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Mary of Hungary and Music PatronageAuthor(s): Glenda Goss ThompsonSource: The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Winter, 1984), pp. 401-418Published by: The Sixteenth Century Journal
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The Sixteenth Century Journal 401
XV, No. 4,1984
Mary
of
Hungary and Music Patronage
Glenda Goss Thompson*
The
University of Georgia
When the Venetian
ambassador
to
the court
of
Charles
V wrote the
final report of his mission in 1546, he noted two particular features regar-
ding the sector
of
Charles's empire known as les pays de
pardeca:
the hun-
ting and the music, which he described as "sounding with supreme delight."'
Both of these
activities were
flourishing
under the
aegis
of
Charles's
sister
Mary,
who
governed
as
regent
of
the Netherlands
from
1531 until
1556.
Called
Mary
of
Hungary by
reason of her
marriage
to
Louis
(Lajos)
II of
Hungary
(1506-1526), Mary was well
known
among contemporaries
for
her
energetic riding and hunting. She was also known
to
prefer music above the
other arts. Even
e
cursory examination of Mary's court records shows
numerous
payments involving musicians, musical instruments, and musical
performances.
Yet the
position
that music
occupied at Mary's
court
in
Brussels and its significance have been very imperfectly understood up until
now. Early
assessments ranged from vague allusions to a sparkling musical
culture, such as that
reported by
the
Venetian ambassador,
to
erroneous
convictions
about the small size
and relative neglect
of the
musical
establishment. Today, histories
of
music give Mary
of
Hungray only pass-
ing mention if they acknowledge her at all.2 On the other hand, histories of
a
political
and social nature
recognize Mary's
role
in
the Netherlands but
with
little
or
no
reference
to
her
cultivation
of
music. Characteristic are
Henri Pirenne's remarks simply that Mary appreciated music and that she
sponsored
festivities
(including music)
at her elaborate chateaux built
at
*A Fellowship
from
the American
Association
of University
Women
and a University
of
Georgia
Research Foundation
Travel Grant provided
financial
support
for research
in
Vienna,
Lille,
and Brussels.
The author
is
particularly
indebted
to Professor Jean
Motat
for
numerous
insights and suggestions
offered
during
the preparation
of this study.
1'E
governatrice
generale
di tutti quei paesi
la
reginaMaria,
donna
che ha dell'uomo
assai,
perche provvede alle cose della guerra, e di esse, e di fortezze, e di tutte le cose di stato dice
l'opinion
sna. Ha fama
d'essere castissima
donna: cavalca
eccellentemente:
e la caccia e
la
musica
sono
li suoi sommi
diletti."
Bernardo
Navagero,
Relazione,
in vol.
1
of
Relazioni
degli
Ambasciatori
Veneti
al Senato,
ed. Eugenio
Alberi (Florence, 1830), p.
299.
Both terms
for
Mary's
country, les
pays
de
pardeca
and
les
pays
d'embas,
are found
in the court
documents
described
below.
2Mary
of
Hungary
does
not
appear
in the standard
music
dictionary,
The New
Grove
Dic-
tionary of Music
and
Musicians,
ed.
Stanley Sadie
(London:
Macmillan,
1980). There are
brief
references
to
her in the standard
music history
of the
era, Music
in the
Renaissance,
by
Gustave
Reese (New
York:
Norton,
1959), pp.
299, 303,
340, 719,
722-725.
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402 The Sixteenth
CenturyJournal
Binche and Mariemont.3 Pirenne, however, had the considerable insight
to
add that
the
regent surrounded herself
with such
splendor as
a means of
enhancing the power that Charles V had put
into
her hands.
As a patroness
of
music Mary could
well
furnish an example superior
to many
in
the sixteenth century. Called by Erasmus "the woman
most
widely praised of her time,"4 Mary was musically literate; during her
lifetime she travelled widely; for twenty-five years she governed in an area
of exceptional musical talent; and she functioned as part of Europe's
most
widespread and enduring political organization. Mary
of
Hungary thus
oc-
cupied an unusually advantageous position from which
to
encourage and
influence the art of music.
The aim of this article is to examine the records from Mary of
Hungary's regency
in
order
to find
out just
how
extensive her patronage of
music really was.
If
Mary
did
take appreciable measures
to
cultivate this
art
in the Netherlands, then musicologists need to account for her actions and
their musical results. Furthermore, if music patronage is demonstrated
to
have had a significant place
in
this regency, then the question of why
Mary
of Hungary cultivated music might profitably be addressed. While Mary
of
Hungary may have
been
a musician at heart, there may also have been
other factors to contribute to her musical enthusiasm. Identifying these fac-
tors might be quite as illuminating to an understanding of sixteenth-century
values as
to
the business of Renaissance music making.
Current State
of
Research
Mary
of
Hungary
is
not
a
figure
unknown
to
historians. A number
of
biographies have depicted Mary
as the devoted
supporter
of her
brother
and a competent ruler in the Netherlands5However, aside from the abun-
3Histoire de Belgique, 3. ed. (Brussels: Maurice-Lamertin, 1923), III: 105-106.
4Quoted by Jozef Duverger,
"Marie
de Hongrie, Gouvernante des Pays-Bas, et la
Renaissance," Actes du XXXIIe Congres International d'Histoire de L'Art. Budapest 1969
I
(1972): 716.
5The only biography
in
English is by Jane de Iongh, Mary of Hungary, Second Regent of
the Netherlands, trans. M. D. Herter
Norton
(New York: Norton, 1958). Others include
Ghislaine
de
Boom,
Marie de
Hongrie (Brussels: La Renaissance du Livre, 1956): Wilhelm
Strache, "Die Anfange der Konigin Marie
von
Ungarn, spateren Statthalterin Karls V.
in
den
Niederlanden" (Ph.D. dissertation, University
of
Gottingen, 1940); Theodore Ortvay, Maria II
Lajos jagya kiraly neje (Budapest, 1914); and Theodore Juste, Les Pays-Bas sous Charles-
Quint,
Vie
de
Marie
de
Hongrie (Brussels, Decq. 1855),
each with
additional
bibliography.
Of
recent work
on
Mary, there is the dissertation of Gernot Heiss, "Konigin Maria von Ungarn
und
Bohmen (1505-1558),
Ihr
Leben
und
ihre
wirtschaftlichen Interessen
in
Osterreich, Ungarn
und
Bohmen" (University
of
Vienna, 1971)
and the same
author's
"Politik
und Ratgeber
der
Konigin
Maria von
Ungarn
in
den Jahren 1521-1532," Mitteilungen
des
Instituts
fuir
Oster-
reichische Geschichtsforschung 82 (1974): 119-180; and "Die ungarischen, bohmischen und
osterreichischen Besitzungen der Konigin Maria (1505-1558)," Mitteilungen der Oster-
reichischen Staatsarchiv 27 (1974): 61-100; 29 (1976): 52-121.
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Mary of Hungary
& Music
Patronage
403
dant but widely
scattered
and inadequately
documented information
sup-
plied
by Edmond
van der Straeten
in La Musique
aux Pays-Bas avant
le
XIXe
sieclej
the first scholar to recognize and acknowledge Mary's role in
the
history of music
was Emile
Haraszti.7 Haraszti
showed
that,
beginning
with
her musical
training
in the Netherlands,
Mary
revealed
a personal ac-
quaintanceship
with
music.
As
a
young
bride
in
Buda, Mary
was
surround-
ed
with
fine
musicians. Her
husband Louis played
the lute,
and the young
composer Thomas
Stoltzer set
various
texts at her
request. On
her return to
Brussels
in
1531, Mary began
actively
to
cultivate
music. Haraszti
cited re-
quests
for musicians
from
her brothers Ferdinand
and
Charles,
which Mary
fulfilled;
he mentioned Rogier
Pathie
as one
of
her favorite musicians
who
was
most renowned
for
having
organized
the
Fetes
de Binche;
and he cited
musical
dedications
to
Mary: a canon
by
Pietre Maessens,
another
by
Benedictus
Appenzeller,
a collection
of chansons
by the printer
Tielman
Susato.
Finally,
he described her marvelous
collection
of
instruments and
promised
to
make an
inventory
available
in a critical
edition, although
he
was
apparently
unable
to
complete
this
task.
Despite an
excellent beginning
Haraszti did
not
make any mention
of
Mary's chapel
organization;
of musicians other than Pathie
or
Appenzeller
employed or supported by the court; of music and its significance at various
festivals,
including
the
Fetes
de
Binche;
nor
of the
political and
historical
ef-
fects
of
Mary's patronage.
Some information
on
the
chapel
and
court has
since
been
supplied by
two
dissertations
and
on
the
Fetes
de Binche by
various
articles.8
The
principal
documents
for
the
present
study
are
the accounts
from
the
Brussels court preserved
at
Lille
in
the
Archives
departementales
du
Nord, hereafter
designated
AN. Mary's
Pennickmaistre, Jehan
de
Gyn,
recorded the daily expenditures of various sections of the household on
sheets known as
Etats
journaliers
de l'hotel9, listing
the
individuals
who
6In
eight volumes
bound
as
four.
With
a
new
introduction
by
Edward
E.
Lowinsky
(1867-
1888);
reprint,
New
York: Dover,
1969).
7"Marie
de Hongrie
et
son
Ungarescha,"
Revue
de
musicologie
10-11
(1929-1930):
176-194.
'Glenda
G.
Thompson,
"Benedictus
Appenzeller:
Mattre
de
la
Chapelle
to
Mary
of
Hungary
and
Chansonniert"
Ph.D. dissertation,
University
of
North Carolina
at
Chapel
Hill,
1975)
and
Ignace
Bossuyt,
"Alexander
Utendal (ca. 1534/1545-1581)"
(Ph.D.
dissertation,
The
Catholic
University
at
Louvain,
1978).
On
the
Fetes
de
Binche,
see
the
essays
by
Daniel
Devoto
"Folklore et politique au Chateau Thnebreux," and Daniel Heartz, "Un Divertissement de
palais
pour
Charles-Quint
a
Binche,"
both
in Fetes
et
C6r6monies
au
temps
de
Charles-Quint,
vol.
2 of
Les
Fetes
de
la
Renaissance
(Paris:
Editions
du
Centre
National
de
la Recherche
Scien-
tifique,
1960).
pp.
311-342.
Further
descriptions
and
iconographical
evidence
are
in Albert
Van
de
Put,
"Two
Drawings
of the
Fetes
at
Binche
for
Charles
V
and
Philip
(II),"
Journal
of
the
Warburg
and
Courtauld
Institutes
3
(1939-1940):
49-55,
and
Robert
Wangermee,
La
Musique
Flamande
dans
la soci6t6
des
XVe
et XVIe
Siecles
(Brussels:
Editions
Arcade,
1966),
pp.
155-
158.
9The
lists
pertinent
to
this study
are
B.
3479,
B. 3481,
B.
3484,
B. 3488,
B. 3491,
and
B.
20154.
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404 The Sixteenth
Century Journal
served
in
each section
of the household together
with
their daily wages. De
Gyn also
made a
yearly
account
of
the total receipts
and
expenses
of his of-
fice. These Comptes de Jehan de Gyn, with descriptive entries for wages,
pensions, travels, and ordinary and extraordinary
expenses, cover the years
1532
thorugh
1540
with
the exception
of the
lost
record of 1534
(AN, B.
3355-3362). Although
the eight surviving Comptes
have been inventoried
in
summary fashion,"0
these documents have never been systematically
in-
vestigated, either for historical
or for
musicological
purposes. Mary
herself
should be given
considerable credit
for the
care
with which records were
kept,
for she insisted
on
making copies
of most
correspondence,
and she
preserved drafts even
from her Hungarian years." As the principal source
for this study, de Gyn's
Comptes, together with the Etats journaliers,
various letters,
and other records, provide plentiful
details
for
an investiga-
tion of
Mary
of
Hungary's
patronage of music.
The
Patroness
Since character and musical training may
well
afford considerable
in-
sight
into
an
individual's actions,
it
seems profitable
to
consider
Mary's per-
sonality and background
here.'2
It
will
be readily appreciated that
throughout her life Mary of Hungary exhibited both loyalty and devotion
to
the Habsburg family
and its policies. It is also
apparent that from her
earliest
years
music
was a consistent feature
of
the courts where she lived,
in
the Netherlands,
in
Austria,
in
Hungary. As
the daughter of Philip the
Handsome and his queen,
Joanna, Mary was the Habsburg offspring of
parents
who
each
encouraged
music
to
impressive
degrees
at their courts
in
Spain
and the
Netherlands.'3
Essentially
an
orphan, however, owing
to
the
early
death
of her
father and the illness
of her
mother, Mary
was
raised
at
Malines by her aunt, Marguerite of Austria. Herself musically and literarily
gifted, Marguerite attended
to
Mary's musical
education from the child's
earliest
years. Marguerite's
organist,
Henri
Bredemers, taught Mary,
her
sisters,
and their brother,
the
future
emperor,
the
art
of
playing keyboard
instruments
from the
time Mary was three
or
four. As were her sisters,
'0L'Abb6 Dehaisnes et
Jules
Finot,
Inventaire
sommaire des
Archives
departementales
anterieures
a'
1790. Nord.
Archives Civiles.
Serie
B
(Lille: L.
Danel,
1899),
VII. In
progress
by
this
author
is a complete
index
of these eight
accounts,
alphabetizing
persons,
occupations, and
cities.
"For this information
the
author
is
indebted
to
the
communications
of
Christiane
Thomas
of
the
Haus-,
Hof- u.
Staatsarchiv in
Vienna.
Her
work with
Heide
Stratenwerth
reveals
Mary's
substantial interest in
record
keeping.
Details will
appear in
Editionskritische
Bemerkungenfor vol.
3
of
the
Familienkorrespondenz
to
be
published.
"2Theacts of this
biographical
summary
are
drawn
from
the
sources cited above and from
the
documents of
Mary's
court.
"3For
details,
see
G.
van
Doorslaer,
"La
Chapelle musicale
de
Philippe
le
Beau,"
Revue
beige
d'Archeologie
et
d'Histoire
de lArt
4
(1934):
21-57;
139-165;
and
Mary
Kay Duggan,
"Queen
Joannaand her
Musicians,"Musica
Disciplina 30
(1976):
74-92.
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Mary of Hungary
& Music Patronage 405
Plate 1. Hans
Maler,
Mary
of
Hungary
(1520). London,
Society
of Anti-
quaries.
Mary
was
destined
for
a
political
marriage. By
the
age
of
six
months
Mary
had been
betrothed
by
her
optimistic grandfather
Maximilian
to
a child
just
conceived. Born Louis
LI,
this
child was heir
to
the throne
of
Hungary.
In
preparation
for
her
marriage Mary
left the Netherlands
at
the
age
of
eight
to
reside
in
Austria. This interlude was an
important
time in her
young
life,
f
or
the
study
of
Latin and
for
a continuation
of
her musical
experiences. Mary
now had
frequent
contact with her
music-loving grandfather,
Maximilian,
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406
The
Sixteenth
Century
Journal
whose predilection
for
musical pageantry is well documented both by
iconographical and written evidence."4There was also musical instruction.
At the Nebenstaat established for Mary and her future sister-in-law Anna of
Hungary at Maximilian's court in Innsbruck, the organist Hans Sattler was
paid
to
purchase a keyboard instrument for the princesses and give them
lessons."5 In 1515, when Mary was ten, her engagement to Louis was
celebrated in Vienna. As so often in Mary's life, musical events were inter-
woven with significant personal and political ones. On this glittering occa-
sion, the celebration of a double engagement, Mary's
to
Louis and her
brother Ferdinand's
to
Anna, the famous organist Paul Hofhaimer was also
knighted by the Hungarian king, Wladislaus II.
The years of Mary's life as Louis' queen were among the happiest ones
she ever
knew, although Mary
was
not
liked
by
the
Hungarians.
Her
new
subjects
felt
she enjoyed music and dancing, hunting
and
banqueting far
too
much and successfully encouraged Louis and his courtiers
to
enjoy
themselves likewise. Yet even at her young age Mary revealed her musical
tastes and training to be exemplary for the time. It was she who recom-
mended that Thomas Stoltzer be named chapelmaster at the Hungarian
court.'6 It was Mary again who suggested that Stoltzer give musical settings
to four of Luther's translations of psalms, 12, 13, 37, and 86, which are
counted
among
the
composer's greatest works.
The happiness
in
Hungary
all
too
soon
ended
in
tragedy. At
the
threat
of a Turkish invasion, Louis led his poorly prepared troops into battle
(1526). In
the rout that
followed, known
as the Battle
of
Mohaks,
Louis
had
to
flee-only
to
die ingloriously when
his horse
slipped and
crushed
him in
the mud of the stream Csele. With the Turks now menacing Buda, Mary,
too, was
forced
to
depart
in
haste,
an
escape
which she
accomplished
with
as much dignity as possible. Pretending to be riding off on one of her fre-
quent hunting expeditions,
the
young queen simply
continued
on
up
the
Danube.
In the
following years Mary
worked
to
secure
the
Hungarian
throne
for
her brother Ferdinand. Then, in 1530, Marguerite of Austria died. Soon
Charles,
now the
Holy
Roman
Emperor, suggested
to
his sister
Mary
that
she
assume
the
regency
of
the
Netherlands.
Mary
was
very
reluctant
"to
"4See
Louise E.
Cuyler,
The
Emperor
Maximilian I and
Music
(London: Oxford
University
Press, 1973).
"5Walter
enn, Musik
und
Theater am
Hof zu
Innsbruck,
Geschichte
der
Hofkapelle
vom
vom
15.
Jahrhundert
bis zu
deren
Auflosung im
Jahre
1748
(Innsbruck:
Osterreichische
Verlagsanstalt,
1954), pp.
46-47.
16Lothar
Hoffmann-Erbrecht,
Thomas
Stoltzer,
Leben und
Schaffen (Kassel:
Hinnenthal,
1964),
pp.
26ff.
Haraszti,
in
his
article
Marie de
Hongrie,"
had also
placed the
great
Netherlands
composer
Adriaen
Willaert at
the Hungarian
court
during
Mary's
years as
queen.
Although
Willaert did
travel in
Hungary
and
probably
visited
the
court,
it
is clear
now
that he
was
not
chapelmaster
to
this court nor
even
a visitor
during
Mary's sojourn. For
details, see
The
New
Grove, s.v.
Willaert.
"
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Mary of Hungary
&Music
Patronage
407
place the rope around
her
neck," as
she viewed the task.'7
Yet born
a
Habsburg, Mary
must have
known that she was destined
for political mar-
riage or family service in exchange for some measure of worldly security.
Ultimately,
she
agreed
to Charles'sproposal.
As regent,
Mary of Hungary distinguished
her
rule
from
Marguerite
of
Austria's at
the outset. She established
her household
in Brussels rather
than
in Marguerite's
apartmentsat
Malines, allegedly
because
of
the
proximity
of
the Foret
de Soignes, where
boar and bird
abounded. Much space
in the
ac-
counts is taken up with
matters
of
the
hunt: payments
to
hunters,
to
fellows
for bringing game
back
to the court,
for
repair
of hunting equipment,
for
medical attention
after the hunting
dogs
had injuredsome poor
peasant,
for
domestic animals
to
replace
those
the
dogs
had killed. Mary
gained public
renown
for her intense love
of a sport
beloved also of her
grandparents.
Clement Marot
called her "chaste Diane,
ennemye d'oyseuse,
"18 and
another contemporary
vividly
described both
the
skill and
the
character
of
the huntress:
She was,
even
in that
age
of
manly women,
remarkable
for
her intrepid
spirit and her iron frame
....
Hunting
and hawking
she
loved
like
Mary
of Burgundy,
and her horsemanship
must
have delighted the knightly heart of her grandsire Maximilian.
Not
only
could
she
bring
down her deer with unerring aim,
but
taking
up her sleeves, and
drawing
her knife, she would
cut the
animal's
throat
and
rip
up its belly
in
as good
style
of the best of
the
royal
oresters
...19
The
image
of
strong
character described
in
this account
was discerned
by
Hans Maler
when he
painted
Mary
as a mere girl
of
fourteen.
As the
years passed
and
their vicissitudes took
a
toll
on
her
femininity, Mary, pic-
tured later on the dedication page of a chanson anthology printed in Ant-
werp, came
to
have
the
hard look
of
an
authoritative ruler.20
The
enjoyment
of
the hunt is
one
of
the
very
few
personal
things
we
know about
Mary
of
Hungary, a
woman
who lived
a
life of devotion
to
her
family.
As
regent
for
Charles, Mary
was
to
govern
along
with three
coun-
cils, State, Privy,
and
Finance,
which the
emperor
had newly
established
with her
coming
in
1531. Beginning just
at
the time when Charles
was
"7[L'Empereur]era comme bon S. et pere, exsepte
qu'il m'a mis la corde
au
col que
me
suis
acordee a
acsepter
la serge...
.,"
Mary
to
Ferdinand,
Ghent, May 5, 1531,
Die
Korrespondenze
Ferdinands
I,
vol. 3
of Familienkorrespondenz
1531
u. 1532,
ed. by Herwig
Wolfram
and
Christiane
Thomas
(Vienna: Holzhausen,
1973), p.
121.
18"Clement
Marot a la
Royne
de
Hongrie
venue en France,"
Oeuvres
lyriques,
ed.
C.
A.
Mayer (London:
The
Athlone Press, 1964),
p. 295,
line
3.
19Juste,Vie
de
Marie de
Hongrie,
pp.
37-38.
20See
plates
1 and 2.
The various
portraits
of Mary
are discussed by
Gustav
GlIck,
Bildnisse
aus
dem
Hause
Habsburg,"
Jahrbuch
der Kunsthistorischen
SammIungen
in
Wien,
NF 8
(1934):
173-196.
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408
The
Sixteenth Century Journal
relieved of the last of his youthful
ministers, Mary's rule was to be
distinguished further from Marguerite's
by its commitment
to
carrying
out
the emperor's desires and demands. Now the three councils were collateral,
and
Mary's powers
of
decision were severely limited. Charles's primary
concern was for the preservation of his empire, and
to
this end he left Mary
with a double mandate:
to
reinforce
sovereign authority and
to
combat
the
Reform. As
Pirenne
noted,
the
political
and religious unity
to
be achieved
by
these
separate
but
inter-related
goals would equally benefit the Habsburg
ruler.21
Governing through
a
tumultuous
period
in
the history
of the
Netherlands, Mary
worked tirelessly
to
preserve the national unity
of the
country
and the
imperial unity
of
her brother's domains. She managed
to
preserve freedom
of
the seas
for Dutch shipping in a crisis precipitated by
Christian
of
Denmark.
In
1538-1540,
she
tried, although unsuccessfully,
to
negotiate with the people
of
Ghent, who wanted
to
maintain their
own
economic
individuality
in
the face
of
imperial capitalism. It
was she more
than any other single individual who crafted the Augsburg Transaction
in
1548, an attempt
to
strengthen
the bonds of unity between the German em-
pire and the Netherlands. Nor did
she back away
from
matching wits and
military might with the aggressor against the empire, Francis I. On one oc-
casion she
even
prepared
to
go
to
the
front
lines herself
in
defensive armor,
an
incident
that caused an
admiring ambassador
to
call
her the most com-
bative woman
he
had
ever
met.
Mary
of
Hungary
also worked
for
the
Habsburg goal
of
religious
unity.
She
put
aside
an
apparent sympathy
for
the
Reformation,
one serious
enough
to
cause
Pope
Paul
III
to
complain
to
the
emperor,
to
carry
out the
tortures and executions mandated
by her brother's placards against
heresy.22 In the midst of these concerns Mary responded willingly to her
brothers'
calls
for
assistance
in
building
their own musical establishments.
Characteristic
of the
many requests
was Ferdinand's
letter
addressed
to
Mary
in
1542
asking
for
un honneste homme
to
assist
his
aging
kapellmeister,
Arnold
von
Bruck.23
Mary
recommended Pietre Maessens
for
the
position, a composer whose
canon, Salve suprema trinitas, was later
dedicated
to
the regent.
Three
years
earlier Charles had written
that the
organist sent
to
his court by Mary
had died, "which is a pity for he
was
skillful in his art and very suitable in my chapel."24He went on to ask help
in
finding
a
replacement.
2"Histoire II: 107-108.
22DavidP. Daniel,
to
whose
encouragement
and
suggestions
the
present
article
is much
in-
debted, has
analyzed Mary's Lutheran sympathies
in
"The
Lutheran Reformation
in
Slovakia"
(Ph.D. dissertation, The
Pennsylvania State
University,
1972), pp. 122-143.
23TheNew Grove, s.v.
"Maessens."
24Vienna,
Haus-, Hof-,
und Staatsarchiv, Belgien PA
neue 29 (Alt 36),
October 15,
1539.
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Mary of Hungary & Music Patronage 409
Mary's
various
efforts
were such
that,
at
her
death,
the
archbishop
delivering
the funeral sermon made
particular
note of her
remarkable
energy:
Truly I know
of
no
one
in
the world
in
whom laziness found less
welcome,
and
who,
in
organizing
her
time, gave
less
to
drinking,
eating, sleeping, and relaxing than she.25
If
Jehan
de
Gyn's Comptes
make
frequent
reference
to
medicines and
to
doc-
tors
to
treat the regent's tremblementde coeur, we can sympathize with the
despondency
to
which she was often
prey, given
her devotion
to
her
tasks
and
Charles's
demands
to
do more
than
the
possible.26
Music at the Court of Mary of Hungary
Mary's
court was
clearly a
world
dominated
by imperial concerns.
Yet
from numerous payments in the
accounts and
from the
impressions left
on
her contemporaries,
it
is also evident that music was granted a distinctly
im-
portant position at her court.
Indisputable and substantial evidence of this
position lies in
MaFy's
collection of
musical instruments. An inventory com-
piled at the end
of her
life by the court
organist shows nearly two hundred
items
in this
collection, which included
twenty viols, fifty cornetti, and over
fifty flutes plus clavichords, lutes, sackbuts, shawms, and even the horn of
a
unicorn 27
Mary
had left
Buda
in
haste, taking
few
material possessions
with
her. In
the
years
before
accepting
the
regency,
she seldom
remained
in
one place for long. This collection
of instruments then must have been
amassed
almost
entirely during
her
years
as
regent
in
Brussels.
This
assump-
tion is borne out by de Gyn's
accounts, which include purchase payments
for organs, harpsichords, flutes,
sackbuts, shawms, and cornetti. His
records also show that the
instruments were in use since amounts are
designated
for
their maintenace,
tuning,
and
repair. Some payments
show
that certain instruments were
products
of
Netherlands craftsmen; others
were
imported products. In
1535 flutes and shawms
were bought
in
Augsburg
for the
court;
a few
years
later
a
harpsichord
was
purchased
in
Paris and
specified
for
use
in
Mary's
own
chamber.
The
Comptes
also name
many
of
the
musicians
engaged
to
play
these
instruments, musicians
who
tended
to
come from outside the
Netherlands.
The
regent brought
three shawm
players
from
Germany
in
1535 and a
lutenist from Austria. One of her
organists came from Germany, and
another was hired away from her rival, Francis I of France. Two Italians,
brothers from
Milan, were recruited
to
play cornetto. (Perhaps significant-
ly, the majority
of
cornettists employed
by French royalty were also Italian
25MessireF.
Richardot, Sermon
Funebre fait
aus
Obseques de la
Roine
Marie Douairiere
de
Hongrie"
(Antwerp:
Christoph
Plantin, 1559), fo.
20v.
26"I1
aut
faire plus
que le possible."
Charles
to
Mary, Septmber
10,
1536, Correspondenz
des
KaisersKarl
V, ed.
Karl Lanz
(1844-1846;
reprint,
Frankfurt:
Minerva,
1966), II:666.
2Van der
Straeten,
LaMusique VII:
439-444
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410 The Sixteenth
Century Journal
players.) At Mary's court where most of
the singers appear to
have been
Netherlanders, these
instrumentalists testified
both to the cosmopolitan
tastes of the patroness
and to her active efforts to recruit musical
talent.
These foreigners also provided an important means for the dissemination of
musical ideas. The
freshness of foreign accomplishments did
have certain
disadvantages,
such as the
expense
of homesick musicians returning to visit
family
and friends;
on one
occasion a little German page
brought
to
Brussels
to
play
sackbut
did not
like court
life
and
ran
away. Mary had
to
dispatch messengers
to
Antwerp, Maestricht, and Covalentz before
finally
locating the little scamp at Cologne (AN,
B. 3360, fo. 226v-227r).
When these
musicians
played may
be learned
from
de
Gyn's
accounts
and from contemporary practice at other courts. One of the most important
courtly
occasions
for music was
the
fete,
events
for which
Mary
became
renowned. These fetes
normally honored some imperial family
member,
often coincided with the visit
of
neighboring
royalty, and frequently
involv-
ed
the Flemish
nobility,
whose
majority
in
the
Council
of
State
made
it
politically advantageous
to court its favor. One such occasion,
witnessed
by
the
emperor
himself as
well
as
various nobles, took place
in
1543.
His
Majesty
and the said
Queen
came
to
the window
of
His
same Majesty's room, where
in
the middle
of
court there was
conducted a combat
on
foot, by
the
Marquis
of
Berghes,
the
Lord
of
Trazagnies, and Caresmu, intermediaries, against
all
comers, which lasted
until
night.
That ended, His same
Majesty
went
to
the
chapel,
where the Lord
of
Arenbergi,
who
is
of
those of Marche,
was married
to
Mademoiselle
of Berghes
....
The banquet
ended, there took place abundant masques
and
everyone danced;
then were
given
the prizes
of
combat .
...
That done,
the
Queen
led
the
bride
to
her chambers where
there
was a banquet.28
It
is
clear
from
iconographical
evidence and
analogous
events
recorded
elsewhere that tournaments, weddings,
banquets, masques,
and dances,
such as are described
here,
each
involved
music.29
Although
the
details
of
many performances
at Mary's court are
often lacking, it can be said that her
court
composers
are widely represented
in
contemporary
music prints and
manuscripts by
the kinds of compositions
appropriate
to
such
occasions:
love songs, usually fitted with texts of courtly
love, drinking songs,
dances,
and music specifically notated for instrumentssuch as lute and keyboard.30
28Collection
des
Voyages
des
Souverains
des
Pays-Bas,
publiee
par
Louis
Prosper
Gachard,
Academie
royale
des
sciences,
des
lettres,
et
des
beaux-arts
de
Belgique.
Commission
royale
d'histoire.
Publications
in
quarto
(Brussels:
F.
Hayez,
1876),
II:
271-272.
29Walter
Salmen,
Musikleben
im
16.
Jahrhundert,
vol.
3,
Pt.
9
of
Musikgeschichte
in
Bildern
(Leipzig:
VEB
Deutscher Verlag
fur
Musik,
1976),
P.
22.
30For
modern
edition
of some
of
these
compositions,
see
Benedictus
Appenzeller,
Chan-
sons,
ed. Glenda
Goss
Thompson,
vol. 14
of
Monumenta
Musica
Neerlandica
(Amsterdam;
Vereniging
voor
Nederlandse
Muziekgeschiedenis,
1982).
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12/19
Mary of
Hungary &Music
Patronage 411
Plate
2.
Vingt
et six chansons
musicales et nouvelles
(Antwerp:
Tielman
Susato,
[1543[),
fo.
lv.
Brussels,
Bibliotheque royale,
Reserve
precieuse.
Mary put
forth
her most
spectacular
effort
in
festival
production
at a
strategic
moment
in
Habsburg politics,
to
assist
Charles
in
introducing
his
son
Philip
II
to
his future
subjects
in
the
Netherlands.
The
fame
of
the
resulting fete,
which took
place
at
Binche, has
come down
to
the
twentieth
century,
and
legends
of
it
survive
in
the costumed character
from
the
same
town known as the
Gille de
Binche. Contemporaries marvelled at the
sump-
tuousness
of
the Fetes de
Binche,
which
took
place
in
the
splendid
environ-
ment of
Mary's palace.3"
Although
few
musical
details
were
recorded,
it
is
clear that music
was
a
significant
element
in
the
festivities,
which
ranged
over the
many rooms as well
as
the
surrounding grounds.
In
fact,
one
of
Mary's
organists, Rogier
Pathie,
had
a
principal
role
in
planning
the
nine
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13/19
412 The Sixteenth
Century Journal
days of events,
during which young Philip was
represented as a mysterious
knight with a magic
sword who finally triumphed over the
castle
of
a wick-
ed enchanter. Among the specific musical references, one is the description
of an allemand
danced by various lords and ladies of
the court. This par-
ticular
entertainment, performed before Mary,
Charles, their sister
Eleonore, Philip, and assembled courtiers, lasted an
entire evening. Like
other events during
the Fetes, this one appears to
have been allegorical, a
dramatization
of
the European political situation
in
the 1540s. With eight
dancers dressed as savages and representing the
dreaded Turk and two
groups of four
knights each representing Europe
divided against itself
(Habsburg vs. Tudor and Valois), the message seemed
to
be
that
the
Euro-
pean powers could avoid
political disaster only by uniting
their
Christian
forces against the
Infidel. The allemand itself ended
ominously, the knights'
ladies being
captured despite the combined efforts of
their formerly divided
ranks. Not until the
following day were the damsels rescued from the fort
where they were
held
prisoners.
The
use
of
music
to
convey political meaning
through allegory, as
in
this episode, was an
important part of royal life
in
the sixteenth century.32
Valois, Tudor,
and Medici
as
well
as Habsburg staged
splendid
festivals and
elaborate entries and tournaments rich with political associations. Such
spectacle
made
legendary
the
meeting
of the
European
powers
at
the
Field
of
the Cloth of Gold
in
1520. In the long history of musical pageantry at the
French court the sixteenth-century fetes of Catherine
de Medici stand out
for
being politically
explicit and musically elaborate. In the later history of
French musical
pageantry music became
a
tool with
which the roi soleil
sought
to
propagandize
the
grandeur
of
his
reign
and
his
person.33Mary
of
Hungary's fetes, particularly
the
Fetes de
Binche, appear
to
have
been
no
less politically calculated than other court fetes of the time. Through music
in
alliance with
other arts, the regent seems
to
have made
the most
of
her
opportunities
to
glorify
the
empire.
Music was
not,
however,
reserved
only
for
secular
occasions at
Mary's
court but was also
bound up
with
religious
and ceremonial
events.
In
these
capacities music
had a
daily
function
at
the
court,
as the music and
musi-
cians
of
Mary's
active
chapel
attest. The
chapel
was
the chief section
of
the
household, the one that appears at the head of each
Etat journalier,
and
significantly, an organization where religious functions joined political and
musical
ones.
The
very presence
of
the
chapel
in
the
courtly
establishment
3"The
ources
for
the
following
account,
which
is
particularly
indebted
to
Daniel
Heartz,
have
been
given
in
note 8
above.
32See
the
work of
Roy
Strong,
Splendour
at
Court,
Renaissance
Spectacle
and
Illusion
(London:
Weidenfeld
and
Nicolson,
1973), and
Frances
A.
Yates,
The
French
Academies
of
the
Sixeenth
Century
(1947;
reprint,
Nendeln,
Liechtenstein,
1968).
33Music
as
the
political
tool
of
Louis
XIV is
the
subject
of
Robert
M.
Isherwood's Music
in
the
Service
of
the
King
(Ithaca:
Cornell
University
Press,
1973).
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14/19
Mary of Hungary
&
Music Patronage
413
gave
tangible
evidence
of the bond unifying
church and
state,
a
bond
the
emperor
himself
wished
to revitalize.34
In
addition,
the
chapel's
musical
components served as a testimony to the cultural sophistication of the
patroness
and
the respect
due
her.
For
Mary
of
Hungary,
who was taking
over the
reins of government
in
the Netherlands
at a time
when
the emperor
would be absent
for long
periods,
an
increase
in the proportions
of
the
chapel
would
perhaps
be a
welcome reinforcement
of Habsburg
authority
with Catholic
legitimacy.
This
organization
that
melded political
and
religious
interests could
also
present a
united
front against
Lutheran
reform.
Both
purposes
would serve
to
fulfill
the
political
mandate
Charles
had
left
his
sister.
If
political
power
was
indeed
the
reason
for
the
emphasis
given
the
chapel
during Mary's
regency,
then
the
Habsburgs
were
not alone
in
perceiving
the value
of an impressive
musical
and religious
organization
to
achieve
this
end.
One recent
study
has
given
political
interpretation
to
similar activities
of
Duke
Ercole d'Este
in
Ferrara.35
The duke,
who
came
to
power
in 1471,
lost no
time
in building
and
staffing his
chapel,
allegedly
in
an effort
to
make
his
court
a "seat
of
power
and
propaganda."
Encouraging
public
religious display
was apparently
one means
the
devout duke
used
to
facilitate effective government over his state. His increased musical forces
were also
a political
statement
to
Galeazzo
Maria
Sforza,
the flamboyant
ruler of the
rival state
of Milan,
with whom
he came
into
direct competition
for talented
musical
personnel.
Whatever
the
motivations,
it
is
certainly
clear that the regent's
chapel
was an
organization
rejuvenated
after
Mary
returned
to the Netherlands.
The
chapel
of Mary's predecessor,
Marguerite
of
Austria,
had
not been
musically self-reliant.36
Drawing
musicians
from
young Charles's
domestic
chapel, Marguerite had finally added a few performers of her own. By 1527
she
was
employing
three adult
singers,
three
choirboys, and
an
organist.
None
of these musicians
seems
to
have composed
for
her chapel. During
Mary's authority,
the
chapel
of the regent
of
the Netherlands
achieved
34See
Frances A. Yates,
"Charles
V
and the Idea
of the Empire,"
Astraea,
The Imperial
Theme in
the Sixteenth
Century
(London:
Routledge and Kegan Paul,
1975), pp.
1-28.
35This
account of Duke Ercole
is taken from
the study by Lewis Lockwood, "Strategies
of
music patronage
in the
fifteenth
century: the
capella
of Ercole I d'Este,"
Music in
Medieval and
Early Modern Europe, ed. LainFenlon (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), pp.
227-248.
36Thebest available
study
of
the music
at the court
of
Marguerite
of
Austria
in
the
Netherlands is
Martin
Picker's
The Chanson
Albums
of Marguerite
of Austria (Berkeley:
University
of
California
Press, 1965).
The
records
of
Marguerite's
court preserved
at Lille,
although
summarized
in
various volumes
of the
Inventaire
sommaire,
have not been
subjected
to
the kind
of
systematic
study
that
would provide
the
details about
performance
and
musi-
cians
needed
for
the
most accurate
assessment
and comparisons.
It is hoped that
the
renewed
interest in
Marguerite,
marked
by
the conference
on Marguerite
of Austria
held in Malines,
Belgium, October,
1982,
will result
in studies
of this nature.
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15/19
414 The
Sixteenth Century Journal
musical independence
from the emperor's. Her chapel now included its own
choir
and its
own
scribes
and composers
who
refurbished the musical reper-
tory. Mary's organization
thus began to resemble the splendid chapels of
her father and grandfather, representing a continuation of a
long and im-
pressive musical tradition.
The enlargement of
Mary's chapel membership has gone almost com-
pletely unnoticed in
scholarly literature.37Yet an
examination of the rolls
preserved
in
the Etats
journaliers shows an unmistakable increase in size
and musical independence of this
organization. By 1535 Mary
had recruited
twice as many choirboys
and more than three times the number
of
singers
employed by Marguerite,
a
respectable
choir
that could
perform
complex
polyphonic works. De Gyn's Comptes gives the sources for some of these
works. In 1535 the scribe Pierre van den
Hove, called
Alamire, sold the
regent a good number
of
books
for
use
in
her
chapel (AN B. 3357, fo. 184v).
At
various
times
each
of two
successive mattres
des
enffans
received reim-
bursement
for
books
of
masses and
magnificats purchased
for
the
chapel.
As
principal composer
for
the
court,
one
of
these
men, Benedictus
Ap-
penzeller, composed a
substantial
number of
polyphonic
magnificats,
masses, and
motets himself. Most of
these are preserved
in
manuscripts that
today belong to the Benedictine Monastery at Montserrat. Containing
music
by Appenzeller,
Mary's organist Pathie, and other respected com-
posers of the time, these manuscripts, which are only
beginning
to
be
in-
vestigated,
are
thought
to
have been
compiled at
her court and
to
represent
the music
performed by her chapel.
I
With its music
books, instruments, choirboys
and
priest-singers,
the
chapel accompanied Mary
on
her
frequent peregrinations
about the
realm,
presumably
to
comply
with
the emperor's request that mass and
vespers
be
celebrated daily in plainsong and polyphony.38The activity and visibility of
this
important religious
organization
with its
considerable musical
compo-
nent
could hardly have failed
to
impress foreigners
and reassure
subjects
alike
with
the
grandeur
of the
Habsburg
establishment.
That the
chapel
members also had
responsibility
for
composing
and
performing
ceremonial music
is
suggested by
certain
compositions
of
the
mattre des
enffans
de
la
chappelle
known as state motets.
These works are
polyphonic compositions
with
texts that
acknowledge specific
events
or in-
dividuals
of
the
day. They
were
probably
used at
solemn but
not
necessarily
liturgical
ceremonies. One
of these motets names Francis
I.
Its date and
wording
indicate that the music commemorates
the
peace arranged
between
37In
Les
musiciens
beiges
(Brussels:
[1848]),
I:
144, Edouard
Fetis stated
that
Mary's
chapel
did
not
contain
many
musicians
and that
she
found her
situation
too
difficult to
give much
at-
tention to
the arts.
Only
Joseph
Schmidt-G6rg seems to
have
recognized
the
change in
Mary
of
Hungary's
chapel
by
comparison
with
the
regents
before
and
after her.
See
Nicolas
Gombert,
Kapellmeister Kaiser
Karls
V.
Leben
und Werk
(Tutzing: Hans
Schneider,
1971), p. 29.
38Van
der
Straeten,
La
Musique VII:
278-279.
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16/19
Mary of Hungary
&
Music Patronage 415
Habsburg and Valois
in
1538.39
A
token meeting among Pope Paul III,
Charles V, and Francis at Nice and
Aigues-Morte in that year was followed
by another between Francis and Mary of
Hungary at
Compiegne
and Cam-
brai. Accompanying the French king on
this later occasion was his wife
Eleonore, Mary's musically-gifted
older
sister,
for whom
the regent had a
particular
affection.
The
days spent
hunting
and
banqueting during
this en-
counter perhaps offered
the
opportunity for a performance
of this
motet,
which extravagantly praises the king. At the closing phrase, "Optamus
memores europa, asia, affrica/ Totus
Orbis Franciscisci/ Pareat Imperiis,"
musical imitation
is
used among the
voices as though
to
reflect the far cor-
ners of the world named in the text. A
change to hymn-like style and a new
meter sets off the concluding words, "Pareat Imperiis." Another state
motet, also by Mary's
maltre
des
enffans Appenzeller, celebrates Erasmus in
a
moving lament,
with
parts being
given an unusually
low
range and words
from Lamentations 5:16 (Cecidit
corona capitis nostri) interwoven with
those of a contemporary text. This
humanist, who had long admired Mary
of Hungary, had
dcedicated
o her the
book Vidua Christiana in 1530. Other
motets glorify the Habsburgs
themselves. Oramus te rex, glorie Christe is
probably addressed to Charles V. Its
text continues:
qui in anxietate constituti sumus
ut conservare
digneris Regem nostrum (some lines read Im-
peratorum nostrum)
victoriosissimum et reducere feliciter
Ipsum
enim nobis
protectorem.
The work is thought to be a prayer to the emperor who finally brought
peace
to
the Netherlands after
the persistent and terrible violence caused by
Martin le
Noir,
the
Duke
of
Cleves,
and other insurgents.40
Another work, although
not
technically
a state
motet
since
it
has a
liturgically appropriate text, may nevertheless have been intended to glorify
Mary
herself. The text addresses
Mary
the
Virgin (Sancte Maria,
succurre
miseris),
and the music
is
dedicated
to
Mary
of
Hungary
"in
gratitude" by
this
composer
who
served her more than
two
decades.
Although
other
political
works
may
have been
composed
by Mary's musicians,
these
works
are
among
the
least
likely
to
have survived
into
the
present century,
since
their use was usually limited
to
a single occasion.
Nevertheless,
the few such
compositions
that
do
remain
demonstrate
how
closely
interwoven
sixteenth-century art and politics could be.
The
Implications of Mary's Patronage
The
extent
of
Mary
of
Hungary's patronage
of music
in the
Netherlands is demonstrated
by
numerous details
in
the
surviving
39Theseworks and others
like them from
the sixteenth century are discussed
by
Albert
Dunning in
Die Staatsmotette 1480-1555 (Utrecht:
Ossthoek,
1970).
40Ibid.,
pp. 217-218.
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17/19
416 The Sixteenth
Century Journal
documents
of
her court. These documents show that Mary created
an at-
mosphere thoroughly congenial to musical performance and
creativity by
staging festive occasions for
musical participation and by
magnifying the
performing resources of the Netherlands court. The impressive
number of
instruments she accumulated,
the instrumentalists she imported, the
singers
and
composers she added
to
the chapel together with the musical composi-
tions emanating from her
court all bear out the image of a music-loving
patroness
who
actively nurtured the
special
talents of the
musically gifted.
With
such
clear
evidence
that Mary indeed fostered an expansive level
of musical activity, the
question of what benefit she
derived from
cultivating
this
art may be asked. Why did she encourage
expenditures
for
fetes, instruments, and performers in times of military crises, inflation, and
religious turmoil? It might
be replied that she wished
to
give her
courtiers
and
herself some relief from the
weightier responsibilities
of
their
times.
As
a
musically intelligent
individual from
a
family
with
a
long
and
rich
musical
tradition, Mary perhaps
cultivated music because she enjoyed the art.
Moreover, cultivation
of music
was
not
only
a
family legacy
but also
the
current
fashion. The widespread attention given the
fine
arts
generally
is
an
important feature of sixteenth-century life that must be attributed in
some
degree to the influence of the ideals of humanism.
Yet cultural sophistication
also caused intense personal rivalries
between
individuals. Such competition arose between Duke Ercole
and
Galeazzo
Maria Sforza,
for
example. Mary
of
Hungary,
a
politically
astute
ruler
who
kept careful
records, handled sensitive diplomatic negotiations,
and devised
military strategy,
would
hardly
have been naive
in
the realm
of
artistic
accomplishment.
Her
own
training
and the fact
that she
assisted
her
brothers Charles and Ferdinand
in
recruiting musical personnel
for
their
chapels indicate that Mary was conscious of musical matters of her day.
It
may
be
noted that the
two
principal European
rivals
of
the
Habsburgs, Francis I and
Henry VIII, were
renowned
for their
magnificent
musical
establishments. Contemporary reports
tell
of the
remarkable
per-
formances of their respective
chapels when
the
two
kings
met
in
1520
at the
Field of
the
Cloth
of
Gold.4' By
1547
Henry
VIII had
enlarged
his musical
establishment
to
include
nearly sixty
musicians.42
By
the same
year
Francis
too
had enlarged his court
to
allow for three
distinct
groups
of
musicians
who served either the chapel, the chamber, or the stable.43Presumably
4"See
he essays by Paul
Kast,
"Remarquessur la
musique et les
musiciens de la
chappelle
de
Francois
Ier
au
Camp du Drap
d'Or," and
Hugh Baillie,
"Les
musiciens de la chapelle
royale
d'Henri VIII
au camp du Drap
d'Or,"
in
Fetes et
Ceremonies
au
temps de
Charles-Quint, Les
Fetes de la
Renaissance, 2
(Paris:
Editions du
Centre
National de la
Recherche
Scientifique,
1960):
135-160.
42TheNew
Grove,
s.v. "Henry VIII."
43HenriPrunieres, "La
Musique de la
Chambre
et
de
l'ecurie sous le Regne de
Francois
Ier,
1516-1547,"
L'annee
musicale I
(1911):'
215-249.
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18/19
Mary of Hungary
&
Music Patronage 417
Mary would have been especially well informed of
the French expansion
since her sister Eleonore was Francis'squeen.
In the sixteenth century competitive rulers could hardly ignore the
challenge
of
upholding the cultural sophisitication
of
their individual
realms. Thus, splendour at court, as
the title of
a
monograph
on
the subject
goes, became an essential public relations
tool in
this century, a kind of pro-
paganda that reassured subjects and impressed
rivals." In the
book of this
title Roy Strong points out that one way for a Renaissance prince
to
project
not
only a favorable public image but actually a
mirage of power was
through the extravagant display
of
courtly magnificence at tournaments,
masques, ballets, and entries.
He further notes that
the
fundamental objec-
tive of the court fate, to which Mary contributed so famously, was "power
conceived as art."
To these observations
it can be
added that court
chapels
too
furnished important opportunities
to
flaunt impressive
musical forces.
In the face
of
these
considerations,
it
could be
concluded
that one
of
the
most important benefits which Mary
of
Hungary derived
from
cultivating
music was a political one. As an art
to
which her
family had long been
devoted, music was perhaps the art
most
appropriate
to
enhance the
Habsburg image, immortalize its name,
commemorate its legal transac-
tions, and impress its rivals. The steps that Mary took to include music in
her fates,
to
acquire musical instruments for her court,
to
enlarge the
musical membership
of
her chapel, and
to
encourage,
if
not
actually
com-
mission, compositions for political occasions suggest that this regent had a
keen
appreciation
of
the
cultural expectations
of
a
Habsburg
ruler and an
astute sense of
how
the art
of
music
might
be
used
to
enhance
the
imperial
image, a task
to
which she was clearly devoted. Although Machiavellian,
Mary
of
Hungary's
actions elicited
praise
at her funeral. Commenting
on
the regent's efforts to encourage music and other matters of art and learn-
ing, Archbishop Richardot pointed out
that
such
actions "give singular
lustre
to
the virtue and splendor of Princes and . .. are
of
the greatest utility
to
their estates and countries."45Mary's particular attentions
to
music imply
that cultural achievements played a serious role
in
Habsburg
politics.
Coda
For
performers today Mary
of
Hungary's importance
rests
in
the
specific musical compositions and the performance situations she
engendered.
To
these
things musicologists
would add that
there is a need
to
consider the effects
that
her tastes
and
individual
requirements
may
have
had
on
musical style. Thanks
to
Mary
of
Hungray's
patronage,
her com-
posers wrote, her scribes copied, and her performers
played. Togther they
"Strong,
Splendour
at
Court,
especially ChapterII: "The Politics of
Spectacle,"pp.
19-76.
""Sermon
Funebre,"
fo.
28r.
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19/19
418 The Sixteenth
Century Journal
produced a music "sounding
with supreme delight," much of which survives
and can profitably be
revived for performance and study.
This investigation also suggests that Mary of Hungary's cultivation of
music was
not
simply
an encouragement of sybaritic pleasures but an
enhancement
of
the
stature
of
the empire she
served. Assessments of the
music as well as the political
affairs of this court should henceforth take into
consideration
this revised perspective
on
Mary
of Hungary and her music
patronage.