Brassart, Johannes (EN)

Brassart, Brasart, Johannes, J. de Ludo, J. de Leodio, *ca. 1400 Lowaige (?), province of Limburg, †before 22 October 1455, Franco-Flemish composer. From 1422 until the end of his life, he was associated with Liège, where he held various positions in several churches, including succentor at St. Lambert’s Cathedral from 1428 to 1430. In the mid-1420s, he visited Rome, and in 1431 he was a member of the papal choir (along with G. Dufay) for several months; in 1433, he was a member of the choir of the Council of Basel. In 1434–43, he served as cantor and choirmaster (‘rector capellae’, ‘cantor principalis’) at the courts of successive German emperors and kings from the Habsburg dynasty: Sigismund, Albrecht II, and Frederick III. In 1442–45, he served as canon and cantor at St. Mary’s Church in Tongeren, and then, in 1445–55, he was canon at St. Paul’s Collegiate Church in Liège.

Brassart gained recognition among his contemporaries as a composer of sacred works. Copies of these can be found mainly in manuscripts from northern Italy and centers under the influence of the Habsburg imperial court. Brassart belonged to the generation of Dufay and used compositional techniques typical of his time. Two pairs of Gloria-Credo mass settings, one of which is hypothetically attributed to him, are distinguished by their shared musical material. In the introits, he used the technique of alternating choral and polyphonic singing (alternatim), as well as fauxbourdon. In three motets, he used an isorhythmic tenor; among them, the four-part ceremonial motet O rex Fridrice / In tuo adventu stands out, most likely composed for the coronation of Frederick III as German king (Aachen, 1442). A different style is represented by the three-voice Marian motet O flos fragrans, with a dominant cantilena in the highest voice, reminiscent of Dufay’s Flos florum. Brassart, as cantor at the Habsburg court, played a significant role in spreading modern polyphonic techniques in Central Europe; at the same time, he referred to local practices in his work (cantio Gratulemur Cristicole and an arrangement of the German song Crist ist erstanden). F. Gaffurius, in his treatise Practica musicae (1496), mentions him alongside Dunstable, Binchois, and Dufay in connection with the principles of the use of dissonance.

Literature: A. Auda Musique et musiciens de l’ancien pays de Liège, Liège 1930; Ch. van den Borren Études sur le XVe siècle musical, Antwerp 1941; S. Clerx Johannes Brassart et le début de sa carrière, “Revue belge de musicologie” VI, 1952; K.E. Mixter Johannes Brassart and His Works, “Musica Disciplina” XVIII, 1964; K.E. Mixter Isorhythmic Design in the Motets of Johannes Brassart, in: Studies in Musicology, celebratory publication for G. Haydon, ed. J.W. Pruett, Chapel Hill 1969; S. Meyer-Eller Johannes Brassart und seine Verbindung mit Johannes de Ragusa, “Die Musikforschung” XXXIX, 1986; E. Schreurs La vie musicale à la collégiale de Notre-Dame à Tongres à l’époque de Johannes Brassart dans la perspective de l’histoire musicale de l’Europe occidentale, “Bulletin de la Société Liégeoise de Musicologie” LXXVIII, 1992; P. Wright Johannes Brassart and Johannes de Sarto and A New Attribution to Brassart? “Plainsong and Medieval Music” I, III, 1992, 1994; J.E. Cumming The Motet in the Age of Du Fay, Cambridge 1999; M. Bent Ciconia’s Dedicatee, Bologna Q15, Brassart, and the Council of Basel, in: Manoscritti di polifonia nel Quattrocento europeo, ed. M. Gozzi, Trento 2004; C. Saucier Acclaiming Advent and Adventus in Johannes Brassart’s Motet for Frederick III, “Early Music History” XXVII, 2008; R. Nosow Ritual Meanings in the Fifteenth-Century Motet, Cambridge 2012; A.E. Planchart The Liégeoise Diaspora in Italy in the Early Fifteenth Century, “Revue belge de musicologie” LXVII, 2013; C. Saucier A Paradise of Priests: Singing the Civic and Episcopal Hagiography of Medieval Liège, Rochester 2014; C. Saucier Reading Hagiographic Motets: Christi nutu sublimato, Lamberte vir inclite, and the Legend of St Lambert, “Journal of the Alamire Foundation” VI, 2014; C. Saucier Johannes Brassart’s Summus secretarius: Extolling the Evangelist, “Journal of Musicology” XXXIV, 2017.