Arnold de Lantins (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1420s – before 2 July 1432) was a

Netherlandish The Low Countries comprise the coastal Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta region in Western Europe, whose definition usually includes the modern countries of Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and parts of Northern France. Both Belgium and the ...

composer of the late

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

and early

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

eras. He is one of a few composers who shows aspects of both medieval and Renaissance style, and was a contemporary of

Dufay Guillaume Du Fay ( , ; also Dufay, Du Fayt; 5 August 1397 – 27 November 1474) was a composer and music theorist of early Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered the leading European composer of h ...

during Dufay's sojourn in Italy. Very little is known about his life, except for a few years in the 1420s to around 1430. It is presumed that he was from

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

or adjacent areas. In the early 1420s he was probably in the service of the Malatesta family in either

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

Pesaro Pesaro (; ) is a (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the ...

, since Dufay mentioned him in the text of a rondeau which was written between 1420 and 1424. Lantins was in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

in 1428 and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1431, in the latter city as a singer in the papal chapel choir, along with Dufay. He was only in Rome six months; after that he disappears from history. Rome was entering a period of turmoil related to the

Conciliar movement Conciliarism was a movement in the 14th-, 15th- and 16th-century Catholic Church which held that supreme authority in the Church resided with an ecumenical council, apart from, or even against, the pope. The movement emerged in response to the We ...

after the death, in February 1431, of

Pope Martin V Pope Martin V (; ; January/February 1369 – 20 February 1431), born Oddone Colonna, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 November 1417 to his death in February 1431. His election effectively ended the We ...

; many musicians left at that time or shortly after, and Lantins may have been one of them. It is not known for certain if Arnold de Lantins was a relative of

Hugo de Lantins Hugo de Lantins (fl. 1420–1430) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Medieval era and early Renaissance. He was active in Italy, especially Venice, and wrote both sacred and secular music; he may have been a relative of Arnold de Lantins ...

, a composer active at the same time, but since their works often appear together in collections and they seem to have been in the same geographical regions, it is not unlikely. However, a sharp stylistic difference between the works of the two composers shows they can not be the same person. Earlier theories that there was a third "de Lantins," a certain Ray de Lantins, known from a single inscription in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Mus. 3224, were shown to be wrong in 2012 by

Margaret Bent Margaret Bent CBE , (born Margaret Hilda Bassington; 23 December 1940) is an English musicologist who specialises in music of the late medieval and Renaissance eras. In particular, she has written extensively on the Old Hall Manuscript, Engli ...

and Robert Klugseder, upon the discovery of a second, fuller inscription to "Raynaldus de lantins" of a Credo ascribed to Arnold de Lantins in two other sources.David Fallows, review of Margaret Bent and Robert Klugseder, ''Ein ''Liber cantus'' aus dem Veneto (um 1440)'' (Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2012), in
Plainsong and Medieval Music
' 23.1 (2014) This ascription makes it extremely likely that Ray should be read as a variant of Arnold. Lantin's music was held in high regard, and appears alongside that of Dufay,

Gilles Binchois Gilles de Bins dit Binchois (also Binchoys; – 20 September 1460) was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of early Renaissance music. A central figure of the Burgundian School, Binchois is renowned a melodist and miniaturist; he generally a ...

and

Johannes Ciconia Johannes Ciconia ( – between 10 June and 13 July 1412) was an important Franco-Flemish composer and music theorist of trecento music during the late Medieval era. He was born in Liège, but worked most of his adult life in Italy, parti ...

in contemporary manuscript collections. In particular, one

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 preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

– ''Tota pulchra es'' – is found in widely distributed sources; since this was before the advent of printing technology, wide distribution of copies is taken as evidence of a composer's fame and popularity. Arnold wrote a complete

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

, found in Bologna Q15 (all the movements are found in OX 213 although the last two movements are separated – only the first three movements are found in Bologna 2216), as well as several parts of a composite mass in Bologna Q15, augmenting movements written by

. Several other examples exist of composers adding movements to partial masses written by other composers, for example Zacara da Teramo, particularly in Bologna Q15. Musically Arnold's mass movements are fairly simple, using three voices, head motif technique, and avoiding imitative writing. Some of his other sacred music, such as his Marian motets, contain florid melodic writing and some use of imitation. He also wrote secular music, including ballades and rondeaux, all of which are in French, as well as a few shorter sacred pieces. Some of them refer to specific events or specific people, but none of either have been conclusively identified.

Recordings

* Arnold de Lantins, ''Missa Verbum Incarnatum'', Ricercar CD RIC 207, by the Capilla Flamenca, Psallentes and Clari Cantuli. Also contains the motet ''O pulcherrina mulierum,'' as well as music by Johannes Brassart and

Johannes Cesaris Johannes Cesaris (fl. 1406 – 1417) was a French composer of the late Medieval era and early Renaissance. He was one of the composers of the transitional style between the two epochs, and was active at the Burgundian court in the early 15th ...

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References and further reading

* Article "Arnold de Lantins", in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. *

Gustave Reese Gustave Reese ( ; November 29, 1899 – September 7, 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. * * * Lidia Kućmierz, "Construction of music in non-mass works of Arnold de Lantins", Master Thesis,

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

of Cracow, Faculty of History, Cracow 1995

External links

* Free access to high-resolutio
images of manuscripts
containing works by this composer from Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lantins, Arnold De 1432 deaths Year of birth unknown Burgundian school composers Flemish composers 15th-century Franco-Flemish composers French classical composers French male classical composers Medieval male composers