July 14, 2014.Jacob Clemens non Papa.No big names this week, so we’ll go back some centuries and celebrate the Franco-Flemish composer Jacob Clemens non Papa.Jacob Clemens was born around 1510, a generation before Orlando di Lasso.He was probably born in Ypres, Flandres, the place now infamous for three horrible World War I battles and the first case in history when a poison gas was used on a large scale (another name for mustard gas is Yperite, after the city).At the time of Clemens’s birth, though, Ypres was a prosperous town, the third largest in Flandres after Bruges and Ghent and famous for its cloth trading.Nothing is known about Clemens’s early years, but he probably spent some time in Paris in the 1530s as a collection of his chansons was published there around that time.He sung in Bruges in 1544-45 and then moved to Antwerp where he struck a friendship with Tielman Susato, the famous music publisher and composer (several years earlier Susato founded a publishing house which used a press with the movable music type, the first in Flanders or the Low Countries).Later Susato would publish Clemens’s most famous work: his setting of all 150 psalms called Souterliedekens (Little Psalter Songs in Flemish).Souterliedekens were originally published in 1540 and were simple monophonic settings of the popular songs of the day.About 15 years later Clemens used these tunes to created short but beautiful polyphonic pieces, usually for three or four voices.Here, for example, is his setting of Psalm 31, performed by the Dutch ensemble Camerata Trajectina.
In the 1550 he went to 's-Hertogenbosch, the city where one hundred years earlier Hieronymus Bosch was born.There, a local religious confraternity employed him as a singer and composer (it’s interesting that Bosch had been a member there).Jacob Clemens died (according to some sources a violent death) just five years later; he was 45 years old.One place Clemens never went to was Italy.That’s very unusual for a composer of his stature: practically all Franco-Flemish composers of his and even earlier generations – Jacob Obrecht, Josquin des Prez, Adrian Willaert, Jacques Arcadelt – spent at least some time in Italy, even before Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso and Tomás Luis de Victoria made it into the center of the musical world.
Even though his life was short, the prolific Clemens wrote a large amount of music, most of it sacred.15 masses are extant, and the same number of Magnificats; he also wrote more than 200 motets and of course the abovementioned 150 settings of the Psalms.His secular music is mostly in the form of chansons, very popular at the time.Here is the Introit from his beautiful Requiem Mass.It’s performed by the Capella Palestrina, Maarten Michielsen conducting.And here is an excerpt from another mass by Jacob Clemens: Sanctus and Benedictus from Missa Pastores Quidnam Vidistis.Tallis Scholars are lead by Peter Phillips.
So why was Jacob Clemens called “non Papa” (not the Pope)?We don’t really know.Some suggested that the moniker was added to distinguish him from the Pope Clement VII (Giulio de’Medici, son of Giuliano, who, with his brother Lorenzo, co-ruled Florence), but it’s highly unlikely that anybody would mistake a Flemish composer for a pope.In addition, Clement VII died in 1534, when Jacob Clemens was in his 20s and still practically unknown.Most likely “non Papa” was added in jest, maybe by his friend Susato, and it stuck.There are no surviving portrait of “non Papa,” but in 1531 Sebastiano del Piombo, a friend of Michelangelo, created a fine portrait of Clement VII and you can see it above.
Jacob Clemens non Papa 2014
July 14, 2014. Jacob Clemens non Papa. No big names this week, so we’ll go back some centuries and celebrate the Franco-Flemish composer Jacob Clemens non Papa. Jacob Clemens was born around 1510, a generation before Orlando di Lasso. He was probably born in Ypres, Flandres, the place now infamous for three
horrible World War I battles and the first case in history when a poison gas was used on a large scale (another name for mustard gas is Yperite, after the city). At the time of Clemens’s birth, though, Ypres was a prosperous town, the third largest in Flandres after Bruges and Ghent and famous for its cloth trading. Nothing is known about Clemens’s early years, but he probably spent some time in Paris in the 1530s as a collection of his chansons was published there around that time. He sung in Bruges in 1544-45 and then moved to Antwerp where he struck a friendship with Tielman Susato, the famous music publisher and composer (several years earlier Susato founded a publishing house which used a press with the movable music type, the first in Flanders or the Low Countries). Later Susato would publish Clemens’s most famous work: his setting of all 150 psalms called Souterliedekens (Little Psalter Songs in Flemish). Souterliedekens were originally published in 1540 and were simple monophonic settings of the popular songs of the day. About 15 years later Clemens used these tunes to created short but beautiful polyphonic pieces, usually for three or four voices. Here, for example, is his setting of Psalm 31, performed by the Dutch ensemble Camerata Trajectina.
In the 1550 he went to 's-Hertogenbosch, the city where one hundred years earlier Hieronymus Bosch was born. There, a local religious confraternity employed him as a singer and composer (it’s interesting that Bosch had been a member there). Jacob Clemens died (according to some sources a violent death) just five years later; he was 45 years old. One place Clemens never went to was Italy. That’s very unusual for a composer of his stature: practically all Franco-Flemish composers of his and even earlier generations – Jacob Obrecht, Josquin des Prez, Adrian Willaert, Jacques Arcadelt – spent at least some time in Italy, even before Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso and Tomás Luis de Victoria made it into the center of the musical world.
Even though his life was short, the prolific Clemens wrote a large amount of music, most of it sacred. 15 masses are extant, and the same number of Magnificats; he also wrote more than 200 motets and of course the abovementioned 150 settings of the Psalms. His secular music is mostly in the form of chansons, very popular at the time. Here is the Introit from his beautiful Requiem Mass. It’s performed by the Capella Palestrina, Maarten Michielsen conducting. And here is an excerpt from another mass by Jacob Clemens: Sanctus and Benedictus from Missa Pastores Quidnam Vidistis. Tallis Scholars are lead by Peter Phillips.
So why was Jacob Clemens called “non Papa” (not the Pope)? We don’t really know. Some suggested that the moniker was added to distinguish him from the Pope Clement VII (Giulio de’Medici, son of Giuliano, who, with his brother Lorenzo, co-ruled Florence), but it’s highly unlikely that anybody would mistake a Flemish composer for a pope. In addition, Clement VII died in 1534, when Jacob Clemens was in his 20s and still practically unknown. Most likely “non Papa” was added in jest, maybe by his friend Susato, and it stuck. There are no surviving portrait of “non Papa,” but in 1531 Sebastiano del Piombo, a friend of Michelangelo, created a fine portrait of Clement VII and you can see it above.