Everything about Cl Ment Janequin totally explained
Clément Janequin (c.
1485 –
1558) was a
French composer of the
Renaissance. He was one of the most famous composers of popular
chansons of the entire Renaissance, and along with
Claudin de Sermisy, was hugely influential in the development of the
Parisian chanson, especially the
programmatic type. The wide spread of his fame was made possible by the concurrent development of music
printing.
Life
Janequin's career was highly unusual for his time, in that he never had a regular position with a cathedral or an aristocratic court. Instead he held a series of minor positions, often with important patronage. He was born in
Châtellerault, near
Poitiers, though no documents survive which establish any details of his early life or training. In
1505 he was employed as a clerk in
Bordeaux, to
Lancelot du Fau, who eventually became
Bishop of Luçon; he retained this position until du Fau's death in
1523, at which time he took a position with the
Bishop of Bordeaux. Around this time he became a priest, though his appointments were rarely lucrative; indeed he always complained about money.
After
1530 Janequin held a succession of posts in
Anjou, beginning with singing teacher to the choirboys at the cathedral at
Auch, and progressing to
maître de chapelle at the singing school at
Angers Cathedral. Around this time he attracted the attention of
Jean de Guise, the patron of
Erasmus,
Clement Marot, and
Rabelais; it was a welcome career boost, and, in
1548, with the additional assistance of
Charles de Ronsard (the brother of poet
Pierre de Ronsard), he became curate at
Unverre, not far from
Chartres. During this time he lived in
Paris. By
1555 he was listed as a "singer ordinary" of the king's chapel, and shortly thereafter became "composer ordinary" to the king: only one composer (
Sandrin, also known as Pierre Regnault) had previously had this title. In his will, dated January
1558, he left a small estate to charity, and he complained again of age and poverty in a dedication to a work published posthumously in
1559. He died in Paris.
Music and influence
Few composers of the Renaissance were more popular in their lifetimes than Janequin. His
chansons were well-loved and widely sung. The Paris printer
Pierre Attaingnant printed five volumes with his chansons.
La bataille, which vividly depicts the sounds and activity of a battle, is a perennial favorite of
a cappella singing groups even in the present day.
Janequin wrote very little sacred music: only two
masses and a single
motet are attributed to him, though more may have been lost. His 250 secular chansons and his 150 psalm settings and
chansons spirituelles — the French equivalent of the Italian
madrigale spirituale — were his primary legacy.
The programmatic chansons for which Janequin is famous were long, sectional pieces, and usually cleverly imitated natural or man-made sounds.
Le chant des oiseaux imitates bird-calls;
La chasse the sounds of a hunt; and
La bataille, probably the most famous, and almost certainly written to celebrate the French victory over the
Habsburgs at the
Battle of Marignano in
1515, imitates battle noises, including trumpet calls, cannon fire and the cries of the wounded.
Onomatopoeic effects such as these became a commonplace in later
16th century music, and carried over into the
Baroque era; indeed "battle music" was to become a cliché, but it first came into prominence with Janequin.
In addition to the programmatic chansons for which he's most famous, he also wrote short and refined compositions more in the style of Sermisy. For these he set texts by some of the prominent poets of the time, including
Clément Marot. Late in his life he wrote many simple sacred chansons which used traditional
Calvinist tunes. While there's no documentary evidence of Janequin's being a
Protestant, his use of Marot's poetry, Calvinist tunes, and the extraordinary simplicity of the music (especially in contrast to the complex
polyphonic and programmatic style he cultivated earlier in life) are suggestive at the least.
Media
Further Information
Get more info on 'Cl Ment Janequin'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://cl__ment_janequin.totallyexplained.com">Clément Janequin Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
