Adrien Basin

Who was Adrien Basin?

Adrien Basin was a Franco-Flemish composer, singer, and diplomat of the Burgundian school of the early Renaissance. He was listed along with Antoine Busnois and Hayne van Ghizeghem as one of the personal singers to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.

Little is known about his early life, and he first appears in the records as a singer to Isabella of Bourbon, who was the wife of Charles the Bold. Later he seems to have joined the personal chapel of Charles, when Charles became Duke. Unlike many of the musicians of the Burgundian court, who traveled along with Charles on his military exploits, Basin seems to have remained in Bruges most of the time. After the death of Charles at the Battle of Nancy in 1477, Basin served the court as a diplomat, according to records from the 1480s. The last record of his life is dated to 1498, when he was named as heir to his brother Pierre.

All of Basin's surviving music is secular, although some of the anonymous music in the manuscripts of the time may be by him. Of his secular songs, one became immensely popular.