Busnois, Antoine (EN)

Busnois, de Busne, Busnays, Bunois, Antoine, †6 November 1492 Bruges, Franco-Flemish composer and poet. From 1467, he was a singer in the court chapel of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (1433–77), whom he probably accompanied on his travels between 1471 and 1475. During this time, he met Charles the Bold’s court poet and chronicler, Jean Molinet, with whom he corresponded in rhyme. In 1476, he entered the service of Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy, and in 1477 he joined the band of her daughter, Mary of Burgundy (1457–82), wife of Archduke Maximilian of Austria (1459–1519), later Emperor Maximilian I. Until 1482, Busnois was mentioned many times in the accounts of the Burgundian court, and as a clergyman he received numerous benefices. At the end of his life, he probably served as rector cantoriae at the church of St-Sauveur in Bruges. Busnois was considered by his contemporaries to be the most outstanding musician alongside Ockeghem. Tinctoris described both composers as “lumina claritatis inter recensiores compositores”. The theorist also dedicated his treatise Liber de natura et proprietate tonorum to Ockeghem and Busnois. Busnois is also mentioned by other authors: Eloy d’Amerval (Livre de Deablerie), B. Ramos de Pareja (Música práctica), J. Hothby (Dialogus in arte musica), J. Molinet (e.g. in Le naufrage de la pucelle). In his lament on Ockeghem’s death, G. Crétin describes Busnois as his pupil.

Busnois was primarily a representative of secular court music. He used a style typical of the Burgundian milieu at the end of the Middle Ages. He left behind over 60 chansons for 3 and 4 voices (8 of which were published by O. Petrucci in 1501–03), composed mainly to French texts. They predominantly feature refrain-based forms of the rondeau and virelai evolving into the single-stanza bergerette, characteristic of 15th-century French poetic forms. Busnois’s contacts with the Parisian milieu are evidenced by works associated with Jacqueline d’Hacqueville, wife of parliamentary advisor J. Bouchart and sister of the president of the parliament. The composer included her name in acrostic form in the rondeau A vous sans autre and in the bergerette Je ne puis vivre, and also dedicated the rondeaux Ja que lui ne s’i attende and Ha que ville et abhominable to her. In his chansons, the composer most often used a freely treated imitation technique. Busnois’s songs gained great popularity. They have been preserved in widely distributed manuscript monuments, including the Glogauer Liederbuch; several chansons are also found in other sources. The following compositions by Busnois have survived in the field of religious music: the mass L’homme armé, two three-voice magnificats, and nine three- and four-voice motets. He is also credited with the authorship of two masses, Ecce ancilla and O crux lignum. Although Busnois’s works in this field do not match those of Ockeghem, some of them, especially the motets (e.g. In hydraulis dedicated to Ockeghem and Anthonii usque limina dedicated to St. Anthony), which use the original melody as a cantus firmus (anticipating the era of Josquin des Prés), are noteworthy for their structural features, the specific use of ostinato in the tenor, and their treatment of rhythm and counterpoint.

Literature: N. Dupire J. Molinet, la vie, les oeuvres, Paris 1932; G. van Doorslaer La chapelle musicale de Philippe le Beau, “Revue Belge d’archéologie et d’histoire de l’art” IV, 1934; W. Stephan Die burgundisch-niederländische Motette zur Zeit Ockeghems, Kassel 1937; C.L.W. Boer Het Anthonius Motet van A. Busnois, Amsterdam 1940; A. Pirro Histoire de la musique de la fin du XIVe siècle à la fin du XVIe, Paris 1940; Ch. van den Borren Études sur le XVe siècle musical, Antwerp 1941; G. Perle The Chansons of A. Busnois, “The Music Review” XI, 1950; C.V. Brooks Antoine Busnois, Chanson Composer, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” VI, 1953; E.H. Sparks The Motets of A. Busnois, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” VI, 1953; G. Reese Music in the Renaissance, New York 1954; H. Hewitt The two Puzzle Canons in Busnois „Maintes femmes”, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” X, 1957; E.H. Sparks Cantus firmus in Mass and Motet, 1420–1520, Berkeley (California) 1963; L.L. Perkins A. Busnois and the D’Hacqeville Connection, in: Musique naturelle et musique artificielle, celebratory publication for G. Reese, ed. M.B. Winn, Montreal 1979; A.E. Planchart Fifteenth-Century Masses. Notes on Performance and Chronology, “Studi musicali” X, 1981; W. Haass Studien zu den L’homme armé-Messen des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts, “Kölner Beiträge zur Musikforschung” CXXXVI, Regensburg 1984; L.M. Trowbridge Style Change, in the Fifteenth-Century Chanson, “Journal of Musicology” IV, 1985/86; P. Higgins „In hydraulis” Revisited. New Light on Career of A. Busnois and R. Taruskin A. Busnois and the L’homme armé Tradition, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” XXXIX, 1986; W. Arlt Vom Überlieferungsbefund zum Kompositionsprozess. Beobachtungen an den zwei Fassungen von Busnois „Je me puis vivre ainsy”, celebratory publication for A. Forchert, eds. G. Allroggen, D. Altenburg, Kassel 1986; R.C. Wegman Busnois „Anthoni usque limina” and the Order of Saint-Antoine-en-Barbefosse, “Studi musicali” XVII, 1988; R.C. Wegman Another Mass by Busnois? and D. Fallows Busnois and the Early Fifteenth Century. A Note on „L’ardant desir” and „Faictes de moy”, “Music and Letters” LXXI, 1990; M. Caraci Vela Un capitolo di arte allusiva nella prima tradizione de Messe L’homme armé, “Studi musicali” XXII, 1993; C. Goldberg Die Chansons von A. Busnois. Die Ästhetik der höfischen Chansons, «Quellen und Studien zur Musikgeschichte von der Antike bis in die Gegenwart» XXXII, Frankfurt am Main 1994.