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Robert Morton (c.1430 – after March 13, 1479) was an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 of the early Renaissance
Renaissance music

Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 - 1600. Dates of classical music eras, given the lack of abrupt shifts in musical thinking during the 15th century....
, mostly active at the Burgundian
Burgundian School

The Burgundian School is a term used to denote a group of composers active in the 15th century in what is now northern and eastern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, centered on the court of the Dukes of Duchy of Burgundy....
 court. He was highly regarded at the time. Only secular vocal music, all Rondeau
Rondeau (music)

The rondeau was a Medieval music and early Renaissance music musical form, based on a popular contemporary poetry form . It is distinct from the 18th century rondo, though the terms are likely related....
x for three voices, survive.

Life
Little can be reconstructed with certainty about his life except where his activity intersects with the Burgundian
Duchy of Burgundy

The Duchy of Burgundy was a feudal territory once existing within the France in the Middle Ages. It roughly conforms to the modern Bourgogne. Existing between 843 and 1477, the Duchy was ruled by a succession of Duke of Burgundy, whose extinction with the death of Charles the Bold in 1477 led to the Duchy being absorbed into the French crown...
 court. He was born in England, but no details of his early life are known.






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Robert Morton (c.1430 – after March 13, 1479) was an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 of the early Renaissance
Renaissance music

Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 - 1600. Dates of classical music eras, given the lack of abrupt shifts in musical thinking during the 15th century....
, mostly active at the Burgundian
Burgundian School

The Burgundian School is a term used to denote a group of composers active in the 15th century in what is now northern and eastern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, centered on the court of the Dukes of Duchy of Burgundy....
 court. He was highly regarded at the time. Only secular vocal music, all Rondeau
Rondeau (music)

The rondeau was a Medieval music and early Renaissance music musical form, based on a popular contemporary poetry form . It is distinct from the 18th century rondo, though the terms are likely related....
x for three voices, survive.

Life


Little can be reconstructed with certainty about his life except where his activity intersects with the Burgundian
Duchy of Burgundy

The Duchy of Burgundy was a feudal territory once existing within the France in the Middle Ages. It roughly conforms to the modern Bourgogne. Existing between 843 and 1477, the Duchy was ruled by a succession of Duke of Burgundy, whose extinction with the death of Charles the Bold in 1477 led to the Duchy being absorbed into the French crown...
 court. He was born in England, but no details of his early life are known. From 1457 until 1476 he was a clerc or chappellain in the chapel choir, and unusually he never was promoted to a higher position. By 1460 he was a priest, since he was given that title Messire in chapel documents.

The long relatively peaceful period at the court under Philip the Good's reign ended with Philip's death in 1467, and under his successor Charles the Bold, the musical activities of the court were seriously disrupted; many of the singers and composers, including Hayne van Ghizeghem
Hayne van Ghizeghem

Hayne van Ghizeghem was a Flanders composer of the early Renaissance music Burgundian School.While many of his works have survived, little is known about his life....
, took part in his many futile military campaigns. Morton must have known Hayne rather well, for an anonymous piece survives which describes the virtuosic singing and playing of the two of them together at Cambrai
Cambrai

Cambrai is a Communes of France in the Nord Departments of France in northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France of the department.Cambrai is the seat of Archdiocese of Cambrai whose jurisdiction was immense during the Middle Ages....
.

Payment records for Morton end in 1476, and it was long assumed that he died then; however more recent evidence from the Vatican archive shows that he was alive as late as 1479, since he resigned a Dutch parish then.

There is a possibility, never established or fully investigated, that he may be the same Robert Morton who became Bishop of Worcester
Bishop of Worcester

The Bishop of Worcester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury, England.The diocese covers the county of Worcestershire, the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, and parts of the City of Wolverhampton....
, and who died in 1497. Evidence for this connection includes the complete lack of documentation for the bishop between 1456 and 1476, when Morton was active in the Burgundian court, and the presence of Cardinal John Morton, uncle of the future bishop, in Burgundy at exactly the time when Robert disappears from the payment rolls.

Music


Given the almost complete elimination of 15th century music manuscripts in England, largely by Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lordship of Ireland and claimant to the Early Modern France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII of England....
 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries

The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, denotes the administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII of England disbanded all monastery, nunnery and friary in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their income, disposed of their assets and provided f...
 in the 1530s, it is not surprising that most of Morton's music survives in sources from the Continent, and if he was ever active as a musician in his native land, all trace is lost. Eight pieces survive, all rondeaux. One of the most famous of them is the earliest known setting of the tune l'homme arme
L'homme armé

L'homme arm? was a French secular song from the time of the Renaissance. It was the most popular tune used for musical settings of the Ordinary of the Mass: over 40 separate compositions entitled Missa L'homme arm? survive from the period....
, which was used by many early Renaissance
Renaissance music

Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 - 1600. Dates of classical music eras, given the lack of abrupt shifts in musical thinking during the 15th century....
 composers as a cantus firmus
Cantus firmus

In music, a cantus firmus is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphony composition .The plural of this Latin term is , though one occasionally sees the corrupt form canti firmi....
 for the Mass
Mass (music)

The Mass, a Musical form of sacred music, is a choir composition that sets the fixed portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music. Most Masses are settings of Mass in Latin, the traditional language of the Roman Catholic Church, but there are a significant number written in the languages of non-Catholic countries where vernacular worship h...
. This piece, a quodlibet
Quodlibet

A quodlibet is a piece of music combining several different melody, usually popular tunes, in counterpoint and often a light-hearted, humorous manner....
, is probably datable to May 1464; it seems to have been written as a departure gift for another court composer, Simon le Breton.

Another of his rondeaux, Le souvenir de vous me tue, was exceedingly famous, and copies of this piece were widely disseminated in Europe.

All of Morton's surviving music is in French, not surprising since it all dates from his time in Burgundy. Melodically it is somewhat simpler than the music of his contemporaries such as Hayne or Antoine Busnois
Antoine Busnois

Antoine Busnois was a France composer and poet of the early Renaissance music 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....
.

The music theorist
Music theory

Music theory is the field of study that deals with how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It identifies patterns that govern composer techniques....
 and writer Johannes Tinctoris
Johannes Tinctoris

Johannes Tinctoris was a Flemings composer and music theory of the Renaissance. He is known to have studied in Orleans, and to have been master of the choir there; he also may have been director of choirboys at Chartres....
 wrote glowingly of Morton, mentioning that he was "world-famous". Even though much of his music must have been lost—including any sacred music—he seems to have been influential on other composers at the court of Burgundy, and several of his compositions were used as source material for masses by later composers, including Josquin Desprez.

Works


Attribution considered secure

  1. Cousine trop vous abusés (rondeau, 3vv)
  2. Il sera pour vous conbatu/L'homme armé (quodlibet; rondeau, 3vv; in another source a fourth voice is added)
  3. Le souvenir de vous me tue (rondeau, 3vv)
  4. Mon bien ma joyeux (rondeau, 3vv)
  5. N'aray je jamais mieulx que j'ay (rondeau, 3vv)
  6. Paracheve ton entreprise (rondeau, 3vv)
  7. Plus j'ay le monde (rondeau, 3vv)
  8. Que pourroit plus faire une dame (rondeau, 3vv)


Doubtful

  1. C'est temps perdu
  2. Elend du hast umbfangen mich (also known as Vive ma dame par amours)
  3. Pues serviçio vos desplaze
  4. Vien avante morte dolente