Benedictus Appenzeller

Benedictus Appenzeller (between 1480 and 1488 – after 1558) was a Franco-Flemish singer and composer of the Renaissance, active in Bruges and Brussels. He served Dowager Queen Mary of Hungary for much of his career, and was a prolific composer of vocal music, both sacred and secular, throughout his long career.

Appenzeller was probably born in Oudenaarde in East Flanders, and his approximate birthdate is inferred from a document late in his life, dated July 1558, in which he gave his age as "over 70". Appenzeller is first mentioned in cathedral records in 1518, when he is a singer, and in 1519, when he became choirmaster at the cathedral of St. Jacob in Bruges. His several publications during the following years show that he was active then as a composer, but nothing is known of his actual whereabouts or employment until 1536, when Dowager Queen Mary of Hungary (daughter of Philip I and Joanna the Mad of Castile) brought him into her Brussels chapel as a singer. By the next year he had become the master of the choirboys – the one responsible for teaching them music, and caring for them – and he was to hold this position, or its equivalent, until either 1551 or 1555.

While he spent most of this time in Brussels, he also occasionally travelled with Mary through the Habsburg lands, as it was common for the singers of the musical chapels to accompany monarchs and members of royal families. Some of the places he is known to have visited include 's-Hertogenbosch, Augsburg, and Munich.^[1] Mary moved to Spain in 1556, and at that time Appenzeller became the choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels, a post he held until the end of 1558. No records survive of his life from after that year, and he may have died shortly thereafter.^[2]

Appenzeller has sometimes been confused with two other musicians named "Benedictus", since many of his works are attributed in their sources simply to "Benedictus". Benedictus Ducis was a German composer and Protestant cleric (1492–1544), and Benedictus de Opitiis was an organist from the same region as Appenzeller. All of the works simply attributed "Benedictus" are now considered to be the work of Appenzeller.^[3]

Appenzeller escribió ocho misas que se conservan, así como numerosos motetes y composiciones del Magnificat . ^{[ 4 ]} También dejó más de 40 canciones , muchas de las cuales se publicaron en Amberes en una colección de 1542, Des chansons a quattre parties . ^{[ 2 ]} Las veinticuatro canciones de esta colección se han publicado como Benedictus Appenzeller: Chansons , editado por Glenda Goss Thompson. ^{[ 5 ] [ 6 ]}

La música de Appenzeller muestra una variedad de influencias estilísticas, como cabría esperar de un compositor que trabajó durante muchas décadas y estuvo sujeto a la influencia de músicos que iban y venían de distintas partes de un imperio. Su música sacra es típica del estilo neerlandés de la década de 1540, con densas texturas polifónicas , incluyendo una imitación omnipresente . También escribió elaboradas estructuras canónicas, más al estilo de la generación anterior, que recuerdan a la música de Josquin des Prez o Pierre de la Rue . En su música profana se esforzó por la comprensión del texto y también empleó más repetición, por ejemplo en los estribillos musicales, que en su música sacra. ^{[ 2 ]}

• Partituras gratuitas de Benedictus Appenzeller en el Proyecto de Biblioteca Internacional de Partituras Musicales (IMSLP).
• Partituras gratuitas de Benedictus Appenzeller en la Biblioteca Coral de Dominio Público (ChoralWiki).