Baude Cordier (born c. 1380 in Rheims, died before 1440) was a French composer from Rheims; it has been suggested that Cordier was the nom de plume of Baude Fresnel.[1] Cordier's works are considered among the prime examples of ars subtilior. In line with that cultural trend, he was fond of using red note notation, also known as coloration, a technique stemming from the general practice of mensural notation. The change in color adjusts the rhythm of a particular note from its usual form. (This musical style and type of notation has also been termed "mannerism" and "mannered notation.")[2]
Ten of Cordier's secular pieces survive, most of which are rondeaux:
some are in the rhythmically complex late fourteenth-century French style of ars subtilior, such as "Amans amés secretement" (Lovers, love discreetly).[3]
others are simpler, with greater emphasis on lyrical melody, such as "Belle, Bonne, Sage", also transcribed in HAM, and characterized with "Amans" as a rondeau.
Two of the composer's chansons are in the Chantilly Manuscript and are well-known examples of eye music:
the love song "Belle, Bonne, Sage" ("Beautiful, Good, Wise"). The manuscript is in the shape of a heart.[4][5]
Cordier's Tout par compas suy composés.
a circular canon "Tout par compas suy composés" ("With a compass was I composed")—more eye music, in which the manuscript is written in a circle.[6][7]
His mass movement in the Apt MS is in the later, simpler fifteenth-century style.