1480-84, Bergen op Zoom
While none of these events before 1480 can be documented, they are all plausible. We do know for sure that about April 1480 Obrecht went up to Bergen op Zoom, north of Antwerp, to become choirmaster of the Guild of Our Lady, which had a chapel at St. Gertrude’s Church. He had just been ordained a priest. (On the assumption that a priest would celebrate his first Mass at home, he was assumed to have been born in Bergen op Zoom until his father’s career was documented.) He was already a skillful composer, and he also copied his music and sent it to distant places, especially to Italy. Important proof of this is the remark of Ercole I, duke of Ferrara, who wrote a letter to one of his singers in August 1484 to thank him for sending a Mass by Jacob Obrecht. As we will see, Ercole soon showed his regard for Obrecht by summoning him to Ferrara, and later gave him the opportunity he had sought to work in Italy. The surviving documents at the Guild of Our Lady show that Obrecht’s service was rewarded after two years by a more generous method of paying him.
In 1484 Obrecht received an important position, master of the choristers at Cambrai cathedral. If this seems to be a relatively distant move, it is helpful to know that the bishop of Cambrai was the son of John II of Glymes, the Lord of Bergen op Zoom and founder of the Guild of Our Lady, so his excellent work for the guild in Bergen op Zoom had won him a just reward. The records show that the incumbent choirmaster was dismissed after fifteen years of service to make room for Obrecht.
Yet Obrecht was obviously dissatisfied. Perhaps the burden of supervising the choirboys constantly was too much for him. He began his duties in September, but as early as the following February he applied to the collegiate church of St. Donatian in Bruges for the position of succentor. This position had just become vacant, and Obrecht must have heard of the vacancy from his friend Jean Cordier, a canon of the church. He did not assume the position, however, until November 1485.
1485-91, Bruges
The church of St. Donatian dated back to the original founding of Bruges in the ninth century. It was built to house the relics of an early bishop of Reims (who died in 389), who thus became the patron saint of Bruges and all of Flanders. As succentor, Obrecht was expected to provide Masses for several important feasts each year, a fact that probably accounts for about half of all his Mass compositions.
Obrecht’s term in Bruges was interrupted once by his only documented foreign travel before 1503. At the request of Ercole I, duke of Ferrara, the chapter of St. Donatian gave him leave to visit Ferrara. He traveled there in November 1487, but he overstayed his leave, returning only in June 1488. It is possible that he visited Rome before returning, since he was seeking a benefice, a church office bestowed by the pope that would furnish financial support.
For over five years Obrecht served the church of St. Donatian, composing Masses and directing the music. Obrecht’s father died in Ghent in 1488, resulting in an inheritance that provided additional steady income for the son and heir. These were difficult years for the Flemish cities, which were caught in the warfare between Burgundy’s Archduke Maximilian and France’s King Charles VIII. Bruges was blockaded in 1490 and the inhabitants suffered from famine.
Obrecht’s efforts as composer and musical director were more satisfactory than his administrative duties, which he seems to have carried out less carefully in several of his positions. This was especially true in providing for the needs of the choirboys. He was discharged by the canons in 1490, then the decision was reversed, but he was finally discharged in January 1491. The parting was amicable, described in the chapter’s documents as a “dismissal for the better.” This implied that both the church and the composer would benefit by the change, though in fact the church did not find a successor for almost two years and Obrecht obtained a position that was still not worthy of his genius.
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