Taken from Grove Music Online.

Barbireau [Barbirianus], Jacobus

(b 1455, d Antwerp, 7 Aug 1491). South Netherlandish composer. His parents, Johannes Barbireau
and Johanna van Saintpol, were both apparently citizens of Antwerp. He must have attended
university (probably in the early to mid-1470s), since he is mentioned with the title of Master of
Arts in the earliest document to refer to him, dated 1482. He later sought to study with Rudolph
Agricola, the famous humanist and musician who had served as organist at the court of Duke Ercole
d'Este at Ferrara in 1475. Three letters to Barbireau from Agricola have survived, the third of which,
written at Heidelberg, reveals that the addressee was active as a composer by 1484: ‘Please send me
something of your composition to sing, something composed with care, that you would like to have
performed to praise’. Yet Barbireau's musical reputation does not appear to have been widespread at
the time, since Agricola continues: ‘We have singers here, too, and I often mention your name to
them’.
In the end the young composer was unable to study with Agricola, possibly because by 1484 he had
succeeded Antoine de Vigne as choirmaster at the church of Our Lady, Antwerp. He was to keep
this position until his death seven years later. Records from the church mention Barbireau's name
only in connection with routine duties and payments. There is evidence, however, that he was held
in considerable esteem by Maximilian I, King of the Romans, who rewarded him in January 1488
for having housed, maintained and instructed the son of one of his equerries for two years, and had
a latter of recommendation written in January 1490 for his visit to the Hungarian court at Buda.
During this visit Barbireau was spoken of by his host Queen Beatrix as musicus prestantissimus and
familiaris of Maximilian. The composer's death inspired the humanist Judocus Beyssel to write
three epitaphs, in which he is described as modulator notabilissimus. Beyssel expressed a sense of
tragedy over the death of so gifted a ‘youth’; it may well be, however, that Barbireau had never
anticipated a long life, perhaps because of poor health, since the earliest surviving document to
mention him records financial provisions for daily readings and prayers to be said over his grave –
an arrangement established at an age, 27, that was unusual even by the standards of the late 15th
century. The composer left a daughter, Jacomyne Barbireau, who survived him by at least 20 years.
Barbireau's oeuvre is small, yet its quality is outstanding. His sacred musical style recalls that of
Heinrich Isaac in particular: the material is handled with impressive assurance, and Barbireau shows
a degree of contrapuntal polish and melodic-harmonic resourcefulness that puts him firmly on a par
with such composers as Isaac and Obrecht. These qualities are evident in the fine Kyrie Paschale
(of which the top part freely paraphrases the plainchant melody, with occasional imitations in the
lower parts), and particularly in the Missa ‘Virgo parens Christi’ (based on a responsory for the
Blessed Virgin), which fully exploits the opportunities for textural variety and sonorous luxuriance
offered by its five-part scoring. Divisi passages at textual key points suggest that the minimum
number of singers required for this mass was 10, distributed from top to bottom as follows: 2–2–1–
3–2. The writing here is varied, and rich in alternating textural combinations, motivic filigree
around slow-moving parts, imitations, chordal passages and texturally differentiated restatements of
two-voice units. Yet these devices are handled with discretion in an effortless flow of counterpoint,
in which regular cadences on the final C establish a constant focus of tonal reference.
The four-part Missa ‘Faulx perverse’ shows the same characteristics, save that the lucid and serene
quality of Missa ‘Virgo parens Christi’ has given way to a much more darkly resonant atmosphere,
not only on account of the low scoring (the bass regularly goes down to D), but also because the
lower parts are more closely spaced, frequently combining to form thirds and triads. Apart from
these differences, however, the mass shows the same assurance, resourcefulness and polish of the
other works. The model for the mass has not been identified, but patterns of melodic and motivic
recurrence suggest that it may have been treated in loose parody fashion. The four-part motet
Osculetur me, though scored not quite as low as Missa ‘Faulx perverse’, shares with that mass the
persistent exploration of darker sonorities, and seems close to the world of Ockeghem in this respect
and in its Phrygian modality. True to the tradition of Song of Songs settings, Barbireau adds light
dramatic touches here and there to underline the emotional intensity of the text (general rests,
chordal passages, motifs based on the rhythmic scansion of words and phrases), yet these do not
diminish the overall lyrical quality of the setting.
Three songs by Barbireau are extant, and it seems significant that all provided cantus firmi for
masses by Isaac and Obrecht. In Gracioulx et biaulx and Scoen lief he developed a penchant for
extended sequence in all parts that is not pursued to similar lengths in his sacred music.

Bibliography
J. du Saar: Het leven en de composities van Jacobus Barbireau (Utrecht, 1946)
B. Murray: ‘Jacob Obrecht's Connection with the Church of Our Lady in Antwerp’, RBM, xi
(1957), 125–33
C.W. Fox: ‘Barbireau and Barbingant: a Review’, JAMS, xiii (1960), 79–101
J. van den Nieuwenhuizen: ‘De koralen, de zangers en de zangmeesters van de Antwerpse O.-L.-
Vrouwekerk tijdens de 15e eeuw’, Gouden jubileum gedenkboek van de viering van 50 jaar
heropgericht Knapenkoor van de Onze-Lieve-Vrouwkatedraal te Antwerpen, ed. P. Schrooten
(Antwerp, 1978), 29–72
P. Kooiman: ‘The Letters of Rodolphus Agricola to Jacobus Barbirianus’, Rodolphus Agricola
Phrisius 1444–1485 [Groningen 1985], ed. F. Akkerman and A.J. Vanderjagt (Leiden, 1988), 136–
46
K.K. Forney: ‘Music, Ritual and Patronage at the Church of Our Lady, Antwerp’, EMH, vii (1987),
1–57
E. Kooiman: ‘The Biography of Jacob Barbireau (1455–1491) Reviewed’, TVNM, xxxviii (1988),
36–58
R.C. Wegman: Born for the Muses: the Life and Masses of Jacob Obrecht (Oxford, 1994)
Rob C. Wegman

Works

Edition:
J. Barbireau: Opera omnia, ed. B. Meier, CMM, vii/1–2 (1954–7) [complete edn]
Missa ‘Faulx perverse’, 4vv
Missa ‘Virgo parens Christi’ [Missa de venerabili sacramento], 5vv (cf. responsory to the BVM)
Kyrie Paschale, 4vv (cf. Gregorian Kyrie Paschale)
Osculetur me, 4vv
Een vroylic wesen, 3vv (text: incipit only)
Gracioulx et biaulx, 3vv (text: incipit only)
Scon lief, 3vv (text: incipit only)