Eloy d'Amerval
Encyclopedia
Eloy d'Amerval was a French
composer, singer, choirmaster, and poet of the Renaissance
. He spent most of his life in the Loire Valley
of France
. From his poetic works, especially his enormous 1508 poem Le livre de la deablerie, it can be inferred that he knew most of the famous composers of the time, even though his own musical works never approached theirs in renown.
at the chapel in Savoy
beginning in 1455, he probably was born before 1440. The choirmaster at the Savoy chapel at the time of Eloy's admission was Guillaume Dufay
.
Eloy spent most of his life serving in institutions connected with the French royal court. In 1464 and 1465 he is recorded as a singer for Charles, Duke of Orléans. In 1468 and 1471 he is mentioned as choirmaster of the boys at St. Aignan in Orléans
. He had the same position at Ste. Croix Cathedral in Orléans in 1483 (old scholarship reporting him in Milan
, at the Sforza chapel, during the 1470s has been recently debunked). In 1504 he was a canon and priest at the chapel in Châteaudun
, northwest of Orléans and southwest of Chartres
. He wrote his most famous poem, Le livre de la deablerie, in 1508, but it not known how long he lived after that. King Louis XII
granted him explicit permission for its publication, and also granted him special payment for many years of service.
in his poem, even though several were still alive in 1508, the date of its composition. A portion reads:
He lists no composers in Hell
, although several renowned composers (such as the notoriously wayward Jacob Obrecht
) are conspicuously absent from his list.
s celebrating the 1429 liberation of Orléans from the English by Joan of Arc
, although the music is lost (only the texts survive). A payment record remains, as well as a mention of the first performance, which took place on May 8, 1483, the 54th anniversary of the original thanksgiving ceremony. Eloy also wrote a five-voice mass
which survives, the Missa Dixerunt discipuli, an elaborate tour-de-force of contrapuntal
practice, which was praised by Tinctoris
. The mass was likely composed around 1470, since the date of Tinctoris's publication was 1472-1475, and three- and four-voice imitative
sections such as appeared within it were quite rare before 1470.
Music of France
France has a wide variety of indigenous folk music, as well as styles played by immigrants from Africa, Latin America and Asia. In the field of classical music, France has produced a number of legendary composers, while modern pop music has seen the rise of popular French hip hop, techno/funk,...
composer, singer, choirmaster, and poet of the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
. He spent most of his life in the Loire Valley
Loire Valley
The Loire Valley , spanning , is located in the middle stretch of the Loire River in central France. Its area comprises approximately . It is referred to as the Cradle of the French Language, and the Garden of France due to the abundance of vineyards, fruit orchards, and artichoke, asparagus, and...
of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. From his poetic works, especially his enormous 1508 poem Le livre de la deablerie, it can be inferred that he knew most of the famous composers of the time, even though his own musical works never approached theirs in renown.
Life
Although a long period of activity is documented for this composer, nothing is known of either his birth or death, other than that he likely was from Amerval in the Pas-de-Calais. Since he was listed as a tenorTenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
at the chapel in Savoy
Savoy
Savoy is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south....
beginning in 1455, he probably was born before 1440. The choirmaster at the Savoy chapel at the time of Eloy's admission was Guillaume Dufay
Guillaume Dufay
Guillaume Dufay was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance. As the central figure in the Burgundian School, he was the most famous and influential composer in Europe in the mid-15th century.-Early life:From the evidence of his will, he was probably born in Beersel, in the vicinity of...
.
Eloy spent most of his life serving in institutions connected with the French royal court. In 1464 and 1465 he is recorded as a singer for Charles, Duke of Orléans. In 1468 and 1471 he is mentioned as choirmaster of the boys at St. Aignan in Orléans
Orléans
-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...
. He had the same position at Ste. Croix Cathedral in Orléans in 1483 (old scholarship reporting him in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, at the Sforza chapel, during the 1470s has been recently debunked). In 1504 he was a canon and priest at the chapel in Châteaudun
Châteaudun
Châteaudun is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of Eure-et-Loir.-Geography:Châteaudun is located about 45 km northwest of Orléans, and about 50 km south-southwest of Chartres, on the river Loir, a tributary of the...
, northwest of Orléans and southwest of Chartres
Chartres
Chartres is a commune and capital of the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is located southwest of Paris.-Geography:Chartres is built on the left bank of the Eure River, on a hill crowned by its famous cathedral, the spires of which are a landmark in the surrounding country...
. He wrote his most famous poem, Le livre de la deablerie, in 1508, but it not known how long he lived after that. King Louis XII
Louis XII of France
Louis proved to be a popular king. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes...
granted him explicit permission for its publication, and also granted him special payment for many years of service.
Writings
Eloy is most famous to music historians for having provided a long poem, Le livre de la deablerie, recounting a dialogue between Satan and Lucifer, in which their nefarious plotting of future evil deeds is interrupted periodically by the author, who among other accounts of earthly and divine virtue, records useful information on contemporary musical practice. In addition to listing musical instruments, he lists who he considers to be the great composers of the time: they are residents of ParadiseParadise
Paradise is a place in which existence is positive, harmonious and timeless. It is conceptually a counter-image of the miseries of human civilization, and in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, but it is not necessarily a land of luxury and...
in his poem, even though several were still alive in 1508, the date of its composition. A portion reads:
- La sont les grans musiciens ...
- Comme Dompstable et du FayGuillaume DufayGuillaume Dufay was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance. As the central figure in the Burgundian School, he was the most famous and influential composer in Europe in the mid-15th century.-Early life:From the evidence of his will, he was probably born in Beersel, in the vicinity of...
... - Et plusiers aultres gens de bien:
- RobinetRobinetRobinet may refer to:*Chaffinch, a small bird of the finch family*European Robin, usually referred to simply as a "robin"*Robinet , another name for the French wine grape Jacquère...
de la Magdalaine, - BinchoizGilles BinchoisGilles de Binche , also known as Gilles de Bins , was a Franco-Flemish composer, one of the earliest members of the Burgundian School, and one of the three most famous composers of the early 15th century...
, FedéJohannes FedéJohannes Fedé was a French composer of the early Renaissance. While he was mentioned by Eloy d'Amerval as one of the greatest composers of the age, and resident in Paradise, relatively few of his works have survived...
, Jorges et HayneHayne van GhizeghemHayne van Ghizeghem was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance Burgundian School.While many of his works have survived, little is known about his life...
, - Le RougeGuillaume le RougeGuillaume Le Rouge was a Netherlands musician of the Burgundian school. He took a position at the court of Charles d'Orleans, serving in the chapel from 1451 to 1465. One song remains of his compositions, Se je fais duel je n’en ouis mais....
, AlixandreAlexander AgricolaAlexander Agricola was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. A prominent member of the Grande chapelle, the Habsburg musical establishment, he was a renowned composer in the years around 1500, and his music was widely distributed throughout Europe...
, OkeghemJohannes OckeghemJohannes Ockeghem was the most famous composer of the Franco-Flemish School in the last half of the 15th century, and is often considered the most...
, - BunoizAntoine BusnoisAntoine Busnois was a French composer and poet of the early Renaissance Burgundian School. While also noted as a composer of sacred music, such as motets, he was one of the most renowned 15th-century composers of secular chansons...
, BasironPhilippe BasironPhilippe Basiron was a French composer, singer, and organist of the Renaissance...
, Barbingham, - LouysetLoyset CompèreLoyset Compère was a French composer of the Renaissance. Of the same generation as Josquin des Prez, he was one of the most significant composers of motets and chansons of that era, and one of the first musicians to bring the light Italianate Renaissance style to France.-Life:His exact place of...
, MureauGilles MureauGilles Mureau was a French composer and singer of the Renaissance. He was active in central France, mainly Chartres, and was one of the composers listed by Eloy d'Amerval in his long 1508 poem Le livre de la deablerie as one of the great composers of the age, resident in Paradise – even though he...
, PriorisJohannes PriorisJohannes Prioris was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the first composers to write a polyphonic setting of the Requiem mass....
, - Jossequin, BrumelAntoine BrumelAntoine Brumel was a French composer. He was one of the first renowned French members of the Franco-Flemish school of the Renaissance, and, after Josquin des Prez, was one of the most influential composers of his generation....
, TintorisJohannes TinctorisJohannes Tinctoris was a Flemish composer and music theorist of the Renaissance. He is known to have studied in Orléans, and to have been master of the choir there; he also may have been director of choirboys at Chartres...
.
He lists no composers in Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
, although several renowned composers (such as the notoriously wayward Jacob Obrecht
Jacob Obrecht
Jacob Obrecht was a Flemish composer of the Renaissance. He was the most famous composer of masses in Europe in the late 15th century, being eclipsed by only Josquin des Prez after his death.-Life:...
) are conspicuously absent from his list.
Music
Eloy composed a series of motetMotet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
s celebrating the 1429 liberation of Orléans from the English by Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
, although the music is lost (only the texts survive). A payment record remains, as well as a mention of the first performance, which took place on May 8, 1483, the 54th anniversary of the original thanksgiving ceremony. Eloy also wrote a five-voice mass
Mass (music)
The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...
which survives, the Missa Dixerunt discipuli, an elaborate tour-de-force of contrapuntal
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
practice, which was praised by Tinctoris
Johannes Tinctoris
Johannes Tinctoris was a Flemish composer and music theorist of the Renaissance. He is known to have studied in Orléans, and to have been master of the choir there; he also may have been director of choirboys at Chartres...
. The mass was likely composed around 1470, since the date of Tinctoris's publication was 1472-1475, and three- and four-voice imitative
Imitation (music)
In music, imitation is when a melody in a polyphonic texture is repeated shortly after its first appearance in a different voice, usually at a different pitch. The melody may vary through transposition, inversion, or otherwise, but retain its original character...
sections such as appeared within it were quite rare before 1470.