Orto, Marbrianus de (EN)

Orto, Dujardin, Marbrianus, Marbriano de, *ca. 1460 Tournai (?), † 24 February 1529 Nivelles, Franco-Flemish composer. He was probably born in Tournai, since he appears in papal documents as a citizen of that city. In May 1482 he travelled to Rome together with the bishop of Tournai, Cardinal Ferry de Cluny.  After the death of his patron, he became a singer (December 1483) in the papal chapel, where he maintained close contacts with, among others, Josquin des Prés. He served in the ensembles of three successive popes (at least until 1499) and obtained numerous benefices. In 1505 he entered the service of the Habsburg–Burgundian court, first as a singer and later as chapel master in the ensemble of Philip the Fair. After Philip’s death (1506), he remained in Spain until 1508 in the service of his widow, Joan. In 1508 he helped reorganise the Netherlandish chapel of Philip’s son (the future Emperor Charles V) and directed it, on and off, until at least 1522. He died in Nivelles, where, since his Roman years, he had held the deanery of the church of St. Gertrude.

Orto’s works, most of which were probably composed before 1507, are typical examples of polyphony at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. The majority of his sacred compositions are four-voice pieces based on a cantus firmus, sometimes freely paraphrased (e.g., the masses La belle and Petita camusetta). The cantus firmus generally appears in the tenor, but occasionally also in other voices (e.g., the Agnus of La belle, the four-voice motet Ave Maria, or the hymn Ut queant laxis). In the mass J’ay pris amours (which includes two Credo settings), the composer approaches the parody technique, using the tenor and cantus from an anonymous chanson. Orto’s masses are characterised by rhythmic and textural climaxes in the final sections of the cycle (a tendency also visible in the four-voice motet Ave Maria). Most of his chansons are also written using cantus firmus technique; on two occasions (D’ung aultre amer and Fors seulement), the composer likely borrowed the model from works by J. Ockeghem.

Orto generally employed free counterpoint, although he also introduced imitations (more consistently in some chansons) and even two-voice canons (in eight compositions). In Dido’s lament (Dulces exuviae from the Aeneid), set to music by the composer, expressive chromaticism and dissonances also appear.

Literature: R. Gerber Römische Hymnenzyklen des späten 15. Jahrhunderts, “Archiv für Musikwissenschaft” XII, 1955; R. Miller The Musical Works of Marbrianus de Orto, thesis, Indiana University, 1974 (includes a transcription of a piece of music); M. Duggan Queen Joanna and Her Musicians, “Musica Disciplina” XXX, 1976; A.M. Picker The Career of Marbrianus de Orto (ca 1450–1529), in: Studien zur Geschichte der päpstlichen Kapelle, proceedings of the 1989 conference in Heidelberg, «Collectanea» II, in: «Capellae Apostolicae Sixtinaeque Collectanea Acta Monumenta» IV, ed. B. Janz, Vatican 1994; A. Roth Liturgical (and Paraliturgical) Music in the Papal Chapel towards the End of the Fifteenth Century. A Repertory of Embryo, in: Papal Music and Musicians in Late Medieval and Renaissance Rome, ed. R. Sherr, Oxford 1998; J. Rodin ‘When in Rome…’: What Josquin Learned in the Sistine Chapel, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” LXI, 2, 2008; N. Davidson Marbriano de Orto (c. 1455–1529): Personal Thoughts and Some Surprises, “Early Music” XXVI, 3, 2008; R. Woodley Tinctoris and Nivelles: The Obit Evidence, “Journal of the Alamire Foundation” I, 1, 2009; J. Rodin Unresolved, “Music & Letters” XC, 4, 2009; P.W. Urquhart Ad fugam, De Orto, and a Defense of the ‘Early Josquin’, “Tijdschrift van de Koninklijke Vereninging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis” LXII, 1–2, 2012; R.J. Wieczorek Patronat muzyczny w renesansowych Włoszech (1470–1527): Mediolan, Ferrara, Mantua, Florencja, Rzym, Poznań 2013