Gilles Binchois

(c.1400-1460)

Binchois with Dufay


Franco-Flemish composer. From c.1419 through 1423 he was organist at S. Waudru, Mons; later he was in the service of the Duke of Suffolk in Paris (1424/5) and may have traveled with him to England. From some time before 1431 through 1453 he was chaplain at the Court of Burgundy. He was also a canon at a church in Mons together with Dufay , whom he undoubtedly came to know in middle life.

Binchois is known to have written some twenty-eight Mass sections, four Magnificats, some thirty motets and hymn settings and around 55 chansons. His chansons are particularly remarkable, and he ranks with Dufay as a major exponent of the form. Many of them have a rather sad, nostalgic quality, the texts treating of unrequited love in the somewhat stilted manner of the courtly tradition. Often highly formal, he nevertheless often achieves a noteworthy depth of feeling.





A Partial Gilles Binchois Discography  |   IIID: The Netherlanders to Ockeghem