Surname
Battre
Given Name
H.
Role
Composer
Musician
Active period
circa 1430 - circa 1440
Biography
Voir Dictionnaire
Battre, H.
(fl c1430–40). Composer. Nothing is known of his life, though two of the texts he set provide possible clues to his place of origin or employment: Gaudens exulta is in praise of Ciney, a town in the province of Namur (now in south-east Belgium); and Chomos condrosi is thought to refer to the region around Ciney known as the Condroz. The exclusive association of his works with a source in which he is the only named composer (the so-called ‘Battre fascicle’ of I-TRmp 87) may indicate that he was its compiler. It seems unlikely on stylistic grounds that he is the later 15th-century composer Batty (or Batten).
Battre’s small yet varied output shows considerable originality; his music often unfolds in unpredictable ways. Gaude virgo is especially unusual in that it exploits the effects of contrasted vocal groupings (based on a distinction between ‘pueri’ and ‘mutate voces’), while Chomos condrosi, a two-part canon with a freely composed third voice, is remarkable for its setting of a macaronic text (in Latin and Greek) which actually describes the compositional technique being employed. Although this is his only canonic work, several others use imitation as a structural rather than a decorative device. If Battre’s music shows a tendency towards complexity of line and texture (with occasionally clumsy results), he is also capable of a simpler, more declamatory style, as can be seen for example in the hymn Stirps regia.
WORKS
all unique in I-TRmp 87
Edition: Sieben Trienter Codices, ed. R. Ficker, DTÖ, lxxvi, Jg.xl (1933/R) [F]
Gloria, 3vv; ed. in DTÖ, lxi, Jg.xxxi (1924/R)
Agnus Dei, 3vv; ed. in DTÖ, lxi, Jg.xxxi (1924/R)
Chomos condrosi, 3vv, canonic motet; F; also ed. in Loyan
De qua natus, 3vv, motet with text from the Genealogy of Christ; F
Dulcissime frater, 3vv, motet; F
Gaude virgo mater Christi, 3vv, sequence-motet; F
Gaudens exulta, 4vv, motet in praise of Ciney; F
Stirps regia, 3vv, hymn; F
Veni Creator Spiritus, 4vv, hymn; ed. in DTÖ, liii, Jg.xxvii (1920)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
StrohmR
G. Adler and O. Koller, eds.: Sechs Trienter Codices: geistliche und weltliche Kompositionen des XV. Jahrhunderts, DTÖ, xiv–xv, Jg.vii (1900/R)
R. Loyan: Canons in the Trent Codices, CMM, xxxviii (1967)
R.J. White: The Battre Fascicle of the Trent Codex 87 (diss., Indiana U., 1975) [includes edns of all Battre’s works]
D. Fallows: ‘Specific Information on the Ensembles for Composed Polyphony 1400–1474’, Studies in the Performance of Late Medieval Music, ed. S. Boorman (Cambridge, 1983), 109–59, esp. 122–3
PETER WRIGHT
Battre, H.
(fl c1430–40). Composer. Nothing is known of his life, though two of the texts he set provide possible clues to his place of origin or employment: Gaudens exulta is in praise of Ciney, a town in the province of Namur (now in south-east Belgium); and Chomos condrosi is thought to refer to the region around Ciney known as the Condroz. The exclusive association of his works with a source in which he is the only named composer (the so-called ‘Battre fascicle’ of I-TRmp 87) may indicate that he was its compiler. It seems unlikely on stylistic grounds that he is the later 15th-century composer Batty (or Batten).
Battre’s small yet varied output shows considerable originality; his music often unfolds in unpredictable ways. Gaude virgo is especially unusual in that it exploits the effects of contrasted vocal groupings (based on a distinction between ‘pueri’ and ‘mutate voces’), while Chomos condrosi, a two-part canon with a freely composed third voice, is remarkable for its setting of a macaronic text (in Latin and Greek) which actually describes the compositional technique being employed. Although this is his only canonic work, several others use imitation as a structural rather than a decorative device. If Battre’s music shows a tendency towards complexity of line and texture (with occasionally clumsy results), he is also capable of a simpler, more declamatory style, as can be seen for example in the hymn Stirps regia.
WORKS
all unique in I-TRmp 87
Edition: Sieben Trienter Codices, ed. R. Ficker, DTÖ, lxxvi, Jg.xl (1933/R) [F]
Gloria, 3vv; ed. in DTÖ, lxi, Jg.xxxi (1924/R)
Agnus Dei, 3vv; ed. in DTÖ, lxi, Jg.xxxi (1924/R)
Chomos condrosi, 3vv, canonic motet; F; also ed. in Loyan
De qua natus, 3vv, motet with text from the Genealogy of Christ; F
Dulcissime frater, 3vv, motet; F
Gaude virgo mater Christi, 3vv, sequence-motet; F
Gaudens exulta, 4vv, motet in praise of Ciney; F
Stirps regia, 3vv, hymn; F
Veni Creator Spiritus, 4vv, hymn; ed. in DTÖ, liii, Jg.xxvii (1920)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
StrohmR
G. Adler and O. Koller, eds.: Sechs Trienter Codices: geistliche und weltliche Kompositionen des XV. Jahrhunderts, DTÖ, xiv–xv, Jg.vii (1900/R)
R. Loyan: Canons in the Trent Codices, CMM, xxxviii (1967)
R.J. White: The Battre Fascicle of the Trent Codex 87 (diss., Indiana U., 1975) [includes edns of all Battre’s works]
D. Fallows: ‘Specific Information on the Ensembles for Composed Polyphony 1400–1474’, Studies in the Performance of Late Medieval Music, ed. S. Boorman (Cambridge, 1983), 109–59, esp. 122–3
PETER WRIGHT