Johannes Alanus
Encyclopedia
Johannes Alanus was an English composer. He wrote the motet
Motet
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...

 Sub arturo plebs/Fons citharizancium/In omnem terram. Also attributed to him are the songs "Min frow, min frow" and "Min herze wil all zit frowen pflegen", both lied
Lied
is a German word literally meaning "song", usually used to describe romantic songs setting German poems of reasonably high literary aspirations, especially during the nineteenth century, beginning with Carl Loewe, Heinrich Marschner, and Franz Schubert and culminating with Hugo Wolf...

s, and "S'en vos por moy pitié ne truis", a virelai
Virelai
A virelai is a form of medieval French verse used often in poetry and music. It is one of the three formes fixes and was one of the most common verse forms set to music in Europe from the late thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries.A virelai is similar to a rondeau...

. O amicus/Precursoris, attributed simply to "Johannes", may be the work of the same composer.

Identity

As with many medieval composers, there is some confusion as to Alanus's identity. For the composer represented in the Old Hall Manuscript
Old Hall Manuscript
The Old Hall Manuscript is the largest, most complete, and most significant source of English sacred music of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and as such represents the best source for late Medieval English music. The manuscript somehow survived the Reformation, and until 1873 belonged to St...

, who has sometimes been conflated with Johannes Alanus, see Aleyn
Aleyn
Aleyn was an English composer. Two of his works survive in the Old Hall Manuscript, one a Gloria , the other a Sarum Agnus Dei discant , later scratched out, which is ascribed to W. Aleyn. If this inscription is correct, the conflation of this composer and Johannes Alanus, who wrote Sub Arturo...

. The composer of Sub Arturo plebs, is identified as Jo.Alani and referring to J.Alani Minimus. He has been identified with Dominus
Dominus (title)
Dominus is the Latin word for master or owner. As a title of sovereignty the term under the Roman Republic had all the associations of the Greek Tyrannos; refused during the early principate, it finally became an official title of the Roman Emperors under Diocletian...

 Johannes Aleyn (or John Aleyn), who was a chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

 for the chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

 of Edward III of England
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...

 and later Canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....

 of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle from 1362 until his death in 1373. He received many other favors which indicate royal patronage, probably from Queen Philippa of Hainault
Philippa of Hainault
Philippa of Hainault, or, Philippe de Hainaut was the Queen consort of King Edward III of England. Edward, Duke of Guyenne, her future husband, promised in 1326 to marry her within the following two years...

.

Sub Arturo plebs

Sub Arturo plebs/Fons citharizancium/In omnem terram is an ars nova
Ars nova
Ars nova refers to a musical style which flourished in France and the Burgundian Low Countries in the Late Middle Ages: more particularly, in the period between the preparation of the Roman de Fauvel and the death of the composer Guillaume de Machaut in 1377...

 mensuration motet
Motet
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...

 with a different text in each voice. The "triplum", or third voice, is on a text which names 14 musicians. These mentions, in some cases, are the sole extant references to these active musicians. Brian Trowell has identified many of those named with royal households. There has been significant debate as to the dating of this motet. The earliest dating assumes that it was written for the 1349 founding of the Order of the Garter
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...

, this date suggested by Trowell. Roger Bowers suggests that the list of musicians includes musicians who were no longer active at the time of the writing. Margaret Bent and others argue for a later date because of the style of the music itself, which includes a complex structure with three levels of diminution
Diminution
In Western music and music theory, diminution has four distinct meanings. Diminution may be a form of embellishment in which a long note is divided into a series of shorter, usually melodic, values...

 and rhythmic overlapping. This later dating, however, does not fall in with the theory that the composer is the same as the chaplain Johannes Aleyn. A certain date earlier than 1370 for this work would lead to a change in accepted ideas about the mid-14th century style.

Composers mentioned

All the named musicians which have been identified were active in the English Chapel Royal
Chapel Royal
A Chapel Royal is a body of priests and singers who serve the spiritual needs of their sovereign wherever they are called upon to do so.-Austria:...

 between 1340-1405 or in the chapel of Edward, the Black Prince
Edward, the Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Aquitaine, KG was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and his wife Philippa of Hainault as well as father to King Richard II of England....

. Below are some of the musicians as named in Sub Arturo plebs along with possible alternate names.
  • Richard Blich maybe Richard Blithe
  • J. Oxonia maybe J. Excetre
  • G. Martini maybe Martyn or Gilbert Martyn
  • J. de Alto Bosco maybe John Hanboys
    John Hanboys
    John Hanboys, also John Hamboys and possibly J. de Alto Bosco , was an English Renaissance composer and musical theorist, highly regarded in his own country, although the details of his life are unclear.-Biography:...

  • Edmundus de Buria maybe Edmund
  • J. de Corbe or John de Corby
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