Tourout, Johannes (EN)

Tourout, Touront, Johannes, *c. 1430, Flemish composer active in the third quarter of the 15th century. He was a cleric of the diocese of Tournai, and his surname indicates that he came from the town of Torhout (French: Thourout) in Flanders. The only surviving document relating to his life was issued on July 3, 1460 by the papal chancellery and concerns the granting of a prebend to Tourout at St. Mary’s Collegiate Church in Antwerp. In the document, the composer is referred to as the cantor of Emperor Frederick III. Based on prosopographic research, it can be concluded that Tourout arrived at the imperial court in the late 1450s with a group of Franco-Flemish singers and remained there until no later than 1466. The earliest records of works bearing various forms of his name come from this period and are preserved in several manuscripts from Trent, southern Germany, and Bohemia. The spelling of the composer’s name was established on the basis of a document from the papal chancellery; the form “Touront” used in earlier literature is incorrect. 

Tourout composed mainly masses, Marian motets, and chansons for three, and less frequently for four voices. His work has quite distinctive stylistic features that set him apart from other composers of the third quarter of the 15th century. They include a flowing melody constructed using seconds interrupted by small intervallic leaps, clear cadences, rhythmic coherence of the voices, and avoidance of dissonances. Tourout gladly returns to certain motifs and phrases, transforming them subtly. He often uses imitation, sometimes in combination with canon (the motet Virgo restauratrix with a mirror canon between two tenors). Most of Tourout’s works show connections with the French song repertoire, e.g. Missa “Mon oeil,” an early example of a parodied mass, is modeled on an anonymous chanson, reconstructed by J. van Benthem as Mon oeil lamente. Some Latin works, previously considered motets, are in fact contrafacta, e.g. Chorus iste, pie Christe may have originally functioned as the chanson Adieu m’amour. Tourout’s technical mastery brings him close to the works of J. Ockeghem, Ph. Caron and A. Busnois. The Marian motet O gloriosa regina, preserved in numerous sources in various versions, including (like the hymn Pange lingua) an arrangement for keyboard instruments, became particularly popular. It also formed the basis of J. Vincenet’s mass. Tourout’s works are mainly found in manuscripts from Central Europe, which also contain other compositions that show numerous similarities to his style. J. van Benthem attributed to him the Primi toni mass for three voices, preserved in a manuscript from Verona (Biblioteca Capitolare, ref. no. DCCLIX) with the name of J. Ockeghem.

Literature: D. Orel Počátky umělého vícehlasu v Čechách, Bratislava 1922; D. Orel Die Stilarten der Mehrstimmigkeit des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts in Böhmen, in: Studien zur Musikgeschichte, Festschrift for G. Adler, Vienna 1930; L.E. Gottlieb The Cyclic Masses of Trent Codex 89, thesis University of California, Berkeley 1958; R.J. Snow The Manuscript Strahov D.G.IV.47, thesis University of Illinois 1968; R.J. Mitchell The Paleography and Repertory of Trent Codices 89 and 91, thesis University of Exeter 1989; R. Strohm Messzyklen über deutsche Lieder in den Trienter Codices, in: Liedstudien, Festschrift for W. Osthoff, ed. M. Just and R. Wiesend, Tutzing 1989; A.P. Leverett Song Masses in the Trent Codices. The Austrian Connection, “Early Music History” XIV, 1995; D. Fallows A Catalogue of Polyphonic Songs, 1415–1480, Oxford 1999; P. Gancarczyk Musica scripto. Kodeksy menzuralne II połowy XV wieku na wschodzie Europy Łacińskiej, Warsaw 2001; M. Kirnbauer Hartmann Schedel und sein “Liederbuch”. Studien zu einer spätmittelalterlichen Musikhandschrift (…) und ihrem Kontext, Bern 2001; P. Gancarczyk Związki kodeksu Strahov z Austrią i dworem Fryderyka III and M. Staehelin Uwagi o wzajemnych związkach biografii, twórczości i dokumentacji dzieł Piotra Wilhelmiego z Grudziądza, “Muzyka” 2004 no. 2; R.J. Mitchell Regional Styles and Works in Tr 89 and Related Sources: A Short Survey, in: Manoscritti di polifonia nel Quattrocento europeo, ed. M. Gozzi, Trento 2004; J. van Benthem Ein “Pange lingua” unter der Tarnkappe, in: Musical Culture of the Bohemian Lands and Central Europe before 1620, eds. J. Bat’a et al., Prague 2011; M. Kirnbauer Lied, Chanson, Cantilena: “Elend du hast Vmbfangen mich…” (…) und verwandte Sätze von J. Touront, in: “Leglicher sang sein eigen ticht”: Germanistische und musikwissenschaftliche Beiträge zum deutschen Lied im Mittelalter, eds. Ch. März et al., Wiesbaden 2011; J. van Benthem Rescued by Transplantation. An Unorthodox Approach to “Lost” Chansons by J. Tourout in Polyphonic Sources from Bohemia and P. Gancarczyk J. Tourout and the Imperial “Hofkantorei” ca. 1460, “Hudební věda” 2013 no. 3–4; J. van Benthem Die Saganer Stimmbücher (Das Glogauer Liederbuch): eine unbeachtete Quelle für J. Tourout?, in: The Musical Culture of Silesia before 1742: New Contexts – New Perspectives, eds. P. Gancarczyk et al., Frankfurt am Main 2013; J. van Benthem Affection Unmasked? About the Misleading Transmission of the “Lost” Song by J. Tourout, in: Qui musicam in se habet, Festschrift for A.E. Planchart, eds. A. Zayaruznaya et al., [s.l.] 2015.