Arnold de Lantins

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Arnold de Lantins (fl. 1420s, d. before July 2, 1432) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Medieval era and early Renaissance. He is one of a few composers who shows aspects of both medieval and Renaissance style, and was a contemporary of Dufay during that composer's sojourn in Italy.

Very little is known about his life, except for a few years in the 1420s to around 1430. It is presumed that he was from Flanders or adjacent areas. In the early 1420s he was probably in the service of the Malatesta family in either Rimini or Pesaro, since Dufay mentioned him in the text of a rondeau which was written between 1420 and 1424. Lantins was in Venice in 1428 and Rome in 1431, in the latter city as a singer in the papal chapel choir, along with Dufay. He was only in Rome six months; after that he disappears from history. Rome was entering a period of turmoil related to the Conciliar movement after the death in February 1431 of Pope Martin V; many musicians left at that time or shortly after, and Lantins may have been one of them.

It is not known for certain if Arnold de Lantins was a relative of Hugo de Lantins, a composer active at the same time, but since their works often appear together in collections and they seem to have been in the same geographical regions, it is not unlikely. (A sharp stylistic difference between the works of the two composers shows they can not be the same person.)

Arnold's music was held in high regard, and appears alongside that of Dufay, Gilles Binchois and Johannes Ciconia in contemporary manuscript collections. In particular, one motet — Tota pulchra es — is found in widely distributed sources; since this was before advent of printing technology, wide distribution of copies is taken as evidence of a composer's fame and popularity. Arnold wrote a complete mass, found in Bologna Q15 (all the movements are found in OX 213 although the last two movements are separated - only the first three movements are found in Bologna 2216), as well as several parts of a composite mass in Bologna Q15 augmenting movements written by Johannes Ciconia. Several other examples exist of composers adding movements to partial masses written by other composers, for example Zacara da Teramo, particularly in Bologna Q15. Musically Arnold's mass movements are fairly simple, using three voices, head motif technique, and avoiding imitative writing. Some of his other sacred music, such as his Marian motets, contain florid melodic writing and some use of imitation.

He also wrote secular music, including ballades and rondeaux, all of which are in French, as well as a few shorter sacred pieces. Some of them refer to specific events or specific people, but none of either have been conclusively identified.

[edit] References and further reading

  • Article "Arnold de Lantins", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
  • Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0-393-09530-4
  • Hans Schoop/J. Michael Allsen: "Arnold de Lantins", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 6, 2005), Grove Music Online
  • Alejandro Planchart, "Guillaume Du Fay", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed July 19, 2005), Grove Music Online
  • Lidia Kućmierz, "Construction of music in non-mass works of Arnold de Lantins", Master Thesis, Jagiellonian University of Cracow, Faculty of History, Cracow 1995

[edit] Recording