(fl 1518–30). Composer. His musical style, and the fact that a piece of his was copied in the so-called Medici Codex of 1518 (in I-Fl), a manuscript of predominantly French repertory, suggest that he may have been a northerner. Since many of his works appear in Italian sources, he is probably the ‘Lupo francese cantore’ (called ‘fiammengo’ in some documents) who was employed by Sigismondo d’Este in Ferrara from June 1518 to the end of April 1519 (Lockwood). Furthermore, he may be identifiable with Lupus Hellinck, who became a priest in Rome in April 1518 while in papal employment (Sherr, pp.xi–xii); but although the dates fit well, Hellinck was not French by language or political allegiance, and there are sharp stylistic differences between his and Lupus’s music.
Although the title of one of Lupus’s masses, Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae, seems to confirm his connection with the Ferrarese court, its soggetto cavato is not derived from the title; moreover, the work was published two years before Ercole II d’Este came to power in 1534. Neither does the soggetto fit the name of the reigning duke, Alfonso, or Sigismondo. (The publisher Moderne may have added the title.) Another mass, on the soggetto cavato ‘Carolus Imperator Romanorum Quintus’, seems to connect Lupus with Charles V, possibly after his election in June 1519, or certainly after he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1530 by Pope Clement VII. The two masses are technically similar to Josquin’s Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae, although written a generation later; they are completely unlike Hellinck’s masses.
The motet O spem non similem, attributed to Lupus in the Vallicelliana Codex (I-Rv), was probably performed at the entry of Marino Grimani, Patriarch of Aquileia, in 1524. In describing Grimani’s entry into Aquileia, Marino Sanuto spoke of ‘una bellissima laude’ performed in his honour by ‘the most excellent singers of Venice’. The hypothesis that one of these singers, Pietro Lupato, might be identifiable with Lupus now seems less likely; the motet appears (anonymously) with the text Regina clementissima in I-Pc A17, dated 1522, suggesting that the text mentioning Marino Grimani is a contrafactum, though neither text fits the music particularly well.
Lupus was a composer of modest talent. His earlier works, such as Esto nobis Domine and In nomine Jesu, lack rhythmic and melodic direction; the texture is uniformly dense, the modal centres ill-defined and the counterpoint awkward, with frequent harsh dissonances. Other motets, however, such as Postquam consummati sunt, Deus canticum novum and In convertendo Dominus, show marked improvement in compositional skill; they enjoyed considerable success, judging from their appearance in numerous manuscripts and publications. Since Hellinck’s works were often published under the name ‘Lupus’, it is possible that some of the better motets are his. The motet Ergone conticuit, set to a poem by Erasmus on the death of Ockeghem, fits stylistically into Lupus’s oeuvre, although printed by Susato in 1547 as a work of Johannes Lupi.
only principal sources given
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Missa Carolus Imperator Romanorum Quintus, 5vv, D-Mbs 19 (Mus.ms.69) (T has soggetto cavato from the title of the mass: fa sol ut mi re fa sol sol fa sol ut mi ut) |
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Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae, 4vv, 15328 (T has enigmatic soggetto cavato: sol fa re fa re mi re fa fa mi re) |
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Missa ‘Quam pulchra es’, 4vv, A-Wn 11883 (on a motet by Moulu or Mouton) |
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Incipit oratio Hieremie, I-Bc Q23 (2 settings; only Sup, A and T survive) |
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Deus canticum novum, 4vv, 15385; ed. in SCMot, xiv (1995) |
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Ergone conticuit vox illa (Erasmus), 4vv, 15475, attrib. ‘Jo. Lupi’ but stylistically unlike J. Lupi’s works); ed. R. Wexler and D. Plamenac, Johannes Ockeghem: Collected Works, iii (Boston, 1992) |
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Esto nobis Domine turris fortitudinis, 5vv; ed. in MRM, iv (1968) |
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In convertendo Dominus, 4vv; ed. A. Smijers and A.T. Merritt, Treize livres de motets parus chez Pierre Attaingnant en 1534 et 1535, ix (Monaco, 1962) |
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In nomine Jesu omne genu, 4vv, I-Bc Q19; ed. in Sherr, vii |
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Miserere mei Deus quoniam tribulor, 5vv, Bc Q19; ed. in Sherr, vii |
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Miserere mei Domine quoniam infirmus sum, 6vv, Bc Q19; ed. in Sherr, vii |
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O spem non similem (text: contemporary poem in honour of Marino Grimani, Patriarch of Aquileia) (= Regina clementissima), 6vv, I-Rv SI 35–40 |
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Postquam consummati sunt, 4vv; ed. A. Smijers and A.T. Merritt, Treize livres, i (Paris, 1934) |
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Regina clementissima (= O spem non similem), 6vv, I-Pc A17 (anon.) |
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Egregie Dei martir, 5vv; ed. R. van Maldeghem, Trésor musical: Musique religieuse, xx (Brussels, 1884) (attrib. ‘Lupus’) |
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Nigra sum sed formosa, 4vv, attrib. Lupus in I-Bc Q19, attrib. Consilium in 153910; ed. in Sherr, vii |
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Paradisi portas aperuit nobis, 4vv, attrib. Lupus in VEcap 760, attrib. Renaldo in Bc Q19; ed. in Sherr, vi |
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Rex autem David, 4vv, attrib. Lupus in 153911, attrib. Gascongne in 15215, 15353, attrib. La Fage in 15216; ed. in MRM, viii (1987) |
F. Stefani, ed.: I diarii di Marino Sanuto (Venice, 1879–1902), xxxvii, 179
A. Thürlings: ‘Die soggetti cavati dalle vocali in Huldigungskompositionen und die Herculesmesse des Lupus’, IMusSCR II: Basle 1906, 183–94
E.E. Lowinsky: ‘A Newly Discovered Sixteenth-Century Motet Manuscript at the Biblioteca Vallicelliana in Rome’, JAMS, iii (1950), 173–232; repr. in E.E. Lowinsky: Music in the Culture of the Renaissance and Other Essays, ed. B.J. Blackburn (Chicago, 1989), 433–82
E.E. Lowinsky, ed.: The Medici Codex of 1518, MRM, iii–v (1968)
B.J. Blackburn: The Lupus Problem (diss., U. of Chicago, 1970)
A. Dunning: Die Staatsmotette 1480–1555 (Utrecht, 1970), 29–32
B.J. Blackburn: ‘Johannes Lupi and Lupus Hellinck: a Double Portrait’, MQ, lix (1973), 547–83
L. Lockwood: ‘Jean Mouton and Jean Michel: New Evidence on French Music and Musicians in Italy’, JAMS, xxxii (1979), 191–246, esp. 198–9
R. Sherr, ed.: Selections from Bologna, Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, MS Q 19 (‘Rusconi Codex’), SCMot, vi–vii (1989) [incl. commentary]
BONNIE J. BLACKBURN