Jacob Obrecht

Jacob Obrecht (1457/1458 – late July, 1505) was a Dutch composer of the Renaissance. He was the most famous composer of masses in Europe in the late 15th century, being eclipsed by only Josquin Desprez after his death. [Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.477.]

Life

What little is known of Obrecht's origins and early childhood comes mostly from his motet "Mille quingentis". [Wegman 1994, p.21.] He was born in either 1457 or 1458, [Wegman 1994, p.22.] , the only son [Wegman 1994, p.39.] of Ghent city trumpeter Willem Obrecht and Lijsbette Gheeraerts. [Wegman 1994, p.36.] His mother died in 1460 at the age of 20, [Wegman 1994, p.39.] and his father, in 1488 in Ghent. [Wegman 1994, p.147.] His portrait, painted in 1496, gives his age as 38, establishing his birthdate. [Wegman 1994, p.21.]

Details of his early education are sparse, [Wegman 1994, p.21.] but he likely learned to play the trumpet, like his father, and in so doing learned the art of counterpoint and improvisation over a cantus firmus. [Wegman 2007.] There is a good chance he knew Antoine Busnois at the Burgundian court; at any rate he certainly knew his music, since his earliest mass shows close stylistic parallels with the elder composer. [Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".]

Scholar and clergyman, [Atlas 1998, p.295.] Obrecht seems to have had a succession of short appointments, many of which ended in less than ideal circumstances. [Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".] There is one interesting record of his covering a shortfall in his accounts by a donation of his compositions to his employer. [Sparks, "Obrecht, Jacob, p.477.] Throughout the period, though as an employee he may have been undesirable, he was held in the highest respect both by his patrons and by the composers who were his peers. [Atlas 1998, p.295.] Tinctoris, who was writing in Naples, singles him out in a short list of the master composers of the day [Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".] —all the more significant because he was only 25 at the time Tinctoris made his list, and on the other side of Europe. [Atlas 1998, p.294.] Erasmus, interestingly enough, served as one of Obrecht's choirboys around the year 1476. [Reese 1959, p.107.]

While most of Obrecht's appointments were in Flanders in the Netherlands, he made at least two trips to Italy, once in 1487 at the invitation of Duke Ercole d'Este I of Ferrara, [Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".] and again in 1504. [Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".] Duke Ercole had heard Obrecht's music, which is known to have circulated in Italy between 1484 and 1487, [Wegman 1994, p.81-2.] and said that he appreciated it above the music of all other contemporary composers; [Wegman 1994, p.139.] consequently he invited Obrecht to Ferrara for six months in 1487. [Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".] In 1504 Obrecht once again went to Ferrara, [Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".] but on the death of the Duke at the beginning of the next year he became unemployed. [Atlas 1998, p.295.] In what capacity he stayed in Ferrara is unknown, but he died in the outbreak of plague there just before August 1, 1505. [Atlas 1998, p.295.]

Works

Obrecht wrote mainly sacred music: masses and motets. [Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.478.] His repertoire, though, did include some chansons. [Sternfeld 1973, p.198.]

Combining elements of modern and archaic, Obrecht's style is multi-dimensional. [Sternfeld 1973, p.196.] The presence of fluid melodies and stable harmonies characterize the Italian influence over his style; the fluidity, however, is sometimes deteriorated by over-repetition. [Sternfeld 1973, p.196.] His methodical, mathematical approach to rhythm is complex, resulting in a sense of rigidity. [Sternfeld 1973, p.196.] Obrecht's style is, indeed, a fascinating example of the contrapuntal extravagance of the late 15th century. [Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.477.] He usually used a cantus firmus technique for his masses: [Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.482.] sometimes he took his source material and divided it up into short phrases; [Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.478.] other times he used retrograded versions of complete melodies, or melodic fragments. [Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.478.] In one case he even extracted the component notes and ordered them by note value, long to short, constructing new melodic material from the reordered sequences of notes. [Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.478.] Clearly to Obrecht there could not be too much variety, [Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.478.] particularly true regarding the musically exploratory period of his early twenties. [Wegman 1994, p.87.] He began to break free from conformity to "formes fixes", especially in his chansons. Of the "formes fixes", the "rondeau" retained its popularity longest. [Sternfeld 1973, p.198.] However, he much preferred composing in the Mass genre where he possessed greater freedom. [Sternfeld 1973, p.197.]

In his "Missa Sub presidium tuum," the number of voice parts in the six chants increases from three in the Kyrie, to four in the Gloria, and so on, until there are seven voice parts in the Agnus Dei. [Wegman 1994, p.338.] The title chant is clearly heard in the top voice throughout the work. [Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".] His late four-voice mass, "Missa Maria zart", tentatively dated to around 1504, is based on a devotional song popular in the Tyrol, which he probably heard as he went through the region around 1503 to 1504. [Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".] Requiring more than an hour to perform, it is one of the longest polyphonic settings of the mass Ordinary ever written. [Wegman, "Obrecht, Jacob".]

Despite being contemporaries, Obrecht and Johannes Ockeghem differ significantly in musical style. [Sparks 1975, p.312.] Obrecht does not share Ockeghem's fanciful treatment of the cantus firmus but chooses to quote it verbatim. [Sparks 1975, p.312.] While the phrases in Ockeghem's music are ambiguously defined, those of Obrecht's music can be easily distinguished. [Sparks 1975, p.312.] Furthermore, Obrecht splices the cantus firmus melody with the intent of audibly reorganizing the motives; Ockeghem, on the other hand, exercises this treatment to a far lesser extent. [Sparks 1975, p.312-3.]

Obrecht's procedures show a startling contrast to the works of the next generation as well, exemplified by Josquin, who favored unity and simplicity of approach. [Sternfeld 1973, p.198-9.] Though he was renowned in his time, Obrecht had little influence on subsequent generations: most likely he simply went out of fashion. [Sparks, "Jacob Obrecht", p.482.]

External links

* [http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/composers/obrecht.html Obrecht biography and discography]
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References

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Notes

Recordings

* "Flemish Masters", Virginia Arts Recordings, VA-04413, performed by [http://zephyrus-va.org/ Zephyrus] . Includes the Obrecht "Missa Sub tuum presidium", as well as motets by Willaert, Clemens non Papa, Ockeghem, Des Prez, Mouton, and Gombert.
* "Missa Maria zart", Gimell CDGIM 032, performed by the Tallis Scholars, directed by Peter Phillips.
*"Jacob Obrecht. Chansons, Songs, Motets," Capilla Flamenca and Piffaro, 2005 (Eufoda 1361)
* [http://www.acc.umu.se/~akadkor/early/IVA_Obrecht_Jacob.html]
* [http://www.acc.umu.se/~akadkor/indexENG.html Umeå Akademiska Kör] .

Example