John Bedingham (also Bedyngham, Bedyngeham, Bodigham, Bellingan, Benigun, ?Boddenham; d. 1459/60) was an English early Renaissance composer.
Bedingham was a member of the London Guild of Parish Clerks by 1449, keeping his membership until his death. In 1458 he was described in a legal document as verger at St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster. Bedingham can perhaps be identified with a John Boddenham, born in Oxford in 1422, student at Winchester College and New College, Oxford. A sixteenth-century manuscript refers to him as 'Mr: Jo: bedyngham', and this title (magister) may support such an identification.[1][2]
Bedingham has suffered some misattributions: the 'cherished Italian song' (as P.W. Christoffersen has called it)[3] O Rosa Bella was thought to have been by John Dunstaple, and 'So ys emprentid' is still ascribed by some to be by Walter Frye (who based a Kyrie on it).[4] Although Bedingham probably never left England, his music found its way into various Continental manuscripts, and David Fallows wrote that if all the music ascribed to him was actually by him, "Bedyngham must be accounted one of the more important composers of the mid-15th century."[5]
References edit
- ^ Fallows, David, "Johannes Bedyngham," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. vol. 2. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 0-393-09530-4. 347
- ^ Fallows, David (1994). "Dunstable, Bedyngham and O rosa bella". The Journal of Musicology. 12 (3): 287–305. doi:10.2307/764088. JSTOR 764088.
- ^ Christoffersen, P.W. "O rosa bella". The Copenhagen Chansonnier.
- ^ Kirkman, Andrew; Weller, Philip. "The Lily & The Rose" (PDF). Hyperion Records.
- ^ Fallows, "Johannes Bedyngham", 348.
External links edit
- List of compositions by John Bedingham at the Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music
- Free scores by John Bedyngham in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
- Free scores by John Bedyngham at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
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