Surname
Musart
Given Name
Guillaume
Active period
1450? - circa 1450
Biography
Bent 2013 (à paraître)
Bologna Q15 is a vast collection of 324 pieces, mostly mass music and motets, extensively worked over and updated by its compiler, maybe the butler of bishop Pietro Emiliani of Vicenza, who seems to have employed as domestic staff and chaplains men who could also provide out-of-hours, together with singers from the cathedral, the pious private entertainment he relished. Bologna Q15 originated in this circle in the 1420s, but was its compiler’s personal project over a 15-year period which saw massive revision; in no sense was it commissioned ‘for’ the bishop’s chapel, nor for the cathedral, as some have inferred. A later user and indexer of that manuscript was Guglielmo Musart, a polyphonic singer and long-term chaplain of Emiliani’s successor Francesco Malipiero, who also had in his household the singer and (probable) composer Jean Villete, later employed at the Savoy court

De : Margaret Bent <margaret.bent@all-souls.ox.ac.uk>
Date : Tue, 20 Jul 2004 10:42:17 +0100
À : david fiala <Dafiala@aol.com>, <cesaucier@midway.uchicago.edu>, <e.scheurs@village.uunet.be>
Objet : Musart of Brussels
Dear friends,
In Vicenza a couple of weeks ago I think I have identified the hand of
the person who prepared Q15 for its final binding, probably in the late
1430s. He put the manuscript in order, wrote the index, added a few
composer names, and restored Malipiero's
name in Feragut's motet Excelsa in place of Emiliani's. This person was Malipiero's
chaplain and notary Guillelmus Musart, archdeacon of Castello, who
Malipiero brought with him to Vicenza. He was: presbiter Guillelmus q
ser petri Musart de bruxella (or bursella), archipresbiter of
Castello capellano of Malipiero, notary public in Venice, documented in
Vicenza archives after the arrival of Malipiero, but his notebooks
include documents dated from 1429 in Castello while Malipiero was there,
up to at least 1440 in Vicenza. I have not yet been able to check
whether he continues after 1440, but his death would provide a terminus
ante quem for his final work on Q15.
He seems to have been a very versatile man. The person who finished
up Q15 must have been a user of the book, therefore musically
knowledgeable and undoubtedly a singer. This Musart is indeed an obvious
person, the obvious person, to have changed Emiliani's name back to that
of Malipiero. What triggered the recognition for me was the closed
double-looped form of final "s", which I have not seen in Italian
notaries, and his characteristic letter forms (the G of his own name,
fortunately the same as that of Du Fay, and his repeated need to write
the name of Francesco Malipiero). But it interestingly strengthens the
picture of northern musicians in Italy at this time, and puts Malipiero
into the picture as a suspected patron and lover of northern polyphony;
he also had a Johannes de Francia cantore in his household.
Obviously I am going to have to chase this one up in Venice as well,
perhaps primarily there. This may have some implications for a musical
community in Venice that could have supported Canonici 213.
I addressed this question first to Barbara Haggh and she confirmed that
the three of you were the most likely to know if there is anything at
the Brussels end of this story. My guess is that he may have gone early
to Italy and left little trace in the north (but not even benefices,
diocese of ordination, or paternity?), but after he had learned to write.
But I address the question to you in case this name is familiar, and so
that you might look out for him if you are working in Brussels
materials. I can't personally undertake another large tranche of
archival work, but would much welcome your advice. Any help would of
course be very gratefully and publicly acknowledged. As this is work in
progress I count on your discretion not to give the discovery of this
identity further circulation without my knowledge.
Best greetings
Salve!
Meg
Bologna Q15 is a vast collection of 324 pieces, mostly mass music and motets, extensively worked over and updated by its compiler, maybe the butler of bishop Pietro Emiliani of Vicenza, who seems to have employed as domestic staff and chaplains men who could also provide out-of-hours, together with singers from the cathedral, the pious private entertainment he relished. Bologna Q15 originated in this circle in the 1420s, but was its compiler’s personal project over a 15-year period which saw massive revision; in no sense was it commissioned ‘for’ the bishop’s chapel, nor for the cathedral, as some have inferred. A later user and indexer of that manuscript was Guglielmo Musart, a polyphonic singer and long-term chaplain of Emiliani’s successor Francesco Malipiero, who also had in his household the singer and (probable) composer Jean Villete, later employed at the Savoy court

De : Margaret Bent <margaret.bent@all-souls.ox.ac.uk>
Date : Tue, 20 Jul 2004 10:42:17 +0100
À : david fiala <Dafiala@aol.com>, <cesaucier@midway.uchicago.edu>, <e.scheurs@village.uunet.be>
Objet : Musart of Brussels
Dear friends,
In Vicenza a couple of weeks ago I think I have identified the hand of
the person who prepared Q15 for its final binding, probably in the late
1430s. He put the manuscript in order, wrote the index, added a few
composer names, and restored Malipiero's
name in Feragut's motet Excelsa in place of Emiliani's. This person was Malipiero's
chaplain and notary Guillelmus Musart, archdeacon of Castello, who
Malipiero brought with him to Vicenza. He was: presbiter Guillelmus q
ser petri Musart de bruxella (or bursella), archipresbiter of
Castello capellano of Malipiero, notary public in Venice, documented in
Vicenza archives after the arrival of Malipiero, but his notebooks
include documents dated from 1429 in Castello while Malipiero was there,
up to at least 1440 in Vicenza. I have not yet been able to check
whether he continues after 1440, but his death would provide a terminus
ante quem for his final work on Q15.
He seems to have been a very versatile man. The person who finished
up Q15 must have been a user of the book, therefore musically
knowledgeable and undoubtedly a singer. This Musart is indeed an obvious
person, the obvious person, to have changed Emiliani's name back to that
of Malipiero. What triggered the recognition for me was the closed
double-looped form of final "s", which I have not seen in Italian
notaries, and his characteristic letter forms (the G of his own name,
fortunately the same as that of Du Fay, and his repeated need to write
the name of Francesco Malipiero). But it interestingly strengthens the
picture of northern musicians in Italy at this time, and puts Malipiero
into the picture as a suspected patron and lover of northern polyphony;
he also had a Johannes de Francia cantore in his household.
Obviously I am going to have to chase this one up in Venice as well,
perhaps primarily there. This may have some implications for a musical
community in Venice that could have supported Canonici 213.
I addressed this question first to Barbara Haggh and she confirmed that
the three of you were the most likely to know if there is anything at
the Brussels end of this story. My guess is that he may have gone early
to Italy and left little trace in the north (but not even benefices,
diocese of ordination, or paternity?), but after he had learned to write.
But I address the question to you in case this name is familiar, and so
that you might look out for him if you are working in Brussels
materials. I can't personally undertake another large tranche of
archival work, but would much welcome your advice. Any help would of
course be very gratefully and publicly acknowledged. As this is work in
progress I count on your discretion not to give the discovery of this
identity further circulation without my knowledge.
Best greetings
Salve!
Meg