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• Busnois, Antoine: 5 French Songs

Busnois, Antoine: 5 French Songs

for 3 voices or instruments.

Antoine Busnois (c. 1430-1492) was the most prolific composer of secular music of his generation; 64 songs can be definitely ascribed to him, and there are a few others that may be by him. His pieces are more forward-looking than those of Ockeghem, and more varied than those of Hayne van Ghizeghern, his other main contemporary. He used imitation more often than did either of those musicians, and experimented rather more freely with texture. Both these aspects of his art figure prominently in the present selection, and in fact every one of the five pieces here has some distinctive feature to mark it out from the average courtly song of the time.
Busnois was almost certainly born at Busne, near Béthune (Pas-de-Calais), and spent most of his career in the service of the Burgundian court. At the time of his death he was rector cantorie at Bruges. He must have had connections in Paris, however, because the romantic figure of Jacqueline d´Hacqueville, who was the inspiration of many of his songs, was the wife of a Parisian councillor.
Bel Acueil has three parts of identical range, with a great amount of imitation, creating a texture unlike that of typical chansons of the time. Ha que ville et abhominable, which like many other Busnois pieces was dedicated to Jacqueline d´Hacqueville, comes in two versions: one with three parts quite widely spaced, and virtually free of imitation; and another which uses the same top part, but in a canon for three equal voices (musically this is very satisfying, but causes a formal problem if it is to be sung as a rondeau). The virelai le ne puis vivre has an A section that is very imitative; here the top two parts share the same general tessitura, while the contratenor lies an octave or so lower; the contrasting B section begins with a very modern-sounding passage of almost startling simplicity. Both sections end with elaborate melismas of the greatest elegance in both the top parts. Incidentally, the text of this song forms an acrostic: the first letters of each line, taken in sequence, and allowing the usually flexibility between I/J and U/V, once again form the name of Busnois´ beloved Jacqueline. Seule a par moy also has two high parts of roughly equal range, though the actual amount of imitation between the two is a little less, but the distinctive feature of this piece is modal/harmonic; although partial key-signatures were common at this time, the extent to which Busnois deliberately exploits the resulting ambiguities is quite remarkable. Alternative solutions to the second section are of course possible, but if B flats and E flats are applied in 19-21, A flats will be required in 25-6, which results in a very ugly shift in 28. Pucellotte is possibly an early example of a chanson rustique, a setting of a simple text in a popular style; it does not seem to be based on a popular melody, but the style and texture are very forward-looking.
Bel Acueil is printed here after the Mellon Chansonnier. Ha que ville has music from the Dijon Chansonnier, but the text is taken from the Rohan Chansonnier (Die Liederhandschrift des Cardinals de Rohan, ed. Martin Löpelmann, 1923) - the text in Dijon is too short for the music; version A has been transposed up a fifth, to avoid a excessively low contratenor. For le ne puis vivre I have followed Dijon rather than the Mellon Chansonnier; however, I have transposed the piece down a tone here, to avoid a slightly awkward range in the two upper parts. Seule a par moy is printed here after Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, MS Banco Rari 229. Pucellotte is taken from the Pixéricourt Chansonnier (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS 15123).
Note values have been halved throughout: this gives a somewhat “white” appearance to the music, but allows the irregular rhythms to come through in a way they could not with beamed quavers. Editorial accidentals are either printed small above the stave, applying to the one note only, or in brackets on the stave, where, together with original accidentals, they are taken as applying to the whole bar. I am grateful to Alan Robson and jeannine Alton for translating the texts of these songs.
The considerable subtlety and polish of Busnois´ textures lends his music both to voices and instruments, or combinations of both.