Philippe le Chancelier (EN)

Philippe le Chancelier, Philip the Chancellor, *c. 1170 Paris, †26 December 1236 Paris, French theologian, poet and composer (?). He was often confused with Philippe de Grève, canon at the cathedrals of Notre-Dame in Paris (1182) and Sens (1220). He was the illegitimate son of Philip, Archdeacon of Paris. After studying at the cathedral school and earning a master’s degree at the University of Paris, he held numerous church offices: Archdeacon of Noyon (from 1212), administrator of the province of Reims (from 1216), then canon from 1217, and finally chancellor of the chapter of Notre Dame in Paris from 1218 until his death. He took several trips to Rome (1219, 1222, 1230). Apart from his theological (Summa de Bono), hagiographic and homiletic works (over 700 homilies), medieval sources ascribe over 80 Latin hymns and two French ones to him. Based on historical research and style-critical studies, 85 conducti attributed to Philip have survived (including 19 polyphonic ones), as well as five organum prosulas, six prosulas for conductus melismas (caudae) and 19 motets, to which perhaps several other compositions of uncertain attribution should be added. In these works, Philip emerges as an exceptional scholar endowed with polemical fervour, demonstrating mastery of various forms (such as strophic songs, sequences, and rondeaux) and diverse verse structures, creative in his use of rhyme and word play. The content of some works is connected to important events at the time like Saladin’s siege of Jerusalem in 1187 – Venit Ihesus in propria, the election of Pope Innocent III in 1198 – Pater sancte dictus Lotharius (contrafactum of Gace Brulé’s melody Douce dame), the coronation of Louis VIII as the King of France in 1223 – Beata nobis gaudia. There are also poems of a moralising character such as the conductus Mundus a mundicia (preserved in both monophonic and polyphonic versions) criticising the corruption of the clergy.

Most of Philip’s poems have survived with their music. The musical settings derive partly from earlier works, for example compositions by members of the Parisian school (tropes/organum prosulas, including Pérotin’s Sederunt and Viderunt, prosulas for conductus melismas), troubadour songs (e.g. the contrafactum of Bernart de Ventadorn’s canso Can vei la lauzeta mover in call and response form in the conductus Quisquis cordis et oculi and its French version Li cuers servait) and trouvère songs (Nitimur in vestitum based on the model of a  song by Guy de Coucy). Most of the music to Philip’s works is nevertheless original. Its authorship is attributed, with varying degrees of probability, to Pérotin (conductus Beata viscera, Relegetur ab area, Dic Christi veritas, the motets Agmina milicie/Agmina, Non orphanum te deseram/Et gaudebit), although it is not impossible that some of the musical settings were composed by Philip himself. Regardless, the works based on his texts played a significant role in the history of organum and the early motet.

Literature: H. Meylan Les „Questions” de Philippe le Chancelier, Paris 1927; F. Gennrich Internationale mittelalterliche Melodien, “Zeitschrift für Musikwissenschaft” XI, 1928–29; P. Glorieux Répertoire des Maîtres en théologie de Paris au XIIIe siècle, Paris 1933; J. Handschin Conductus-Spicilegien, “Archiv für Musikwissenschaft” IX, 1952; E. Paganuzzi L’autore della melodia della „Alteratio cordis et oculi” di Philippe le Chancelier, «Collectanea Historiae Musicae» II, 1957; F. Gennrich Bibliographie der ältesten französischen und lateinischen Motetten, «Summa Musica Medii Aevi» II, ed. F. Gennrich, Darmstadt 1957; R. Steiner Some Monophonic Latin Songs Composed around 1200, “The Musical Quarterly” LII, 1966; H. Husmann Ein Faszikel Notre-Dame-Kompositionen auf Texte des Pariser Kanzlers Philipp in einer Dominikanerhandschrift (Rom, Sancta Sabina XIVL 3) as well as R. Falek Zwei Lieder Philippes des Kanzlers und ihre Vorbilder, „Archiv für Musikwissenschaft” XXIV, 1967; G. Anderson Thirteenth Century Conductus “Obiter Dicta”, “The Musical Quarterly” LXVIII, 1972; R. Falek The Notre Dame Conductus. A Study of the Repertory, Henryville (Pennsylvania) 1981; T.B. Payne ‘Associa tecum in patria’: a Newly Identified Organum Trope by Philip the Chancellor, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” XXXIX, 1986; P. Dronke The Lyrical Compositions of Philip the Chancellor, “Studi medievali”, 3rd series, XXVIII 1987; C.M. Wright Music and Ceremony at Notre Dame of Paris, Cambridge 1989; T.B. Payne ‘Aurelianis civitas’: Student Unrest in Medieval France and a Conductus by Philip the Chancellor, “Speculum” LXXV, 2000; D.A. Traill Philip the Chancellor and F10: Expanding the Canon, “Filologia mediolatina” X 2003; R. Curry Lost and found in Stary Sącz: Ave gloriosa, in M. Perz’s commemorative book, Krakow 2003; D.A. Traill A Cluster of Poems by Philip the Chancellor in Carmina Burana 21–36, “Studi medievali”, 3rd series, XLVII, 2006; D.A. Traill More Poems by Philip the Chancellor, “Journal of Medieval Latin” XVI, 2006; T.B. Payne Philip the Chancellor and the Conductus Prosula: ‘Motetish” works from the School of Notre-Dame, in: B. Gillingham’s commemorative book, ed. T. Bailey et al., Aldershot-Burlington 2007; A.-Z. Rillon-Marne: Homo considera: la pastorale lyrique de Philippe le Chancelier; une étude des conduits monophonique, «Studia artistarum: Études sur la Faculté des arts dans les Universités médiévales» XXXIV, Turnhout 2012; A.-Z. Rillon-Marne Notre Dame Conductus and the Renewal of Speech at the Turn of the 12th and 13th Centuries: The Sonorous Framing of the Congregation, “Musica Disciplina” LVIII, 2013.