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Biography
Gaspar van Weerbeke (circa|1445 – after 1516) was a Dutch School (music)|Netherlandish composer of the Renaissance music|Renaissance . He was of the same generation as Josquin des Prez , but unique in his blending of the contemporary Italy|Italian style with the older Burgundian School|Burgundian style of Guillaume Dufay|Dufay .
Life
He was born somewhere in the diocese of Tournai , evidently out of wedlock, and was educated at Oudenaarde . While little is known of the first two decades of his life, he probably knew or studied with Johannes Regis , and he may have studied with Johannes Ockeghem|Ockeghem ; in addition it is likely he knew Dufay at the Burgundian court of Charles the Bold , since so much of his music follows in the model of the older composer. In 1471 he went to Milan , where he joined the singers of the House of Sforza|Sforza chapel, which included Johannes Martini , Alexander Agricola , and Loyset Compère .
In 1472 and 1473 he went back north to Burgundy (region)|Burgundy to find more singers for his Italian employer. Successful in his quest, he returned to Milan, and soon the Sforza chapel had one of the largest choirs in Europe. After the murder of Galeazzo Maria Sforza|Duke Sforza in 1476, however, the singers mostly disbanded. Weerbeke then joined the papal choir in Rome under Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV and Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII , where he remained until 1489, at which time he returned to Milan.
For the next decade Weerbeke seems to have been associated with several courts, including Milan, the court of Philip I of Castile|Philip the Fair , and possibly the Medici in Florence . After 1500 he was again in Rome singing in the papal choir. The last years of his life are obscure; he may have returned to the region of his birth, for he received appointments for posts at both Cambrai and Tournai ; and in addition there is a record of his possibly holding a post at St. Maria ad Gradus (Mainz)|St. Maria ad Gradus in Mainz in 1517.
Music
Weerbeke combined the styles of the Italians with some of the older techniques of the Burgundians. He was almost alone among the Dutch School (music)|Franco-Flemish composers in avoiding the smooth, imitative polyphonic style which was developing at the time, best exemplified by the music of Josquin des Prez.
He composed sacred music: mass (music)|masses , motet s, motet cycles, a Magnificat setting, and a setting of the Lamentations (music)|Lamentations , as well as a few secular chanson s; but the bulk of his work is sacred vocal music. Attribution of the chansons is controversial, and many scholars believe them to have been composed by composers such as Josquin, or Jean Japart .
In style, much of his motet writing is homophonic , incorporating some of the lightness of the contemporary Italian secular music. Most of his masses are based on chanson melodies, which are stated clearly in the tenor voice, and the other voices usually move in a simple, occasionally parallel manner, related to the manner of Dufay or the other Burgundians. Once in a while Weerbeke uses imitation (music)|imitation but never in the paired manner of Josquin or the pervasive manner of the later Franco-Flemish composers; his style of composition of masses is almost archaic in comparison to his contemporaries.
His music was much esteemed, especially in Italy, where it represented perhaps the popular aesthetic as opposed to the counterpoint|contrapuntal , but foreign grandeur of most of the composers from the Low Countries.
References and further reading
Article "Gaspar van Weerbeke", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
Cite book | first1=Gerhard | last1=Croll | first2=Andrea | last2=Lindmayr-Brandl | title=Gaspar van Weerbeke | publisher=Grove Music Online | editor=L. Macy | url= http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/public/book/omo_gmo | accessdate=29 October 2010 subscription required
Eric F. Fiedler, Die Messen des Gaspar van Weerbeke, Tutzing, 1997 ISBN 3-7952-0888-2
Gustave Reese , Music in the Renaissance . New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0-393-09530-4
Recording
2003 - Canticum Canticorum. In Praise of Love: The Song of Songs in the Renaissance , Capilla Flamenca . Eufoda 1359. Contains recordings of Tota pulchra es and Anima mea liquefacta est by Gaspar van Weerbeke.
Example
Listen|filename= VanWeerbekeTotaPulchraEs.ogg|title= Tota Pulchra Es |description=By Gaspar van Weerbeke, performed by Capilla Flamenca|format= Ogg
Use dmy dates|date=October 2010 Persondata | NAME = van Weerbeke, Gaspar | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = musician (composer) | DATE OF BIRTH = c. 1445 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = after 1516 | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Weerbeke, Gaspar Van Category:Renaissance composers Category:Franco-Flemish composers Category:1445 births Category:1517 deaths
de:Gaspar van Weerbeke fr:Gaspar van Weerbeke it:Gaspar van Weerbeke nl:Gaspar van Weerbeke ja:????·???·??????
