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{{Short description|14th-century medieval European composer}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}

'''Egardus''' ({{floruit|1400}}; also '''Engardus''' or '''Johannes Echgaerd''') was a European [[Medieval music|Medieval]] composer of ''[[ars subtilior]]''. Almost no information survives about his life, and only three of his works are known. A certain "Johannes Ecghaerd", who held [[chaplain]]cies in [[Bruges]] and [[Diksmuide]], may be a possible match for Egardus. The extant works—a canon and two [[Gloria in Excelsis Deo|Glorias]]—appear to be less complex than music by mid-century composers, possibly because they date from either very early or very late in Egardus' career.

==Identity and career==
[[File:St Donatian Cathedral Bruges.jpg|thumb|A 1735 engraving of [[St Donatian's Cathedral]] in Bruges as it appeared about 270 years after Johannes Ecghaerd was appointed [[succentor]] in 1370]]
Little is known with certainty about his life.  The enigma of his biography stems from a difficulty in knowing whether he was [[Flanders|Flemish]] or Italian.  A northern origin is suggested by his name, a copy of one of his works in a Flemish manuscript, and a possible citation of his music by [[Thomas Fabri]].  But with only one other exception, all of his works are found in [[Music of the trecento|Northern Italian manuscripts]], and that exception, a Polish manuscript, has strong Italian connections.{{sfn|Cuthbert|2006|pp=170–171}} The most important biographical research on the composer was conducted by [[Reinhard Strohm]], who notes that it was more common for Northern works (and composers) to travel to Italy than the opposite.{{sfn|Strohm|1992|p=43}}

Strohm identifies a "Magister Johannes Ecghaerd" appointed as [[succentor]] of [[St Donatian's Cathedral]] (''Sint-Donaaskathedraal'') in [[Bruges]] in 1370 as a possible match for the composer. This appointment suggests to Strohm that Echgaerd would have been born by or before 1340.{{sfn|Strohm|1992|pp=44–45}} Strohm also finds connections to a work by [[Thomas Fabri]], a Dutch composer, in the text of ''Furnos reliquisti'', an unlikely coincidence if they were not working in close proximity to each other.{{sfn|Strohm|1992|p=43}} Johannes Egardus held [[chaplain]]cies in [[Diksmuide]] and Bruges.<ref>''Acta Capitularia Sint-Donaas'', Bisschoppelijk Archief Brugge, Reeks A no. 48: 26.3.1371; 21.5.1371; 22.5.1387; A no. 49 (1394-) f. 1r; cited in {{harvnb|Strohm|1992|p=45}}</ref> The number of his pieces in [[Padua]]n manuscripts suggested to Strohm that he may have been resident there.{{sfn|Strohm|1992|p=44}} [[Nino Pirrotta]] had suggested that he may have been one of the musicians in the [[papal court]] of [[Bologna]] c.1410.{{sfn|Pirrotta|1944–45|p=43}} However, Pirrotta's evidence was based on the position of Egardus's works within the manuscript [[Modena Codex|Mod A]]—a connection between manuscript and court now considered more tenuous,{{sfn|Stone|2005}} and not from the lists of singers in the Italian [[pope|papal]] chapels: lists from which Egardus is absent.{{sfn|Di Bacco|Nádas|2004|loc=foldout 1}}

==Music==
Only three works by Egardus survive.  A canon, ''Furnos reliquisti quare; Equum est et salutare'' is found in a single source, Mod A (Modena, Biblioteca Estense e Universitaria alpha.M.5.24).  His other two works have a somewhat wider distribution.  The [[Gloria in Excelsis Deo|Gloria]] with the [[Trope (music)|trope]] "Spiritus et Alme" appears in three sources, [[Utrecht]], Universiteitsbibliotheek 1846 (''olim'' 37, independently discovered by Schmid and Strohm) and two sources from Padua, Biblioteca Universitaria: MSS Ba 2.2.a (formerly 1225, part of Pad D) and 1475 (part of Pad A).  Both of the Paduan sources originally come from the Paduan [[abbey]] of [[Justina of Padua|Santa Giustina]].{{sfn|Strohm|1992}}{{sfn|Schmid|1985}} An untroped Gloria appears in five independent sources: [[Warsaw]], Biblioteka Narodowa, MS III.8054 (''olim'' Biblioteka Krasiński 52, commonly called Kras.) f. 204v-205r, Mod A f. 21v-22r, a collection of sources in [[Grottaferrata]] and at [[Dartmouth College]] (f. Dv-4r), Padua Ba 2.2.a (1225), f. 1v, and, recently identified, in [[Udine]], Archivio di Stato framm. 22 recto (part of [[Cividale]] A).{{sfn|Cuthbert|2006|p=253.}}{{efn|N.B. the source list in {{harvnb|Nosow|2001}} contains several errors in addition to the omission of the source in Udine discovered after its publication.}} In the Warsaw source, the work is labeled "Opus Egardi."  In Mod A, "Egardus" is used.  In no other source of this work is there an attribution.  Strohm notes that Egardus's music is less complex than other mid-century composers, but this lack of complexity can either be attributed to an early date for its composition, contemporaneous with [[Philippe de Vitry]], or a far later date, just prior to [[Johannes Ciconia]]).

===Editions of music===
Additional editions are listed in the critical notes of the ''Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century'' editions:

* Fischer, Kurt von and F. Alberto Gallo, editors. ''Italian Sacred and Ceremonial Music,'' ''Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century'' 12 (Monaco: [[Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre]], 1976), p.&nbsp;21 (untroped Gloria).
* Fischer, Kurt von and F. Alberto Gallo, editors. ''Italian Sacred and Ceremonial Music,'' ''Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century'' 13 (Monaco: [[Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre]], 1987), p.&nbsp;90 (Gloria, "Spiritus et Alme"), 214 (''Furnos reliquisti'').

==References==
===Notes===
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===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite thesis |last=Cuthbert |first=Michael Scott |year=2006 |title=Trecento Fragments and Polyphony Beyond the Codex |chapter=Fragments in Padua and Cividale: Music in Two Important Centers of the Northeast |publisher=Harvard University |location=Cambridge |oclc=181941551 |chapter-url=https://www.trecento.com/dissertation/02-chp2.pdf |url=https://www.trecento.com/dissertation/ }}
* {{cite book |last1=Di Bacco |first1=Giuliano |last2=Nádas |first2=John |editor-last=Zimei |editor-first=Francesco |year=2004 |title=Antonio Zacara da Teramo e il suo tempo |trans-title=Antonio Zacara from Teramo and his time |chapter=Zacara e i suoi colleghi italiani nella cappella papale |trans-chapter=Zacara and his Italian colleagues in the papal chapel |language=Italian |publisher=Libreria Musicale Italiana (LIM) |location=Lucca |isbn= |pages=33–54 |url=https://www.academia.edu/7560174/Antonio_Zacara_da_Teramo_e_il_suo_tempo }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Nosow |first=Robert |year=2001 |encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]] |title=Egardus |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.08599 |isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000008599 |access-date=15 April 2007 }} {{Grove Music subscription}}
* {{cite journal |last=Pirrotta |first=Nino |year=1944–45 |title=Il codice estense lat. 568 e la musica francese in Italia al principio del '400 |trans-title=The Estense Lat. codex. 568 and French music in Italy at the beginning of the 15th century |journal=Il codice estense lat. 568 e la musica francese in Italia al principio del '400 [Proceedings of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts of Palermo] |series=IV |volume=V |issue=pt. 2 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Schmid |first=Bernhold |date=1985 |title=Zur Rekonstruktion einer Gloria-Motette von Engardus in den Paduaner Fragmenten |trans-title=On the reconstruction of a Gloria motet by Engardus in the Paduan fragments |language=German |journal=[[Die Musikforschung]] |volume=38 |pages=195–201 |jstor=41119818 }}
* {{cite book |last=Stone |first=Anne |year=2005 |title=The Manuscript Modena, Biblioteca Estense a.M.5.24 (ModA): Commentary |publisher=Libreria Musicale Italiana (LIM) |location=Lucca |isbn=978-88-7096-331-1 }}
* {{cite book |last=Strohm |first=Reinhard |author-link=Reinhard Strohm |year=1992 |chapter=Magister Egardus and other Italo-Flemish contacts |title=L'Ars nova italiana del Trecento VI |publisher=Centro di Studio L'ars nova italiana |location=Certaldo |oclc=28246073 |pages=41–68 }}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Fischer |first=Kurt von |author-link=Kurt von Fischer |year=1980 |title=Egardus (Engardus) |encyclopedia=[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |volume=VI |location=Oxford |page=42 }}

==External links==
* {{DIAMM|pid=105|pname=Egardus}}
* {{MMDB|pid=COM079.htm|pname=Egardus}}

{{Ars subtilior|state=open}}
{{Medieval music}}
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[[Category:Belgian male classical composers]]
[[Category:Flemish composers]]
[[Category:Musicians from Bruges]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Medieval male composers]]
[[Category:Ars subtilior composers]]