Philippus de Caserta

Who is Philippus de Caserta?

Philippus de Caserta, also Philipoctus or Filipoctus was a medieval music theorist and composer associated with the style known as ars subtilior.

Philippus is known to have worked at the Papal court at Avignon in the 1370s; his ballade, Par les bons Gedeons, praises antipope Clement VII. Most of his surviving works are ballades, although a Credo was recently discovered, and a rondeau has been attributed to him. His ballade En attendant souffrir was written for Bernabò Visconti, confirmed by the presence of Visconti's motto in the upper voice. Two of Caserta's pieces, En remirant and De ma dolour, use fragments of text from chansons by the most famous composer of the century, Guillaume de Machaut. Caserta's own repute was significant enough for Johannes Ciconia to borrow portions of Caserta's ballades for his own virelai, Sus une fontayne.

Five theoretical treatises have been attributed to Caserta, with some in dispute among scholars.