John Hothby
Encyclopedia
John Hothby also known by his Latinised names Johannes Ottobi or Johannes de Londonis, was an English Renaissance composer and musical theorist who travelled widely in Europe and gained an international reputation for his work.
as a Carmelite monk and he claimed in his own work to have travelled in Britain, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, before he went to a monastery in Ferrara and then in 1467 took employment in Lucca
, probably teaching music at the Cathedral. In 1486 he was recalled to England by the new king Henry VII
and appears to have died in the north of England in the following year.
and Guidonian pitch
in the face of reforms proposed by Bartolomé Ramos de Pareja
, but is chiefly notable for modifications to the pitch system to accommodate sharp and flat notes. His work was widely known in Britain and continental Europe and he may have been the most important figure in communicating musical ideas of the Contenance Angloise
between England and the continent.
Biography
Little is known of the origins or early life of John Hothby. He appears to have left England after 1435 but most of the references to him in surviving sources are to the last twenty years of his life, by which time he had taken holy ordersHoly Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
as a Carmelite monk and he claimed in his own work to have travelled in Britain, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, before he went to a monastery in Ferrara and then in 1467 took employment in Lucca
Lucca
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
, probably teaching music at the Cathedral. In 1486 he was recalled to England by the new king Henry VII
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
and appears to have died in the north of England in the following year.
Work and Influence
Surviving compositions include six sacred Latin works and three secular Italian songs. Exactly which works on music theory Hothby wrote is unclear and some older works may have been attributed to him and some contemporary works often given under this name may have been written by another author Johannes de Anglia. Work generally attributed to him includes La Capiopea Legale and Proportiones Secundum. Surviving work suggests that he was a traditionalist, defending the Pythagorean tuningPythagorean tuning
Pythagorean tuning is a system of musical tuning in which the frequency relationships of all intervals are based on the ratio 3:2. This interval is chosen because it is one of the most consonant...
and Guidonian pitch
Hexachord
In music, a hexachord is a collection of six pitch classes including six-note segments of a scale or tone row. The term was adopted in the Middle Ages and adapted in the twentieth-century in Milton Babbitt's serial theory.-Middle Ages:...
in the face of reforms proposed by Bartolomé Ramos de Pareja
Bartolomé Ramos de Pareja
Bartolomé Ramos de Pareja was a Spanish mathematician, music theorist, and composer. His only surviving work is the Latin treatise Musica practica....
, but is chiefly notable for modifications to the pitch system to accommodate sharp and flat notes. His work was widely known in Britain and continental Europe and he may have been the most important figure in communicating musical ideas of the Contenance Angloise
Contenance Angloise
The Contenance Angloise or English manner, is the term used to describe a distinctive style of polyphony developed in fifteenth-century England. It used full, rich harmonies based on the third and sixth. It was highly influential in the fashionable Burgundian court of Philip the Good and as a...
between England and the continent.