Claudin de Sermisy
Claudin de Sermisy (c. 1490 – 13 October 1562) was a French composer of the Renaissance.[1] Along with Clément Janequin he was one of the most renowned composers of French chansons in the early 16th century; in addition he was a significant composer of sacred music. His music was both influential on, and influenced by, contemporary Italian styles.
Biography
Sermisy was most likely born either in
In 1508 the young Sermisy was appointed as a singer in the Royal Chapel of
For a while in the early 1520s Sermisy was a canon at Notre-Dame-de-la-Rotonde in
Works
Sacred music
Sermisy wrote both sacred music and secular music, and all of it is for voices. Of his sacred music, 12 complete
His interest in the sacred genres increased steadily throughout his life, corresponding to a decline in interest in secular forms, using the publication dates as a guide (actual dates of compositions are extremely difficult to establish for composers of this period, unless a work happened to be composed for a specific occasion). Since the prevailing style of polyphony among contemporary composers during his late career was dense, seamless, with pervasive imitation, as typified in the music of Mouton and Gombert, it is significant that he tended to avoid this style, preferring clearer textures and short phrases: a style more akin to the chansons he wrote earlier in his career. In addition he varied the texture in his composition by alternating polyphonic passages with homorhythmic, chordal ones, much like the texture found in his secular music.
Sermisy wrote two of the few polyphonic settings of the
Chansons
By far Sermisy's most famous contribution to music literature is his output of chansons, of which there are approximately 175. They are similar to those of
The texts Sermisy chose were usually from contemporary poets, such as Clément Marot (he set more verse by Marot than any other composer). Typical topics were unrequited love, nature, and drinking. Several of his songs are on the topic of an unhappy young woman stuck with an unattractive and unvirile old man, a sentiment not unique to his age.[1]
Most of his chansons are for four voices, though he wrote some for three early in his career, before four-voice writing became the norm. Influence from the Italian frottola is evident, and Sermisy's chansons themselves influenced Italian composers, since his music was reprinted numerous times both in France and in other parts of Europe.
Influence
Sermisy was well known throughout western Europe, and copies of his music are found in Italy, Spain, Portugal, England and elsewhere.
Compositions
Chansons
- Au joly boys
- Aupres de vous secretement (two parts)
- C'est une dure departie
- Changeons propos, c'est trop chante d'amours
- Content desir, qui cause ma douleur
- Dont vient cela (#10 in Attaingnant, P.: 37 Chansons musicales a quatre parties, nd)
- En entrant en ung jardin (publ. 1529)
- Je ne menge point de porc
- Languir me fais
- Si mon malheur my continue
- Si vous m'aimez
- Tant que vivray (publ. 1527)
- Tu disais que j'en mourrais
- Vignon, vignon, vignon, vignette
- Vive la serpe
Motets
- Aspice, Domine
Footnotes
Sources and further reading
- Isabelle Cazeaux, "Claudin de Sermisy", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
- ISBN 0-393-09530-4
Media
External links
- Free scores by Claudin de Sermisy at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
- Tant que vivray midi file
- performances of various choral pieces by Sermisy on Classical Music Archives (including Vignon vignon vignette, Pilons l'orge, Hari Bouriquet and Tant que vivray)
- Free scores by Claudin de Sermisy in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)