Johannes Césaris

(fl. ca. 1385-ca. 1420)

Franco-Flemish composer. Linked by Martin le Franc with Carmen and Tapissier, who in his Le Champion des Dames, described them as having ³astonished all Paris² in the years before Dunstable and Dufay were known there. He was perhaps active at Angers Cathedral. Early 15th-century manuscripts transmit the few extant works: a 4-voiced pan-isorhythmic motet; two 3-voiced ballades, one untexted; and five or six rondeaux, one for two voices, the rest for three. His earlier chansons are in the complex ³mannered² style of late fourteenth century France, but his later ones are simpler, with more clear-cut melodies, looking forward to the work of Dufay.





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