Caen, Arnoul (…-…). Composer; Musician

NG: Caen [Kein], Arnold (fl early 16th century). Composer. He was probably at the Burgundian court, for the court poet Mathias de Casteleyn included Caen in his list of poets and musicians who had recently died. The speculation that he visited Italy seems to depend on the printing of three motets by Petrucci and references to one of them by Aaron and Cerone. Since Petrucci, however, referred to him as ‘Acaen’, an error repeated by the other two, there is no evidence that any of them knew him. One of his motets was ascribed to Josquin in later German anthologies, although Helmuth Osthoff has argued against the attribution. However, all his motets show an awareness of style at the end of the 15th century, and of later developments in Paris. The imitation of short phrases with repeated notes, tossed from voice to voice, is in a lively manner. The widely disseminated motet Jerusalem luge (surviving in well over 20 sources, and also intabulated for lute), is probably not by Caen, despite a number of attributions to him.
WORKS
Judica me Deus, 4vv, 15191 (attrib. Acaen), 15386 and 15532 (attrib. Josquin); ed. in SCMot, iv (1987)
Nomine qui Domine, 4vv, 15191, ed. in SCMot, iv (1987)
Sanctificavit Dominus, 4vv, 15191, ed. in SCMot, iv (1987)
Jerusalem luge, 5vv, attrib. Richafort in 15329 and 10 other sources, attrib. Lupus in 153410 and 2 Italian manuscripts, attrib. Caen in 15591 and three late German sources, probably by Lupus; ed. A.T. Merritt, Treize livres de motets parus chez Pierre Attaingnant, viii (Monaco, 1962), 118
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Vander StraetenMPB
H. Osthoff: Josquin Desprez, ii (Tutzing, 1965), 129
B.J. Blackburn: The Lupus Problem (diss., U. of Chicago, 1970)
STANLEY BOORMAN

Recherches sur la musique à Audenaerde avant le XIXe siècle
Par Edmond Vander Straeten
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