Grenon, Nicolas (EN)

Grenon Nicolas, Nicholaus, *ca. 1380, †1456 Cambrai, Franco-Flemish composer. He probably received his musical training in Paris. There, in 1399, he was a cleric at Notre-Dame Cathedral, whilst also serving as a canon at the Church of St-Sépulcre, where he had previously been employed as a scribe; in 1401 he became a subdeacon and subsequently a deacon. During his lifetime, he held numerous posts in various musical centres: from 1403 to 1408 as magister puerorum at Laon Cathedral, from 1408 to 1409 as maître de grammaire at Cambrai Cathedral, from 1 August 1412 at the court of Duke John the Fearless as director of the boys’ choir in the Burgundian chapel. Following the Duke’s death (10 September 1419), he returned to Cambrai, where in 1421 he was appointed maître de musique at the local cathedral. Between 1425 and 1427, he conducted the boys’ choir in Pope Martin V’s papal chapel in Rome. In 1437 he was in Bruges, and from 1440 until his death he was back in Cambrai. In 1449 he welcomed Duke Philip the Good at the cathedral there.

Grenon’s secular songs represent a type of French polyphonic chanson; they consist of three rondeaux, one ballade, and one virelai. In these works, sonority plays a dominant role. The superius and tenor voices define the tonal and sonic structure of the compositions, whilst the contratenor acts as a complementary voice. The virelai La plus belle et doulce figure is written in a ballade style, in which the vocal part (the highest voice) is accompanied by two instrumental parts. Stylistically, Grenon’s motets combine elements of the French ars nova (the consistent use of isorhythmic technique in all parts, and hoquetus in the upper vocal parts) with Italian influences (canon and imitation in the vocal parts). Also evident is the intermingling of elements characteristic of secular forms: the ballade (a long-phrased melody in one voice and instrumental passages in the remaining parts, Plasmatoris humani – Verbigine mater ecclesia), the rondeau (short melodic phrases frequently interrupted by cadential figures, Prophetarum fulti suffragio – Ave virtus virtutum – Infelix), and the chanson (a pronounced rhythm emphasised by chordal harmonic textures).

Literature: E. Dannemann Die spätgotische Musiktradition in Frankreich und Burgund vor dem Auftreten Dufays, Strasbourg 1936; J. Marix Histoire de la musique et des musiciens de la cour de Bourgogne sous le règne de Philippe le Bon, Strasbourg 1939; A. Pirro Histoire de la musique de la fin du XIVe siècle à la fin du XVIe siècle, Paris 1940; J. Chomiński Historia harmonii i kontrapunktu, vol. 1, Krakow 1958; C. Wright Music at the Court of Burgundy, 1364–1419, Harvard 1972 (thesis).