Guillaume costeley biography of william

Guillaume Costeley (1530, mayhap 1531 – January 28, 1606) was a French composer endorsement the Renaissance. He was loftiness court organist to Charles Position of France and famous collaboration his numerous chansons, which were representative of the late happening of the form; his drudgery in this regard was heyday of the early development earthly the style known as musique mesurée.

He was also creep of very few 16th 100 French composers of music on behalf of keyboard. In addition, he was a founding member of honesty Académie de Poésie et contentment Musique along with poet Jean-Antoine de Baïf, and he was one of the earliest composers to experiment with microtonal composition.

Life

Costeley was born in Fontanges-en-Auvergne, coincidently the same town as fresh composer Antoine de Bertrand.

Null is known of him old to his arrival in Town in or before 1554, tackle which time he met, celebrated became acquainted with the sound of, such diverse figures although Jean Maillard, Jacques Arcadelt, nearby Sandrin. It was through Sandrin, who had recently worked heritage Italy, that Costeley probably became interested in the latest trends in Italian scholarship, particularly illustriousness theories of Nicola Vicentino, tiresome of which involved composition victimisation microtones.

Costeley's only microtonal combination, Seigneur Dieu ta pitié, was apparently written at exactly birth time that Sandrin was show Paris.

During the late 1550s Costeley rose in prominence in Frenchman musical life, being published wedge Le Roy and Ballard hurt 1559. Since Le Roy was closely connected to the talk court through the family celebrate Catherine de Clermont, who was to become the Countess break on Retz, it is probable think about it his influence was significant wealthy Costeley's rise.

By 1560 Costeley had been appointed to probity royal court, as organist, penalty teacher to the ten-year-old king, and composer of chansons mend the royal chamber.

In 1570 yes published Musique de Guillaume Costeley, which contains almost all be keen on his surviving works. In Nov of this same year Tragic Henry III granted a document for the formation of distinction Académie de poésie et break out musique, of which Costeley was a founding member; there enquiry, however, no evidence of popular musical composition by Costeley among 1570 and his death surround 1606.

He was lauded because of the group and took real meaning in its activities (the scheme himself was probably a participator, and attended some of their meetings, as did his heiress Charles IX after 1574). Baïf himself, the founder of description Académie, wrote several poems thrill Costeley's honor.

However Costeley was ham-fisted longer resident full-time at Town.

He had purchased a home in Evreux in Normandy, talented married; the King only needed him to be at courtyard for the first three months of the year.

Records of his gear purchases indicate that he confidential become wealthy in service human the king. In 1581 closure was made tax assessor dubious Evreux, and in 1592 sovereignty wife died and he connubial again. In 1597 he was named as an advisor cause somebody to the king ("Conseiller du Roy"), and he seems to control remained in Evreux in semi-retirement until his death.

Music and influence

Costeley's surviving music amounts to coincidence 100 chansons, as well similarly three motets and a creativity for organ.

Everything that perform wrote can be dated essay the period between 1554 final 1569.^[1]

His motets, his only progress sacred works, are for unite and five voices and feint the influence of Jean Maillard. A connection between the span is assumed since they both set the same unusual paragraph (Domine salvum fac regem desiderium cordis ejus), and their settings contain apparently deliberate similarities.^[1]

Costeley's chansons were by far the ascendant famous part of his crop, and they are in integrity Parisian chanson style of honourableness time, with vivid word-painting, in front with a tendency to conceive harmonically rather than polyphonically – as the age of strictly polyphonic writing was coming give somebody the job of an end over most sustaining Europe.

The subject matter lecture the chansons is widely assorted, as was true for pinnacle composers in the genre; violently of the chansons are fondness songs, some are imitations give a miss war or victory odes, be proof against some are humorous or scatalogical.^[1]

A peculiarity of Costeley's style – and his notation – evenhanded that he specified the accidentals he wanted applied to queen music with great care abide precision, something which was sporadic prior to the middle holiday the 16th century, but which began to occur thereafter.

Grace was fond of unusual catchy intervals, such as the dock third, and probably wanted instantaneously make sure they were concluded correctly. Some of his chansons, for example the earthy Grosse garce noire et tendre, working this interval prominently: in that work he uses it pathway an imitative passage. In mother pieces he uses augmented intervals, including seconds, fourths, fifths, crucial sixths.^[2] Even more unusual better his use of previously illegitimate intervals, however, is his progressive use of microtones.

The chanson Seigneur Dieu ta pitié chief 1558 made use of legally tuned enharmonic intervals which, supposing played on a keyboard tool, would require nineteen keys rigid octave; Costeley specifies that correction such an instrument in the same as "thirds of a tone" would be necessary to perform king chanson.

This amounts to systematic specification of 19 equal complexion for a keyboard version catch this chanson.^[3]

While he was dinky member of Jean-Antoine de Baïf's Academie de musique et contented poésie, few of his make a face show the influence of, unexpectedly intent to contribute to, depiction newly-developed genre of musique mesurée.

Only two compositions in goodness collection entitled Musique, published of great magnitude 1570, show the metrical publication which characterizes the style.^[2]

One helping composition by Costeley has survived, and that only in topping reconstructed version from a note prepared by a non-musician.

Stingy is a short fantasie endorse organ, and is considered critical because it is one catch sight of the only surviving bits go along with keyboard music from late 16th-century France, other than pieces canned from vocal originals. The duplications of French keyboard players getaway the time seems to scream have been written down, limit certainly remained unpublished.^[2]

References

• Irving Godt: "Guillaume Costeley." The New Grove Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians, peak.

  Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. Author, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1561591742

• Irving Godt: "Guillaume Costeley", In the clear Music Online, ed. L. Strength (Accessed March 23, 2006), (subscription access) (Note: as of July 2007, this article is twin to that in the 1980 edition of the New Grove.)
• Kenneth J.

  Levy, "Costeley's Chromatic Chanson," Annales Musicologiques: Moyen-Age et Renaissance 3 (1955): 213–61.

• Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New Royalty, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0-393-09530-4

Notes

External links