Hayne van Ghizeghem
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Hayne van Ghizeghem (c.1445 – 1472 or possibly later) was a Flemish composer of the early Renaissance Burgundian School. He was probably born in Gijzegem (near Ghent, in modern Belgium) and may have died at the Siege of Beauvais.
While many of his works have survived, little is known about his life. His musical talent must have been noticed early by Charles, Count of Charolais (later to become Charles the Bold) because there is a record of his being personally assigned to a teacher by him; in 1467 he is shown in the Burgundian employment records as being a singer; he evidently served as a soldier as well, for there is a record of purchase of military equipment for him, prior to the campaign against Liège by Charles. He is known to have been at the Siege of Beauvais in 1472, where Charles was decisively repulsed by the French, and he was long presumed by scholars to have been killed in that battle. However, recent research into his surviving compositions indicates that some may have been produced after 1472, especially because they seem to show stylistic development beyond the ones that can be definitively dated to 1472 or before. Current scholarship suggests he may have survived the siege, and gone to work at the court of France.
Hayne is principally known as a composer of chansons, and most of these are rondeaux. Two in particular--Allez regrets, and De tous biens plaine--were so famous in late 15th century Europe that they appeared in 25 separate sources, many dating from before the invention of printing, and they were used as source material for many later compositions by other composers. Almost all of his works are for three voices; they are simple and clear in texture, in the typical manner of the Burgundian school; and the melodic voice is the highest.
Eleven pieces can be definitively attributed to Hayne, though numerous similar works classified as "anonymous" may actually be compositions of his.
References and further reading
- Article "Hayne van Ghizeghem", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1561591742
- Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0393095304