Claude Gervaise (1525–1583) ; these dates are contradicted by other sources was a French composer, editor and arranger of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

, who is remembered mainly for his association with renowned printer

Pierre Attaingnant Pierre Attaingnant or Attaignant ( – late 1551 or 1552) was a French music publisher, active in Paris. He was one of the first to print music by single-impression printing, greatly reducing the labor involved, and he published music by more t ...

, and for his instrumental music.

Life

Little research has been done on Gervaise's life, and details are known only of the period in which he was active in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

as an assistant to Attaingnant. He first appears around 1540, mentioned as an editor on the title pages for several of Attaingnant's books of instrumental dances. After Attaingnant died in late 1551 or 1552, Gervaise continued to assist Attaingnant's widow, Marie Lescallopier-Attaingnant, in carrying on their publishing business. Where Gervaise went after the last publication under the Attaingnant name in 1558 is not known.

Music

Gervaise's extant output consists of

chanson A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...

s, mostly for three or four voices, and instrumental music, mostly dances. He appears to have written no sacred music at all, an unusual omission for a composer of the time. In addition to being a composer, he appears to have been an innovator in notation of instrumental music: in an instruction manual for the

viol The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin family, violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bow (m ...

(1548, now lost), he is known to have produced the first viol

tablature Tablature (or tab for short) is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering or the location of the played notes rather than musical pitches. Tablature is common for fretted stringed instruments such as the guitar, lute or vihuel ...

in France. His chansons are freely composed, and are mostly settings of long poems (for example ''huitans''). He published a collection of twenty chansons for four voices in 1541. The remaining chansons, for three voices, are arrangements of his previous pieces for four; this collection came out in 1550. Stylistically, all are typical of French chanson composition of the 1540s: polyphonic but concise. His instrumental music is the most famous portion of his output. Most of his music is in four parts, and is intended for dancing. The principal forms employed are the ''

pavane The ''pavane'' ( ; , ''padovana''; ) is a slow processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century (Renaissance). The pavane, the earliest-known music for which was published in Venice by Ottaviano Petrucci, in Joan Ambrosio Dalza's ...

'', ''

galliarde The ''galliard'' (; ; ) was a form of Renaissance dance and Renaissance music, music popular all over Europe in the 16th century. It is mentioned in dance manuals from England, Portugal, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy. Dance form The ''gal ...

'', and ''

branle A branle ( , ), also bransle, brangle, brawl(e), brall(e), braul(e), brando (in Italy), bran (in Spain), or brantle (in Scotland), is a type of France, French dance popular from the early 16th century to the present, danced by couples in either ...

''; and the varieties of the branle are the '' courant'', ''gay'' and ''simple''. One of his pavanes, the ''Pavane passemaize'', incorporates the famous ''

passamezzo antico The passamezzo antico is a ground bass or chord progression that was popular during the Italian Renaissance and known throughout Europe in the 16th century.Peter van der Merwe (musicologist), van der Merwe, Peter. 1989. ''Origins of the Popular S ...

'' bass line. The melodies are simple in his instrumental music, and the texture is almost always

homophonic Homophony and Homophonic are from the Greek language, Greek ὁμόφωνος (''homóphōnos''), literally 'same sounding,' from ὁμός (''homós''), "same" and φωνή (''phōnē''), "sound". It may refer to: *Homophones − words with the s ...

, making the music ideal for dancing.

References and further reading

* Lawrence F. Bernstein: "Claude Gervaise", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed March 12, 2006)
(subscription access)
*

Gustave Reese Gustave Reese ( ; November 29, 1899 – September 7, 1977) was an American musicologist and teacher. Reese is known mainly for his work on medieval and Renaissance music, particularly with his two publications ''Music in the Middle Ages'' (1940 ...

, ''Music in the Renaissance''. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gervaise, Claude French male classical composers French Renaissance composers French printers 1525 births 1583 deaths

Life

Music

See also

References and further reading