Cambrai Cathedral Cambrai Cathedral (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Grâce de Cambrai) is a Catholic church located in Cambrai, Nord, France, and is the seat of the Archbishop of Cambrai. The cathedral was registered as a '' monument historique'' on 9 August ...
has often been misinterpreted as referring to Binchois. There is no evidence that Binchois was a chorister at Cambrai in his youth. Records from 28 July 1423 indicates that he soon moved in
Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...
. Around this time he may have been a soldier, as indicated by a line in the funeral motet ''Deploration for Binchois'', composed in his memory by
Johannes Ockeghem Johannes Ockeghem ( – 6 February 1497) was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of early Renaissance music. Ockeghem was the most influential European composer in the period between Guillaume Du Fay and Josquin des Prez, and he was—with hi ...
. Binchois might have served under the Englishman
William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, (16 October 1396 – 2 May 1450), nicknamed Jackanapes, was an English magnate, statesman, and military commander during the Hundred Years' War. He became a favourite of the weak king Henry VI of England ...
, who was in France for the Hundred Years' War. This association is evidenced by a 1426 document which records that the Duke of Suffolk commissioned the otherwise unknown rondel ''Ainsi que a la foiz m’y souvient'' from a 'Binchoiz'.


Burgundian court

Sometime during the late 1420s Binchois joined the court chapel choir of Burgundy; the exact date is unknown due to chapel's lost employment records from 1419 to 1436. A 1427 disposition from Guillaume Benoit which includes Binchois' name suggests he was there by then, though this is uncertain. He was certainly in the chapel when he wrote ''Nove cantum melodie''—one of his only datable compositions—in 18 January 1431, as it was for the baptism of
Anthony, bastard of Burgundy Antoine de Bourgogne (1421 – 5 May 1504), known to his contemporaries as the Bastard of Burgundy or ''Le grand bâtard'' ("the Great Bastard"), was the natural son (and second child) of Philip III, Duke of Burgundy, and one of his mistresses ...
. The musicologist Fallows notes that "he must have been there some years earlier since the list of 1436 places him as fifth chaplain in order of seniority within the choir". The Burgundian court under Philip the Good was perhaps the most lively and prominent court of the area; its members compared it that of
Alexander The Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
. The musicologist
Reinhard Strohm Professor Reinhard Strohm FBA (born 4 August 1942, Munich) is a German musicologist based largely in the United Kingdom, with an interest in 14th to 18th-century music. Strohm studied Musicology, Medieval Latin, and Romance Literatures, at the ...
commented that court of Philip's "eclectic and flamboyant culture typified the feudal aspirations of the age". Among the residents of the court was the painter Jan van Eyck, who, according to the art historian
Erwin Panofsky Erwin Panofsky (March 30, 1892 in Hannover – March 14, 1968 in Princeton, New Jersey) was a German-Jewish art historian, whose academic career was pursued mostly in the U.S. after the rise of the Nazi regime. Panofsky's work represents a high ...
, may have portrayed Binchois in the ''
Léal Souvenir ''Léal Souvenir'' (also known as ''Timotheus'' or ''Portrait of a Man'') is a small oil-on-oak panel portrait by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck, dated 1432. The sitter has not been identified, but his highly individual featur ...
'' portrait, though there is no widespread agreement for this. Binchois was associated with the leading composer of his day,
Guillaume Du Fay 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 ...
. They likely met during a meeting at Chambéry of the Burgundian and Savoy courts in February 1434. However, the only certain meeting of the composers was in March 1449, when Du Fay resided with Binchois in Mons for a convocation of canons. Aside from Du Fay, important composer contemporaries of Binchois included
John Dunstaple John Dunstaple (or Dunstable, – 24 December 1453) was an English composer whose music helped inaugurate the transition from the medieval to the Renaissance periods. The central proponent of the ''Contenance angloise'' style (), Dunstaple was ...
, Lionel Power, Hugo de Lantins and
Arnold de Lantins Arnold de Lantins ( fl. 1420s – before 2 July 1432) was a Netherlandish composer of the late medieval and early Renaissance eras. He is one of a few composers who shows aspects of both medieval and Renaissance style, and was a contemporary o ...
. The Burgundian chapel choir was unique in allowing its members to become clergy without being ordained as a priest; in 1437 Binchois became a subdeacon. Probably due to Philip's favor, he held prebends for at least four churches until his death: St Donatian, Bruges (from 7 January 1430); Ste Waudru, Mons (from 17 May 1437); St Vincent, Soignies (from 1452); and St Pierre, Cassel (from 21 May 1459). He was also made honorary court secretary in 1437 by Phillip, who paid for a now-lost work by him on 29 May 1438, ''Passions en nouvelle maniere''. It is possible that Binchois had some experience in medicine, since he attended to a duchess's toothache in July 1437. The choir's attendance records are fairly thorough, and indicate that Binchois did not travel much on his own.


Final Soignies years

He eventually retired in
Soignies Soignies (; nl, Zinnik, ; pcd, Sougniye; wa, Sougniye) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It consists of the following districts: Casteau, Chaussée-Notre-Dame-Louvignies, Horrues, Naast, Neufvilles, ...
by February 1453, receiving a substantial pension until his death, presumably for his long years of excellent service to the Burgundian court. In 1452 he became provost for the collegiate church of St Vincent. Around this time Soignies grew its reputation for musical excellence;
Guillaume Malbecque Guillaume Malbecque ( 1400 – 29 August 1465 in Soignies) was a Flemish composer. Malbecque may indicate his place of birth.Eitner R ''Biographisch-Bibliographisches Quellen-Lexikon Der Musiker und Musik'' He was an associate of Guillaume Dufay a ...
and
Johannes Regis Johannes Regis (French: ''Jehan Leroy''; – ) was a Netherlandish composer of the Renaissance. He was a well-known composer at the close of the 15th century, was a principal contributor to the Chigi Codex, and was secretary to Guillaume Dufay. ...
were active there, while the contemporary writers Jacobus Lessabaeus and
Lodovico Guicciardini Lodovico Guicciardini (19 August 1521 – 22 March 1589) was an Italian writer and merchant from Florence who lived primarily in Antwerp from 1542 or earlier. He was the nephew of historian and diplomat Francesco Guicciardini. ''Description of ...
praised the town's musical standard. Binchois may have been involved in the well known 1454 Feast of the Pheasant in Lille, as the motet '' Lamentatio sanctae matris ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae'' was performed, which may be by Binchois, but is usually ascribed to Du Fay. On 20 September 1460 Binchois died in Soignies; his will mentions otherwise unknown family members, including his brothers Andri de Binch and Ernoul de Binch. Upon his death Ockeghem wrote a deploration, ''Mort, tu as navré de ton dart'', and Fallows has suggested that Du Fay composed the rondeau ''En triumphant'' in 1460 for his colleague's death.


Music

Binchois is often considered to be among finest melodists of the 15th century; reflecting on his style the ''
Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...
'' comments that "Binchois cultivated the gently subtle rhythm, the suavely graceful melody, and the smooth treatment of dissonance of his English contemporaries". His tunes appeared in copies decades after his death, and were often used as sources for
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 ...
composition by later composers. Most of his secular songs are rondeaux, which became the most common song form during the century. Binchois' melodies are generally independent of the rhyme scheme of the verses they are set to, an approach which was uncommon by 15th century European composers. Like Du Fay, Binchois was deeply influenced by the ''
contenance angloise The ''Contenance angloise'', or English manner, is a distinctive style of polyphony developed in fifteenth-century England which uses full, rich harmonies based on the third and sixth. It was highly influential in the fashionable Burgundian court ...
'' style of the English composer
John Dunstaple John Dunstaple (or Dunstable, – 24 December 1453) was an English composer whose music helped inaugurate the transition from the medieval to the Renaissance periods. The central proponent of the ''Contenance angloise'' style (), Dunstaple was ...
. The court of Philip had generally good relations with the English, and had established both diplomatic and cultural links with their northern neighbor; his court was open to English diplomats, businessmen and musicians. About half of his extant secular music is found in the manuscript Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Canon. misc. 213.


Legacy

Modern musicologists generally hold Binchois, along with Du Fay and
John Dunstable John Dunstaple (or Dunstable, – 24 December 1453) was an English composer whose music helped inaugurate the transition from the medieval to the Renaissance periods. The central proponent of the ''Contenance angloise'' style (), Dunstaple was ...
as the three major European composers of the early 15th-century. Binchois, however, is usually ranked below the other two. Du Fay is often considered the leading European composer of his lifetime, and both had a longer career and produced more works than Binchois. While Dunstaple was described by the musicologist
Margaret Bent Margaret Bent CBE , (born Margaret Hilda Bassington; 23 December 1940) is an English musicologist who specializes in music of the late medieval and Renaissance eras. In particular, she has written extensively on the Old Hall Manuscript, English ...
as "probably the most influential English composer of all time." Reflecting on this, Fallows contends that regardless, "the extent to which inchois'sworks were borrowed, cited, parodied and intabulated in the later 15th century implies that he had more direct influence than either u Fay or Dunstaple. The 20th century saw two major publications of music by Binchois: the musicologist
Wolfgang Rehm Wolfgang Rehm (3 September 1929 – 6 April 2017) was a German musicologist active mostly in music publishing, especially the '' Neue Mozart-Ausgabe''. He was on the board of its editorial team for decades, and personally edited operas and piano m ...
edited a 1957 edition of his secular works, while a 1992 edition of his religious music was edited by Philip Kaye.


References


Notes


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

''See and for extensive bibliographies'' * * * * * *


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Binchois, Gilles 1460 deaths Belgian classical composers Belgian male classical composers Burgundian school composers 15th-century Franco-Flemish composers Renaissance composers Year of birth uncertain