Jacques de Saint-Luc (baptized 19 September 1616ca. 1710) was a Walloon

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...

nist and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. Saint-Luc was born in Ath in 1616; nothing is known about his early years. In 1639 he was invited to become a musician at the court in

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, and two years later he had his portrait painted by

Gerard Seghers Gerard SeghersGerard Seghers
at the

. He moved to

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in the mid- or late 1640s, but returned to Brussels in October 1647. He evidently spent the next few decades in Brussels, marrying in 1658. An important correspondent of Saint-Luc's from these years was

Constantijn Huygens Sir Constantijn Huygens, Lord of Zuilichem ( , , ; 4 September 159628 March 1687), was a Dutch Golden Age poet and composer. He was also secretary to two Princes of Orange: Frederick Henry and William II, and the father of the scientist C ...

. In August 1684 Saint-Luc was still living in Brussels, but nothing is known of his whereabouts during the next 16 years: the next mention of him is from 1700, when he visited

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on the occasion of the marriage of Prince Frederick of Hesse-Cassel and

Princess Louise Dorothea of Prussia Princess Luise Dorothea Sophie of Prussia (29 September 1680 – 23 December 1705) was Hereditary Princess of Hesse-Kassel by marriage to Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Hesse-Kassel. She was the daughter of Frederick I, the first king in P ...

. He apparently traveled to Berlin from

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, where, according to contemporary sources, he was employed by

Prince Eugene of Savoy Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy-Carignano (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736), better known as Prince Eugene, was a distinguished Generalfeldmarschall, field marshal in the Army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty durin ...

. Saint-Luc was still alive in 1707 and 1708, when he published some of his compositions in

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; his date of death is unknown. The long lifetime of at least 94 years aroused suspicions. And indeed, the booklet to a CD issued in 2018 (by Evangelina Mascardi, http://www.musiqueenwallonie.be/, booklet text obviously not available online) proposes that some of the music attributed to Jacques was in fact composed by his son Laurent (born and baptised in Brussels in 1669). More than 200 pieces by Saint-Luc survive, and show that he was one of the most prominent lutenists of his time. Although he was influenced by French composers ( Ennemond Gaultier, Denis Gaultier, Charles Mouton, and others) and adopted their scheme of grouping pieces into suites, he only used the characteristic French ''

style brisé ''Style brisé'' (French: "broken style") is a general term for irregular Arpeggio, arpeggiated texture in instrumental music of the Baroque music, Baroque period. It is commonly used in discussion of music for lute, keyboard instruments, or the vio ...

'' in his preludes.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Luc, Jacques de 1616 births French lutenists French male classical composers French Baroque composers Composers for lute People from Ath 18th-century deaths 18th-century classical composers 18th-century French composers 18th-century French male musicians 17th-century male musicians