Antoine Brumel and His World of Musical Expression

It is no accident that the renowned French doctor and author François Rabelais (c. 1494-c. 1553) cited Brumel in his Quart livre des faicts et dicts héroîques du bon Pantagruel (1552). Rabelais recalled among other things the "chantans mélodieusement" that the "old masters" and Brumel, possessed. It is one of the many accounts provided by observers inside or outside the world of music underscoring the fact that Brumel was a well-known personality in his day, someone more widely spoken and heard of (then?) than he is today.

     The Italian poet Teofilo Folengo (1496-1544) described Brumel as one of the greatest and most celebrated singers of his day in his Le Maccheronee, a chronicle which was drawn up in Latin-Italian style. Eloy d'Amerval, a contemporary of Brumel and a master vocalist and composer in Orléans, wrote a chronicle entitled Le Livre de la deablerie at the end of the fifteenth century. When Eloy d'Amerval describes the joy of paradise, Brumel is also mentioned: he is one of the greatest of artists, one who delights paradise with "[...] quelque chanterie nouvelle, doulce, plaisante, devoste et belle [...]" (a new style of singing: sweet, pleasant, devout and beautiful). The eccentric Brumel was also the subject of vehement dispute in musical circles. In his tract Practica Musicae (1496), Franciscus Gafurius (1451-1522) ascribed a compositional peculiarity to Brumel, namely, the setting of the accompanying bass line a tenth below the upper voice. In 1553, Gregor Faber (c. 1520-?) printed another product of Brumel's brilliant imagination in his book Musices Praticae Erotematum Libri II - the Exemplum octo Modorum, in which each voice is written in a different mode!

     During the whole of the sixteenth century much was said about Brumel. Even in 1597, Thomas Morley referred to Brumel in his book A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke as one of the "practicians", whose works he had thoroughly analyzed in order to learn the proper application of modes. In the third part of his guide, Morley wrote, moreover, that only Josquin Desprez (1440-1521) and Brumel were able to teach one everything about older canonic techniques. The Swiss humanist and friend of Erasmus, Heinrich Glareanus (1488-1563), repeatedly referred to Antoine Brumel in his monumental work Dodekachordon (1547), calling him "extremely traditional". Five of Brumel's compositions are cited as examples. Glareanus referred to Brumel's mass De Beatissima Virgine as a masterpiece, "worthy of a great man".

    The Venetian music printer Ottaviano Petrucci (1466-1539), the first to print polyphonic music, published works by Brumel in his first collection (Harmonice Musices Odhecaton A, 1501). A printed collection followed in 1503 which was completely devoted to Brumel's masses. In addition, it is noteworthy that Orlando di Lasso (1532-1594) performed Brumel's monumental mass ET ECCE TERRAE MOTUS more than fifty years after his death. Di Lasso, who performed the part of "tenor secundus" himself, also prepared the performance and wrote the name of each singer next to the corresponding staff in the score. The Munich manuscript for this performance is the sole surviving copy of this masterpiece by Brumel (with the exception of the Agnus Dei II).

     Who was this Antoine Brumel? He was a difficult person in every respect and a selfwilled and eccentric composer. A difficult personality is not unusual for a musician, yet his idiosyncrasy was recognized even in his own lifetime.

     Brumel was born near Chartres circa 1460 and was not a Burgundian subject. Like many of his colleagues, he led an adventurous and restless life. Our first trace of him dates back to 1483 when he was mentioned as a singer at the cathedral of Chartres. Was it there, perhaps, that he adopted the Gothic sense of line and the flamboyant (late Gothic) sense of space, in order to retain and express them in his compositions? In Chartres, Brumel quickly gained recognition and soon received a salary increase "[...] à cause de son savoir" (on account of his knowledge). He remained there for a further three years, resettling in Geneva in 1492. Brumel had previously taken a year's leave of absence to visit the Duke of Savoy, who had offered him a position in Chambéry. In 1498, Brumel was appointed Cantor Princeps for the choirboys at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Following a dispute with his employer in the same year, he was forced to flee the city. He was later engaged as a singer in Chambéry, where he remained for two years (1501-1502).

     In the meantime, Brumel's compositions had become known far beyond the French national borders and he was thus summoned to Italy. From 1505 to 1510, he held the position of maestro di cappella (court music director, at the court of Alfonso d'Este I in Ferrara, one of the greatest centers of musical activity during the Italian Renaissance. Brumel was offered a generous contract: a benefice of 100 ducats per year, an annual salary of 100 ducats plus a house in Ferrara, and an annual travel allowance of 50 ducats.

     In regards to Italian musical life, what Brumel found in Ferrara was unsurpassable. Alfonso I's predecessor had already been termed "dell'arte nostro vero monarca" (of the arts, our true monarch). The court continually exchanged compositions and musicians with the other "Mecca" of music nearby, the Gonzaga court in Mantua. Brumel's predecessor was none other than Josquin, who left him a court chapel with 23 singers. Even Charles VIII found, that "i migliori suonatori di piffero, flauto e trombone" were to be found in Ferrara.

     After his five years of service in Ferrara, Brumel remained in Italy. He settled in Rome for some time, where news of his reputation had preceeded him. One of the most magnificent choral collections of the Vatican, The CHIGI-Codex, contains works by Brumel. The Roman music printer Antico regularly published his compositions from 1516 onwards. The fact that neither the date nor the place of Brumel's death is known fits the picture of his independent personality: through his music, he has attained immortal status in the eyes of his biographers.

     According to the standards of his time, Brumel's music knows no boundaries, is daring and never strictly academic. Whether this concerns imaginative musical structures, the working-out of counterpoint or the writing of repetitive forms - it is always more or less "outrageous".

     The most fascinating of Brumel's works is without a doubt his twelve-part mass ET ECCE TERRAE MOTUS. As already mentioned, this mass survived as part of a manuscript prepared in Bavarian court circles under the supervision of Orlando di Lasso. Di Lasso probably found this music in Alfonso I's estate. He was fascinated by the visionary tonal splendor of the piece, and he had the mass copied in a large choirbook format suitable for the court chapel. The original was probably lost. The copy is written most carefully and demonstrates typical characteristics of a professional's handwriting. Melismatic elements of the text (e.g. in the Kyrie) are completely absent. As the last three pages of the manuscript are badly damaged, several parts of the Agnus Dei I are missing. They have been reconstructed by signatories. This task was facilitated by numerous indications of canons in the work and the fact that twelve-part harmony based on triadic progressions only offers a limited choice of notes to be used in any case. The Agnus Dei II, missing from the Bavarian manuscript (or was it never performed by Di Lasso?) was miraculously discovered in a manuscript kept in Denmark during the sixteenth century which cannot be connected in any way with Di Lasso's or Brumel's circles.

     Brumel's twelve-part harmony is not structured in a traditional manner, but rather is made up of twelve equal voices that are divided according to vocal function into four groups of three voices each. Each part has a characteristic vocal register. Group I contains three superious parts. Group II is made up of three high tenor voices (i.e. no countertenors), while Group III consists of "normal" tenors and Group IV is composed of three bass parts. Each of the three voices within each group comprises the same vocal register; their lines constantly cross one another, however. In addition, Brumel, who is especially interested in a daring, virtuosic interplay of contrapuntal lines, employs the crossing of voices between groups. In certain passages (e.g. in the Credo at the words "invisibilium" and "sedet ad dexteram") a bass voice not only rises above the entire tenor group, but even above all the countertenors, as well.

     The six tenor parts (three high and three "normal") make up the tightly-structured core of the polyphony. Odd melodic progressions and the crossing of voices are not unusual in these parts. The high second tenor has the same register, for the most part, as the third tenor and goes down to a low A. The high tenor parts are called countertenors in the manuscript, but should not be confused with what today is considered the characteristic countertenor voice. The Tenor III part, in contrast, extends down to a low F and lies lower at that point than all the bass lines. It is hard to imagine the vocal virtuosity Brumel was envisioning while composing this mass. Melodic leaps of an octave regularly occur. The vocal ranges are pushed to extremes and some passages are only performable by using Renaissance vocal techniques such as falsetto and changes in vocal color.

     The twelve-part mass is built on a cantus firmus derived from the beginning of the Easter antiphon ET ECCE TERRAE MOTUS. Brumel actually restricts his cantus firmus material to the first seven tones of the antiphon. Further tones are added only in the cantus firmus of the Agnus Dei IL Brumel adopted the G mode from Gregorian chant. All parts of the mass were composed in the seventh mixolydian mode with the exception of the Christe and the Agnus Dei II, both of which constitute middle sections and end on C chords.

     Although the seven-tone cantus firmus appears in various kinds of small configurations, its basis is a three-voiced canon in long note values for the Tenor I and II and the Bass III parts. Brumel composed the most sophisticated but also the most cabbalistic cantus firmus canon for the Agnus Dei I. The Tenor II begins the "Et ecce terrae motus" on G (gg-e-g-a-gg). This passage is sung a tone higher with each repetition until the cantus firmus is finally sung at its original pitch level (dd-h-d-e-dd). The Cantus III and Bassus III parts imitate this passage exactly; however, they begin at a fourth above (c¹) and at a fifth below (c). At the point where the three-voiced cantus firmus canon appears, Brumel's composition is written in twelve parts. An even more varied form of twelve-part writing, alternating between groups of voices, is employed by Brumel in some sections containing no cantus firmus. Three sections are not conceived for twelve voices: the "Pleni sunt caeli" and the Benedictus (Sanctus fragments) are for eight voices, whereas the Agnus Dei II is for six voices. Brumel often employs changes in tempo indicated by mensuration signs, which give the composition a relief-like structure. Thus, the three sections of the Kyrie move in increasingly faster tempi. The first Kyrie section is written in a majestic tempus perfectum, the Christe section in a more "down-to-earth" alla breve, while the final Kyrie section is notated in a fast tempus diminutum. The Agnus Dei I (and consequently, also the Agnus Dei III) is composed in this virtuosic, turbulent mensuration as well.

     Apart from the fact that Brumel's composition contains the most prominent architectonic structures in flamboyant late Gothic art, it represents, in another sense, a true stroke of luck. Brumel's music for this mass avoids the sonoric qualities common to the fifteenth century, such as fauxbourdon and Burgundian cadential formulas. Instead, he composes counterpoint of a very tonal character, in which, for example, the third is treated as a stable consonance. The fact that Brumel writes the final chord of the Christe (on C) with no less than six E's is characteristic of the manner in which he employs thirds in the context of cadential harmonies. In this way, Brumel's ET ECCE TERRAE MOTUS, written in flamboyant, late-Gothic style goes beyond the boundaries of the imitational counter-point of his day. The composer could not have chosen a better cantus firmus: this counterpoint is also very pleasing to the ear.

     Brumel was one of the first composers to write a polyphonic Requiem Mass. Its sequence for the DIES IRAE, DIES ILLA is the first recorded polyphonic setting of this text in the history of music. Brumel composed the odd-numbered verses of the sequence polyphonically, doing so in such a way as to portray fully both the severity of the text with its apocalyptic vision, as well as the meditative character of the Gregorian chant. Here, we do not encounter the enlightened spirit of the Renaissance as in the twelve-part mass, but rather a man of the Middle Ages with his archaic tonal language and his subtle cadences. All polyphonic cadential chords end on the open fifth, that is, without a third. Brumel leaves the realisation of the even-numbered verses of the sequence to the discretion of the interpreter. These passages are performed on this recording employing one of the many possible methods of improvisation that the professional singer of the fifteenth century had at his disposal: the  fauxbourdon technique.