This discography is presently in a preliminary state. It is believed to contain a substantial percentage of an eventual full listing, but has not been scoured for completeness or organized into sections based on individual works. It should prove informative nonetheless.
Discographic material below has been collected to this stage with substantial help from Pierre-F. Roberge.
Todd M. McCombAntoine Busnoys (c.1430-1492), sometimes spelled Busnois, was the leading songwriter of the late Burgundian style. Along with his unique stature in the courtly chanson genre, Busnoys was at least partly responsible for important innovations in sonority during the Ockeghem era. Based perhaps on his own skill as a singer, Busnoys extended the range of individual vocal parts, and pioneered contrapuntal textures in which each part operates in its own range and without interference from others. His use of extended lines, and especially sequence & imitation, proved decisive for the next generation of composers. In this, Busnoys' music illustrates the trends of the mid-to-late-1400s most clearly, and indeed his formal schemes were the most imitated by other composers. That Busnoys' music is relatively unknown today is an accident not in keeping with his contemporary reputation.
Busnoys may have been born in Busnes, and although much of his career is documented in some detail, his early life and training remain a mystery. By the 1450s, he was associated with the French royal court in the Loire valley, and by 1465 he held a post at St. Martin of Tours where Ockeghem was treasurer. He moved immediately to a post at Poitiers, leaving there by 1466. By 1467 he was in Burgundy, first in loose association with the court, and then in formal positions from 1470. There, he must have accompanied Charles the Bold's huge retinue into battle, and continued to serve Charles' daughter's husband Maximilian of Austria until 1483. From that point, nothing is known of Busnoys' activity until the announcement of his death. Although Busnoys obviously became acquainted with very powerful people, his specific appointments tend to be of a relatively low grade and his benefices in out-of-the-way locations. In 1461, he was even excommunicated for beating a priest, although he was later pardoned. His image becomes that of a renegade, a brilliant man with little regard for established authority. However, his professional reputation must have been enormous, as even at the most obscure churches, when Busnoys arrived, singers of considerable reputation immediately followed.
This arrogance is felt in Busnoys' music as well. For instance, although he did write the motet In hydraulis (c.1467) in praise of Ockeghem, he implicitly praises himself as well. His name appears numerous times in his other works, where he delighted in all manner of symbolism and misdirection: acrostics, puns, numerology, notational puzzles, etc. Despite what might seem to be an overly self-conscious style, Busnoys' music was & is fabulously successful, nearly unrivaled for its command of sonority and texture. Busnoys left approximately 75 songs (mostly rondeaux, several virelais, and a few songs in other forms, including in Italian), 10 motets, a Magnificat, 2 mass cycles, and an isolated Credo. He is the most-represented composer in nine major chansonniers, with works surviving in nearly every European country. He apparently wrote at least two thirds of his chansons by the time he left Poitiers, and it is chansons which form the bulk of his reputation. However, although small in quantity, Busnoys' motets & masses may have been as influential. Besides the famous Pythagorean proportions of In hydraulis, the "bell" sounds of Anthoni usque limina show his skillful use of sonority. Some anonymous motets of the period may also be his.
Busnoys is closely connected to the l'homme armé theme, which was to become one of the most important tests of contrapuntal invention. Busnoys may have written the original tune, and his mass cycle may have been the first on the theme. He may even be responsible for the cycle of six l'homme armé masses surviving anonymously in Naples. The rhythmic scheme Busnoys used in his mass was among the most-copied of the era, and indeed his command of rhythmic syncopation is much of what animates his style. Busnoys' formal innovations proved to be very successful, blending an interest in imitation & triadic harmony into carefully organized arching lines divided by ostinato & cross-rhythm. Besides his musical inventiveness, Busnoys had a full-fledged reputation as a poet, with 3 poems surviving in purely literary manuscripts. The various references in his songs and motets mark him as perhaps the most erudite musician of his age, and it has been suggested that he had a university education. Whether true or not, Busnoys' body of songs remains the most intellectually imposing of its generation.
Todd M. McComb, 10/01(or first known)
Accent 9176
El Cancionero de la Catedral de Segovia
Ensemble Daedalus
Adda 581 316
Le chansonnier Nivelle de la Chaussée (Chansons courtoise du XVe siècle)
Ensemble Amadis
Aeon 1226
Plorer, Gemir, Crier...
Hommage à La "Voix d'Or" de Ockeghem
Diabolus in Musica - Antoine Guerber
Alamire LUB 03
Magister X
An Introduction to Polyphony
Capilla Flamenca - Dirk Snellings
Alvarès C 811 [LP]
Musiciens à la cour de Bourgogne
Anon., 15th c. - Morton et Hayne
Ensemble Guillaume de Machaut de Paris
Amon Ra 56
The Brightest Heaven of Invention
Flemish Polyphony of the High Renaissance
New London Chamber Choir - James Wood
Arcana A301
The Whyte Rose
Poétique anglo-bourguignone au temps de Charles le Téméraire
Ferrara Ensemble - Crawford Young, dir.
Archiv Produktion 2533 404 [LP]
Busnois: Missa "L'homme armé" / Binchois: Motetten-Motets
Pro Cantione Antiqua, London - Bruno Turner
Archiv Produktion 457 586-2
Musical Book of Hours
Pomerium - Alexander Blachly
Argo ZRG 566 [LP]
To Entertain a King
Musica Reservata - Michael Morrow, dir.
Purcell Consort of Voices - Grayston Burgess, dir.
Argo ZRG 681
Josquin Des Pres - John Dunstable
Purcell Consort of Voices - Grayston Burgess, dir.
Arion ARN 68130
Noël en tous temps, en tous lieux
La Maurache
AS&V "Gaudeamus" 139
Ockeghem: Missa Mi-Mi
The Clerks' Group - Edward Wickham
AS&V Gaudeamus 143
Ockeghem: Missa Prolationum
The Clerks' Group - Edward Wickham
AS&V Gaudeamus 220
Josquin: Missa Fortuna Desperata and songs
Motets by Isaac, Senfl, Greiter
The Clerks' Group - Edward Wickham
Asteriamusica AMCD 0412 [CD]
For the Love of Jaqueline
Medieval Love Songs by Antoine Busnoys
Asteria
Atma Classique 2 2807 [CD]
L'Homme armé
La Cour de Bourgogne et la musique
Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal - Andrew McAnerney
Auvidis Ibèrica (Naïve) AVI 8027
Plaser y gasajo
Música cortesana en tiempos del Papa Alejandro VI
Capella de Ministrers - Carles Magraner, dir.
Bella Voce 6
The Armed Man
Music of Josquin, Morales, Ockeghem, and Busnoys
Bella Voce
Calliope CAL 1874 [LP]
Guillaume Dufay: Hymnes, chansons et motets
Musiciens à la Cour de Bourgogne
Ensemble Guillaume de Machaut - Paris
Calliope 9305
Josquin: Missa "L'homme armé sexti toni" & Chansons
Ensemble Obsidienne - Emmanuel Bonnardot
Calliope CAL 9408 [CD]
L'amour de moy
Chansons et improvisations de la Renaissance
Josquin / Hayne / Busnoys / Bosfrin / De la Rue / Manuscrit de Bayeux
Ensemble vocal et instrumental Obsidienne - Emmanuel Bonnardot, dir.
Cantus 9633
Non posso abbandonarte
Canciones y danzas italianas, sec. XV-XVI
Roberta Invernizzi / Accademia Strumentale Italiana - Alberto Rasi
Centaur 3074
Music for the Bentivoglio
Unica and highlights from codex Q18
Speculum Ensemble
Christophorus CHR 77291
Renaissance Winds
Musik für Alta Capella um 1500 - Music for alta capella around 1500
Ensemble Les Haulz et Les Bas
Christophorus 77353
Le Maitre de "Fricasée"
Secular Music of Jean Japart
Les Flamboyants - Michael Form
Christophorus 77360 [CD]
Heinrich Isaac: Ein frölich Wesen
Secular and textless music
Les Flamboyants - Michael Form
Classic Editions CE 1037 [LP]
French Music of the Courts of Burgundy and Versailles
Saturday Consort
Club Français du Disque ??? [LP]
Riches Heures des Ducs de Bourgogne - Music from the Court of Burgundy
Ensemble Roger Blanchard et le Trio de flûte à bec Pierre Poulteau
Collegium Musicum JE 116 [LP]
In Praise of Women / Musical Metamorphoses
Columbia University Collegium Musicum - Alexander Blachly, dir.
Decca 153010 [LP]
(title unknown)
Consortium Antiquum
Delphian 34169
Mynstrelles with Straunge Sounds
The Earliest Consort Music for Viols
Clare Wilkinson / Rose Consort of Viols
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 19075 97001 2 [CDx3]
The Magic of Polyphony
Huelgas Ensemble - Paul Van Nevel
Discophiles français 330 222/4 [LPx3, mono]
Anthologie de la chanson française de 1450 à 1550, de Gilles Binchois à Guillaume Costeley
Ensemble vocal Blanchard - Roger Blanchard, dir.
Dorian DOR 90 133
A Renaissance Tour of Europe
The New York Kammermusiker & Double Reed Ensemble - Ilonna Pederson, dir.
Dorian 90184
Busnoys: In hydraulis & other works
Pomerium - Alexander Blachly
Dorian 90301
Music from the Odhecaton
Piffaro
Dorian 90312
Trionfo d'Amore e della Morte
Florentine Music for a Medici Procession
Piffaro / Concord Ensemble - Joan Kimball & Robert Wiemken
Dorian 93225
The Diamond of Ferrara
Music from the Court of Ercole I
Ex Umbris
Eloquentia 1653 [CDx2]
Chansons de la Renaissance
Ensemble Obsidienne - Emmanuel Bonnardot
Emergo Classics 3954
Antoine Busnois
Kapel van de Lage Landen - Harry van der Kamp
Emergo Classics 3987
Early Music of the Netherlands, Volume 1: 1400-1600
Gesualdo Consort / Concerto Palatino / Ensemble Tragicomedia
EMI (HMV) 5 C193 24588 / 89 [LPx2]
Anno Domini 1501
45 compositions by Masters of the Low Countries
Ensemble Syntagma Musicum
EMI (His Master's Voice) SLS 5049 (box) (LPs: OC 189 06202-4Q or ASD 3229-3231) [LPx3]
The Art of the Netherlands
The Early Music Consort of London - David Munrow
Eufoda 1169
Guillaume Dufay en Bourgondië
Capella Sancti Michaelis / Currende Consort - Erik Van Nevel
Ex Cathedra 9003
A Renaissance Christmas
New York's Ensemble for Early Music - Frederick Renz
Folger Shakespeare Library KC 1 [Cassette]
A Taste of Burgundy
Music of the 15th Century Courts of the Dukes of Burgundy
The Folger Consort
Fonè 99F01
Personent Hodie
Middle Ages and the Mystery of Nativity - Les mystères de la Nativité au Moyen Age
Ensemble Weltgesang - Cristoni, dir.
Fra Bernardo 1905157 [CDx2]
Obrecht Masses
Beauty Farm
Gavin Bryars Recordings 3
Lockerby Memorial Concert
Gavin Bryars / Hilliard Ensemble / Fretwork
Genuin 17453
Fortuna desperata
Orgelmusik aus Gotik und Renaissance
Daniel Beilschmidt
Glossa 31906
Busnois: L'homme armé
Cantica Symphonia - Giuseppe Maletto
Gotham Recording « The French Broadcasting System in North America » GRC 4097 / 4098 [LPx2, 16 in., auto. coupling]
Masterworks from France - Program no. 285 & no. 286
Damase, Clairmon – Antoine de Busnes
Various performers
Griffin 2365
Pastyme with Good Companye from Hampton Court Palace
I Fagiolini / Forbury Consort
Harmonia Art Center 399
The Wedding of King Matthias & Beatrice, 1476
Works from the Mellon Chansonnière
Corvina Consort - Zoltán Kalmanovits
Harmonia mundi HM 998 [LP]
Jacob Obrecht - Missa Fortuna Desperata
Clemencic Consort - René Clemencic, dir.
Harmonia Mundi HMC 90 1279 [CD]
Josquin: Adieu mes amours - Chansons
Ensemble Clément Janequin / Ensemble Les Eléments - Dominique Visse
Harmonia mundi "Documenta" HMC 90 5253
Amours amours amours
Lautenduos um 1500 - Duos de luths autour de 1500 - Lute Duos around 1500
Schröder, Young
Harmonia Mundi USA 907226
Villon to Rabelais
16th Century Music of the Streets, Theatres, and Courts
Newberry Consort - Mary Springfels
Harmonia Mundi HMU 907291
Petrucci: Harmonice Musices Odhecaton
Fretwork
Harmonia Mundi USA 907333
Busnois: Missa "O crux lignum" / Motets / Chansons
Orlando Consort
Harmonia Mundi HMU 90 7418 [CD]
Medieval Christmas - Noël médiévaux
Tenth- to Sixteenth-Century secular & liturgical music for Feasts days
Orlando Consort
Hilliard Live HL 1002
For Ockeghem
The Hilliard Ensemble
Hyperion A 66183 [LP]
Occelino
Popular Music in Italy, c. 1500
London Pro Musica
Hyperion 67129
A Marriage of England and Burgundy
Binchois Consort - Andrew Kirkman
Hyperion 67319
Busnois: Missa L'homme armé / Domarto: Missa Spiritus
almus
Binchois Consort - Andrew Kirkman
L'Oiseau Lyre D 186 D4 (LPx4)
Le Chansonnier Cordiforme
Consort of Musicke - Anthony Rooley
L'Oiseau-Lyre DL254D3 [LPx3]
Johannes Ockeghem - Complete Secular Music / L'oeuvre profane
/ Das weltliche Werk
The Medieval Ensemble of London - Peter Davies & Timothy Davies, dirs.
L'Oiseau-Lyre "Florilegium" 411 938-1 [LP]
Josquin Desprez
Complete 3-part Secular Music
The Medieval Ensemble of London
Le Chant du Monde LDX 8.180 81 [LPx2]
Musique d'Autrefois
Groupe vocal et Ensemble instrumental anciens - Chaillé, dir.
Linn Records 700 [CD]
The Splendour of Florence
With a Burgundian Resonance
Gothic Voices / Andrew Lawrence-King
Mandala MAN 4953
Roncevaux: "Échos d'une bataille"- Roncesvalles: "Ecos du una batalla"
Évocation musicale de la "Chanson de Roland" - Busnois, Byrd, Cabezón, J. Des Prés, M. Flecha, N. Gombert, H. Isaac, R. Morton, P. Phalèse, F. de Peñalosa, A. de Ribera, J. Vázquez, etc.
Ensemble "Lachrimae Consort", Ensemble vocal "La Trulla de Bozes" - Philippe Foulon, dir.
Metronome 1023
Music for Mona Lisa
Concordia - Mark Levy
Metronome 1041
Music and Art in Renaissance Florence
Robin Blaze / Concordia - Mark Levy
Musical Heritage Society MHS 4179 [LP]
Johannes Ockeghem - The Motets
Cappella Nova - Richard Taruskin, dir.
Musique en Wallonie 1157
Espris d'amour: Flemish Miniatures
Capilla Flamenca
Naxos 8.574395 [CD]
Unicum
New Songs from the Leuven Chansonnier
Ensemble Leones - Marc Lewon
Nonesuch H-71 247 [LP]
Antoine Busnois
Chansons
The Nonesuch Consort - Joshua Rifkin, dir.
Opus 111 30-221
Armes, Amours
Alla Francesca / Alta
Passacaille 1109 [CD]
Leuven Chansonnier, vol. 2
Ou beau chastel
Sollazzo Ensemble - Anna Danilevskaia
Phaia Music (no number) [CDx2]
I Pray, Thee, Gentle Mortal, Sing Again
Masses, Chansons & Estampies from the 14th Century to the Renaissance
Ensemble Obsidienne - Emmanuel Bonnardot
Pneuma PN-710 [CD]
Música cortesana en la Europa de Juana I de Castilla 1479-1555
Las Cortes europeas y los Cancioneros
Musica Antigua - Eduardo Paniagua, dir.
Radio Nederland 6808 436/437/438 [6808.432/3/4 printed on box] [LPx3, stereo]
Autumn of the Middle Ages
A history in words and music from the Low Countries
Ensemble Syntagma Musicum - Kees Otten, cond. & Ensemble "Studio Laren" - Marijke Ferguson, cond.
Raum Klang 2005
Petrucci: Harmonice Musices Odhecaton A
Les Flamboyants - Michael Form
Raum Klang 2301
Le Jardin de Plaisance
Songs from Late Fifteenth-Century French Manuscripts
La Morra - Michal Gondko & Corina Marti
Raum Klang 2801
Karl der Kühne und die burgundische Hofmusik
Various Ensembles
Ricercar 207572
I Fiamminghi IV
O admirabile commercium
Brumel, Regis, Mouton, Josquin
Cappella Pratensis - Rebecca Stewart
Ricercar 403
Josquin: Adieu mes amours
Dulces Exuviae
Rondeau Production 6106 [CD]
Ockeghem: Missa L'homme armé
Ensemble Nusmido
Signum 004
The Triumphs of Maximilian
John Potter / Musica Antiqua of London - Philip Thorby
Signum 039
A Songbook for Isabella
Music from the circle of Isabella d'Este
Musica Antiqua of London - Philip Thorby
Sony Vivarte 45860
La Dissection d'un Homme armé
Six Masses after a Burgundian Song
Huelgas Ensemble - Paul Van Nevel
Sony classical "Vivarte" SK 48065
Italia Mia
Musical Imagination in the Renaissance
Huelgas Ensemble - Paul Van Nevel
Sony "Deutsche Harmonia Mundi" 19439 95500 2 [CDx2]
The Landscape of the Polyphonists
The world of Franco-Flemish vocal art (1400-1600)
Huelgas Ensemble - Paul Van Nevel
Stradivarius 33516
Non e' tempo d'Aspettare
Frottole dal Primo Libro di Franciscus Bossinensis
Roberta Invernizzi / Accademia Strumentale Italiana - Alberto Rasi
Studium Vocale
Jean Molinet en de Bourgondische Musici
Studium Vocale
Tactus 400006
Alma, svegliate ormai
Contrafacta devozionali nella musica italiana tra XV e XVI secolo
Anonima Frottolisti
Texas Early Music Project - Volume 8 [CD]
The Flowering of the Renaissance
The Texas Early Music Project Renaissance Ensemble - Daniel Johnson, dir.
Titanic 202
Motets by Busnoys, Josquin, and Gombert
Capella Alamire - Peter Urquhart
Titanic Ti-22 [LP]
Music of Josquin des Pres
The Boston Camerata - Joel Cohen, dir.
Yarlung 05785 [CD]
Music from the Court of Burgundy
Ciaramella Ensemble – Adam Knight Gilbert & Rotem Gilbert, dirs.
(or otherwise duplicated)
Archiv 445 667 (7 CDs)
Sacred Music of the Renaissance
Pro Cantione Antiqua - Bruno Turner
Archiv Produktion 2523 070 [LPx6]
Geistliche Musik der Renaissance
Various performers
Cantus 9705/6 (2 CDs)
Dictionary of Medieval & Renaissance Instruments
Various Artists
Coro 16064 (4 CDs)
Hilliard Live - The Collection
The Hilliard Ensemble
Deutsche Grammophon 453 477
Sanctus
Meditations for the Soul
Various Ensembles
Dorian 90009
Angels of Antiquity
Music from the Middle Ages to the Age of Enlightenment
Various artists
EMI Reflexe 64215 (2 CDs)
The Art of the Netherlands
Early Music Consort of London - David Munrow
Eufoda 1160/69 (10 CDs)
De Vlaamse Polyfonie
Capella Sancti Michaelis / Currende Consort - Erik Van Nevel
Harmonia Mundi "Century" HMX 290 8169 [CD]
Du style gothique à la Pré-Renaissance / From
gothic to Pre-Renaissance (1370-1460)
Ars Subtilior / Dawn of the Renaissance
Various performers
Harmonia Mundi HMX 290 8183 (3 CDs)
Missa
Various composers and performers
Klara "'t Vliegend Peert" 2003-1
Liedekens rond de Zotte Schilders
Various performers
Naxos « Educational – Discover » 8.558170 / 71 [CDx2]
Discover Early Music
Various performers and ensembles
Nonesuch H-1010 [LP, mono]
Masterpieces of the Early French & Italian Renaissance
Groupe vocal et Ensemble instrumental anciens - Chaillé, dir.
L'Oiseau Lyre 436 194 (2 CDs)
Ockeghem: Complete Secular Music
Medieval Ensemble of London - Peter Davies / Timothy Davies
L'Oiseau-Lyre "Florilegium" SPA 547 [LP]
The World of Early Music
Sampler
The Consort of Musicke - Anthony Rooley, dir.
Saydisc / Amon Ra 73 [CD]
High Renaissance
Choral Polyphony from the Low Countries
New London Chamber Choir - James Wood
Sony "Vivarte" 53966
In musica Vivarte: musical selection from Huelgas Ensemble
Huelgas Ensemble - Paul Van Nevel
Virgin Edition 7243 5 61334 2 6 (2 CDs; mid-priced)
The Art of the Netherlands
Early Music Consort of London - David Munrow
Warner Classics 90296 73084 [CDx34]
Josquin and the Franco-Flemish School
Various artists