A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Barbireau, Jacques

by Mary Catherine Hamilton

BARBIREAU,^[1] Maitre Jacques, a celebrated musician of the 15th century, choirmaster and teacher of the boys in the cathedral of Antwerp from 1448 till his death in 1491. Many of the great musicians of the 15th and 16th centuries were his pupils; he maintained a correspondence with Rudolph Agricola, and is constantly quoted by his contemporary Tinctor as one of the greatest authorities on music of his time. Of his compositions, a mass for five voices, 'Virgo parens Christi,' another for four voices, 'Faulx perverse,' and a Kyrie for the same, are in the imperial library at Vienna, and some songs for three and four voices in that of Dijon. Kiesewetter has scored the Kyrie from the first-named mass and a song for three voices, 'Lome (l'homme) bany de sa plaisance.'

[ M. C. C. ]

1. Pronounced Barbirieau; called also Barbicola, Barbyrianus, Barbingant.