In no fewer than five songs by Antoine Busnois (c1435–1492), a complete name appears – either hinted at or spelled out as an acrostic: Jaqueline d’Haqueville. Although she cannot be identified with certainty, this woman was clearly the inspiration for Busnois to compose songs of striking originality and extraordinary expressive power.
Korneel Van Neste – voice
Dina Picon – voice
Ivana Ivanović – voice
Elizabeth Rumsey – vielle
Marc Lewon – lute, viola d’arco; direction
Saturday, 27 June 2026
6:15 pm Concert
Nydeggkirche, Nydegghof 2, 3011 Bern
Sunday, 28 June 2026
5:45 pm Introduction (Clemens Goldberg, Berlin)
6:15 pm Concert
Barfüsserkirche, Historical Museum Basel
I’ll be there
by David Fallows
For many years the only information we had about Busnoys was that he was a musician at the court of Burgundy under duke Charles the Bold. But the research of Paula Higgins located him earlier in the circle of Johannes Ockeghem at Tours in the 1460s. In that circle he came across the genre of combinative chansons, to which belongs Vous marchez du bout du pied, otherwise so advanced in style that it appears in later sources as a work of Isaac.
But the main point about Busnoys is that he counts as the most prolific song composer in the second half of the fifteenth century. Among his songs are several specifically naming Jaqueline d’Haqueville. Quite what the nature of their relationship was, we cannot know. But there are some glorious songs there, and it will be good to hear them all together. It will also be good to hear a concert devoted to his songs – something that seems not to have been done since the famous Rifkin LP of the 1960s.
Sat Klosterkirche Dornach
Sun Barfüsserkirche Basel
Kirche Reigoldswil &
Barfüsserkirche Basel
Martinskirche
Basel
Barfüsserkirche
Historisches Museum Basel
