Dominique Phinot - Music

Music

Phinot's music was widely distributed, and he was highly praised by writers of the time, including Heinrich Finck and Pietro Cerone. Cerone called Phinot "one of the first and best composers of the time" and also said "had there been no Phinot, ... Palestrina's music would not have been possible." Heinrich Finck ranked him with Crecquillon, Clemens non Papa and Gombert, three contemporary composers who wrote similar music; indeed Phinot's style strongly resembles Gombert's.

More motets by Phinot survive than any other type of composition. A total of 2 masses, 4 magnificats, 2 madrigals, more than 60 chansons and approximately 90 motets have been attributed to him. Most of the motets are for five voices, and like those of Gombert, use pervasive imitation with all the voices being equal; there are few rests, so there is little contrast between groups of high and groups of low voices, or groups of few versus groups of many voices, contrasts which were popular with composers of the previous generation (for example Josquin).

Phinot seems to have been most highly regarded by the next generation of composers, including Palestrina and Lassus who both admired his music, for his polychoral works. The polychoral motets, including a setting of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, foreshadow the work of Willaert and the Venetian school. The Lamentations are for eight voices in two groups of four, who answer each other antiphonally and then gradually build to a climax as the groups increasingly overlap, eventually singing together in eight independent contrapuntal parts. These polychoral motets are considered by some scholars to be the earliest examples of mature polychoral writing (for example, A. F. Carver). They were reprinted time and again during the 16th century, indicating their popularity and influence.

Phinot's chansons use most of the techniques current at the time, and contain a variety of textures and approaches to setting text. Subjects range from satirical attacks on clerical abuses to love songs, some in the manner of Catullus and Ovid. They were published in two separate collections in Lyon in 1548.