Surname
Vide
Given Name
Jacques
Date of birth
circa 1395
Date of death
before 1441-8-23
Role
Composer
Musician
Active period
1405 - 1441
Workplace
Nivelles
Roma ?
Tournai
Institution
Capella pontificalis ?
Chapelle ducale de Bourgogne
Collégiale Sainte-Gertrude de Nivelles
Biography
En septembre 1434, Jacques Vide, qualifié de prévôt de Nivelles, est envoyé à Florence auprès d’Eugène IV par Philippe le Bon. RÉF: Toussaint, Jacques, Les Relations diplomatiques de Philippe le Bon avec le Concile de Bale, Louvain, 1942, p.148.
• En 1454
• MGG Planchart: Vide, Jacques (ca. 1395 – d. shortly before 23 August 1441) Vide might have been a choirboy at Notre-Dame in Paris in 1405 (Strohm, 1993, 147), and was a clerk of the diocese of Tournai (Marix, 1939, 161). On 06 October 1410 his proctor presented letters of Pope John XXIII to the chapter of St. Donatian in Bruges, dated 28 May 1410, providing him with a canonicate, which he collated on 27 October (Bruges, AB, Reeks 49, 134v-135r), but he was a canon for only a short time because by 24 January 1411 the same prebend had gone to the papal singer Robert Sandewyn (Bruges, AB, Reeks 49, 266r). At the time Vide was not in holy orders, and it is worth noting that none of the relatively numerous documents that survive about him ever mention his clerical status. Like Sandewyn, Vide was most likely in Italy at the time, perhaps in the chapel of Alexander V and the recently crowned John XIII, although no documents from either papacy survive that mention Vide. He might have gone to Constance, although his name is not among the papal singers in the surviving lists of the last years of John XXIII, but probably remained in Italy for some years after 1410. In December 1423 he is mentioned for the first time as a valet de chambre of the Duke of Burgundy, by 1428 he is mentioned as secretary, and disappears from the Burgundian accounts after 1433 (Marix, 1939, 161-2). Most likely he moved away from the court but his connection with the duke continued past 1433. In a number of petitions to the pope going from 1433 to 1437 both Vide and the duke himself refer to Vide as secretary and a councilor to the duke (cf. ASV, RS 288, 267v; RS 331, 155r). The probable cause of his leaving the Burgundian court is that by 15 April 1433 he had obtained the provostship of St. Gertrude of Nivelles; his election apparently was irregular, for he had to pay a fine for fructibus male perceptis on 30 April 1433 (ASV, IE 393, 35v) and the provostship was contested by Jehan Bont and Gilles d’Escornaix, this last one for several years (ASV, RS 288, 55v, RS 340, 80v). Still, Vide managed to retain his benefice at Nivelles until his death. At the time of his election at Nivelles Vide had already a large number of benefices, including canonicates in St. Peter in Louvain, St. Peter in Anderlecht, St. Peter in Chateau Namur (Castro Namurcen), and St. Peter in Thourotte, as well as chaplaincies at Ste. Waudru in Mons and at the Hospital of Hebregge in Ghent (ASV, RS 288, 268r), and by 1435 he was also a canon of Thérouanne (ASV, RS 311, 125r). According to a petition of 24 July 1434, some of these benefices had been granted to him by Pope Martin V (ASV, RS 297, 122v). By 02 September 1434 he refers to himself as a bacallarius in decretis (ASV, RS 298, 118v), a title that appears in all subsequent petitions. The earliest reference to his death is a petition of 24 September 1441, where Jehan Gilles, clerk of Liège and a papal scriptor, requests the canonicate at St. Gertrude of Nivelles, vacant on the death of Jaques Vide, a cubicularius of the pope, outside the curia (ASV, RS 367, 20v-21r). The designation of Vide in this petition is a common shorthand in petitions by curial officials, who were usually aware of the curial history of the deceased, and it indicates not necessarily that Vide was a cubicularius of the reigning pope but rather that he had been a cubicularius or a familiar of a pope, past or present. This reinforces the likelihood that Vide, whose early career appears to parallel that of Sandewyn, was a singer in the chapels of Alexander V and John XXIII at one time or another. Vide was never a member of the Burgundian chapel, but appears to have been a private musician of the duke. In any case he had some dealings with the chapel: Marix (1939, 162) shows that he received a small organ that had cost 22 lb and was probably intended for the chapel, and that he instructed some of the choirboys. Perhaps in connection with this capacity he apparently had an altercation in 1428 with Raymond Poncin, magister puerorum of Saint-Pierre de Lille, and wounded him, whereupon the chapter of Saint-Pierre arrested and imprisoned Vide, causing Duke Philip to write to the chapter seeking Vide’s release and assuring them that the duke would see to it that justice was done (LAN, 16G 23, nos. 217-18).
Vide’s surviving music consists of eight rondeaux. Seven of them appear in GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213 (three of them with concordances elsewhere) and one in I-TRmp 92. They show a considerable melodic gift with graceful motivic writing and careful text declamation, but a number of them have been subjected to a good deal of revision that may or may not have been by the composer. Two of them, Et c’est assés and Las jay perdu mon epincel are for two voices, but for the second of these the scribe of GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213 provided a staff and a text incipit for a contratenor that was never copied. Il m’est si grief vostre depart survives with two different contratenors, one in GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213, and another, lower, more modern, and much fussier in E-E V.iii.24, and Amans doubles survives in its only source as an apparent four voice work, but the triplum and the contratenor are incompatible with each other and neither fits entirely smoothly with the basic duo of cantus and tenor.
Works
All but one edited in Marix 1937
Imperfect time, major prolation
Amans doubles, 4vv?, GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213.
Espoir m’est venu, 3vv, GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213, F-Pn n.a.fr. 4379 (tenor only).
Et c’est assés, 2vv, GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213, I-Bm Q 15.
Las j’ay perdu, 2vv?, GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213.
Puisque je n’ay plus, 3vv, GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213, F-Sm C.22 (222).
Vit encore ce faux dangier, 3vv, GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213.
Perfect time, minor prolation
Il m’est grief, 3vv, GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213, E-E V.iii.24 (with a different Ct)
Qui son cuer met, 3vv, I-TRmp 92; ed. DTÖ, xxii, Jg XI/1 (1904/R).
Bibliography
1937 J. Marix, Les musiciens de la cour de Bourgogne au XVe siècle (1420–1467), Paris, 1937/R.
1939 J. Marix, Histoire de la musique et des musiciens de la cour de Bourgogne sous le règne de Philippe le Bon (1420–1467), Strasbourg, 1939/R.
1979 C. Wright, Music at the Court of Burgundy, 1364–1419: a Documentary History, Henryville, 1979.
1984 W. Arlt, Der Beitrag der Chanson zu einer Problemgeschichte des Komponierens: “Las! j'ay perdu … ” und “Il m'est si grief … ” von Jacobus Vide, in Analysen: Beiträge zu einer Problemgeschichte des Komponierens: Festschrift für Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht, ed. W. Breig, R. Brinkmann and E. Budde, Wiesbaden, 1984, 57–75
1992 R. Strohm, Magister Egardus and other Italo-Flemish contacts, in L'Europa e la musica del Trecento: Congresso IV: Certaldo 1984 [L'Ars Nova italiana del Trecento 6, Certaldo, 1992], 41–68.
1993 W. Arlt, Italien als produktive Erfahrung franko-flämischer Musiker im 15. Jahrhundert, Basel, 1993.
1993 R. Strohm, The Rise of European Music, 1380-1500, Cambridge, 1993.
1999 D. Fallows, A Catalogue of Polyphonic Songs, 1415-1480, Oxford, 1999.
• En 1454
• MGG Planchart: Vide, Jacques (ca. 1395 – d. shortly before 23 August 1441) Vide might have been a choirboy at Notre-Dame in Paris in 1405 (Strohm, 1993, 147), and was a clerk of the diocese of Tournai (Marix, 1939, 161). On 06 October 1410 his proctor presented letters of Pope John XXIII to the chapter of St. Donatian in Bruges, dated 28 May 1410, providing him with a canonicate, which he collated on 27 October (Bruges, AB, Reeks 49, 134v-135r), but he was a canon for only a short time because by 24 January 1411 the same prebend had gone to the papal singer Robert Sandewyn (Bruges, AB, Reeks 49, 266r). At the time Vide was not in holy orders, and it is worth noting that none of the relatively numerous documents that survive about him ever mention his clerical status. Like Sandewyn, Vide was most likely in Italy at the time, perhaps in the chapel of Alexander V and the recently crowned John XIII, although no documents from either papacy survive that mention Vide. He might have gone to Constance, although his name is not among the papal singers in the surviving lists of the last years of John XXIII, but probably remained in Italy for some years after 1410. In December 1423 he is mentioned for the first time as a valet de chambre of the Duke of Burgundy, by 1428 he is mentioned as secretary, and disappears from the Burgundian accounts after 1433 (Marix, 1939, 161-2). Most likely he moved away from the court but his connection with the duke continued past 1433. In a number of petitions to the pope going from 1433 to 1437 both Vide and the duke himself refer to Vide as secretary and a councilor to the duke (cf. ASV, RS 288, 267v; RS 331, 155r). The probable cause of his leaving the Burgundian court is that by 15 April 1433 he had obtained the provostship of St. Gertrude of Nivelles; his election apparently was irregular, for he had to pay a fine for fructibus male perceptis on 30 April 1433 (ASV, IE 393, 35v) and the provostship was contested by Jehan Bont and Gilles d’Escornaix, this last one for several years (ASV, RS 288, 55v, RS 340, 80v). Still, Vide managed to retain his benefice at Nivelles until his death. At the time of his election at Nivelles Vide had already a large number of benefices, including canonicates in St. Peter in Louvain, St. Peter in Anderlecht, St. Peter in Chateau Namur (Castro Namurcen), and St. Peter in Thourotte, as well as chaplaincies at Ste. Waudru in Mons and at the Hospital of Hebregge in Ghent (ASV, RS 288, 268r), and by 1435 he was also a canon of Thérouanne (ASV, RS 311, 125r). According to a petition of 24 July 1434, some of these benefices had been granted to him by Pope Martin V (ASV, RS 297, 122v). By 02 September 1434 he refers to himself as a bacallarius in decretis (ASV, RS 298, 118v), a title that appears in all subsequent petitions. The earliest reference to his death is a petition of 24 September 1441, where Jehan Gilles, clerk of Liège and a papal scriptor, requests the canonicate at St. Gertrude of Nivelles, vacant on the death of Jaques Vide, a cubicularius of the pope, outside the curia (ASV, RS 367, 20v-21r). The designation of Vide in this petition is a common shorthand in petitions by curial officials, who were usually aware of the curial history of the deceased, and it indicates not necessarily that Vide was a cubicularius of the reigning pope but rather that he had been a cubicularius or a familiar of a pope, past or present. This reinforces the likelihood that Vide, whose early career appears to parallel that of Sandewyn, was a singer in the chapels of Alexander V and John XXIII at one time or another. Vide was never a member of the Burgundian chapel, but appears to have been a private musician of the duke. In any case he had some dealings with the chapel: Marix (1939, 162) shows that he received a small organ that had cost 22 lb and was probably intended for the chapel, and that he instructed some of the choirboys. Perhaps in connection with this capacity he apparently had an altercation in 1428 with Raymond Poncin, magister puerorum of Saint-Pierre de Lille, and wounded him, whereupon the chapter of Saint-Pierre arrested and imprisoned Vide, causing Duke Philip to write to the chapter seeking Vide’s release and assuring them that the duke would see to it that justice was done (LAN, 16G 23, nos. 217-18).
Vide’s surviving music consists of eight rondeaux. Seven of them appear in GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213 (three of them with concordances elsewhere) and one in I-TRmp 92. They show a considerable melodic gift with graceful motivic writing and careful text declamation, but a number of them have been subjected to a good deal of revision that may or may not have been by the composer. Two of them, Et c’est assés and Las jay perdu mon epincel are for two voices, but for the second of these the scribe of GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213 provided a staff and a text incipit for a contratenor that was never copied. Il m’est si grief vostre depart survives with two different contratenors, one in GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213, and another, lower, more modern, and much fussier in E-E V.iii.24, and Amans doubles survives in its only source as an apparent four voice work, but the triplum and the contratenor are incompatible with each other and neither fits entirely smoothly with the basic duo of cantus and tenor.
Works
All but one edited in Marix 1937
Imperfect time, major prolation
Amans doubles, 4vv?, GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213.
Espoir m’est venu, 3vv, GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213, F-Pn n.a.fr. 4379 (tenor only).
Et c’est assés, 2vv, GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213, I-Bm Q 15.
Las j’ay perdu, 2vv?, GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213.
Puisque je n’ay plus, 3vv, GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213, F-Sm C.22 (222).
Vit encore ce faux dangier, 3vv, GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213.
Perfect time, minor prolation
Il m’est grief, 3vv, GB-Ob Can. Misc. 213, E-E V.iii.24 (with a different Ct)
Qui son cuer met, 3vv, I-TRmp 92; ed. DTÖ, xxii, Jg XI/1 (1904/R).
Bibliography
1937 J. Marix, Les musiciens de la cour de Bourgogne au XVe siècle (1420–1467), Paris, 1937/R.
1939 J. Marix, Histoire de la musique et des musiciens de la cour de Bourgogne sous le règne de Philippe le Bon (1420–1467), Strasbourg, 1939/R.
1979 C. Wright, Music at the Court of Burgundy, 1364–1419: a Documentary History, Henryville, 1979.
1984 W. Arlt, Der Beitrag der Chanson zu einer Problemgeschichte des Komponierens: “Las! j'ay perdu … ” und “Il m'est si grief … ” von Jacobus Vide, in Analysen: Beiträge zu einer Problemgeschichte des Komponierens: Festschrift für Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht, ed. W. Breig, R. Brinkmann and E. Budde, Wiesbaden, 1984, 57–75
1992 R. Strohm, Magister Egardus and other Italo-Flemish contacts, in L'Europa e la musica del Trecento: Congresso IV: Certaldo 1984 [L'Ars Nova italiana del Trecento 6, Certaldo, 1992], 41–68.
1993 W. Arlt, Italien als produktive Erfahrung franko-flämischer Musiker im 15. Jahrhundert, Basel, 1993.
1993 R. Strohm, The Rise of European Music, 1380-1500, Cambridge, 1993.
1999 D. Fallows, A Catalogue of Polyphonic Songs, 1415-1480, Oxford, 1999.
Bibliography
MGG
Toussaint 1942