Nicolas Gombert (c. 1495 – c. 1560)
[Atlas, p. 396] was a
Franco-Flemish composer 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 ...
. He was one of the most famous and influential composers between
Josquin des Prez
Josquin Lebloitte dit des Prez ( – 27 August 1521) was a composer of High Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he was a central figure of the ...
and
Palestrina
Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; , ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Prenestina. It is built upon ...
, and best represents the fully developed, complex
polyphonic
Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ...
style of this period in music history.
Life
Details of his early life are sketchy, but he was probably born around 1495 in southern Flanders, probably between
Lille
Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
and
Saint-Omer
Saint-Omer (; ; Picard: ''Saint-Onmé'') is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France.
It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Sa ...
, possibly in the town of La Gorgue. German writer and music theorist
Hermann Finck wrote that Gombert studied with
Josquin; this would have been during the renowned composer's retirement in
Condé-sur-l'Escaut
Condé-sur-l'Escaut (, literally ''Condé on the Escaut''; ) is a commune of the Nord department in northern France.
It lies on the border with Belgium. The population as of 1999 was 10,527. Residents of the area are known as Condéens or Con ...
, sometime between 1515 and 1521.
[Nugent/Jas, Grove online]
Gombert was employed by the emperor
Charles V as a singer in his court chapel in 1526 and possibly as a composer as well. Most likely he was taken on while Charles was passing through Flanders, for the emperor traveled often, bringing his retinue with him, and picking up new members as he went. A document dated 1529 mentions Gombert as ''magister puerorum'' ("master of the boys") for the royal chapel.
He and the singers went with the emperor on his travels throughout his holdings, leaving records of their appearances in various cities of the empire. These visits were musically influential, in part because of Gombert's stature as a musician; thus the travels of Charles and his chapel, as did those of his predecessor
Philip I of Castile
Philip the Handsome (22 June/July 1478 – 25 September 1506), also called the Fair, was ruler of the Burgundian Netherlands and titular Duke of Burgundy from 1482 to 1506, as well as the first Habsburg King of Castile (as Philip I) for a bri ...
with composer
Pierre de la Rue, continued the transplantation of the Franco-Flemish polyphonic tradition onto the Iberian Peninsula.
At some point in the 1530s Gombert became a cleric and probably a
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...
; he received
benefices at several cathedrals, including
Courtrai
Kortrijk ( , ; or ''Kortrik''; ), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders.
With its 80,000 inhabitants (2024) Kortrijk is the capital and largest cit ...
,
Lens
A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...
,
Metz
Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
, and
Béthune
Béthune ( ; archaic and ''Bethwyn'' historically in English) is a town in northern France, Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department.
Geography
Béthune is located in the Provinces of Fran ...
.
He remained in the Imperial chapel as ''maître des enfants'' ("master of the children") until some time between 1537 and 1540, being succeeded by
Thomas Crecquillon and later
Cornelius Canis. Even though he held this very position at the Imperial chapel, he never officially received the title of ''maître de chapelle'' – music director – which was a title given to both
Adrien Thibaut and Crecquillon.
While serving in this position, he likewise unofficially held the position of court composer, arranging numerous works commemorating the key happenings during Charles' life.
In 1540 during the height of his career, he vanished from chapel records.
According to a contemporary physician and mathematician
Jerome Cardan, writing in ''Theonoston'' (1560), in 1540 Gombert was convicted of sexual contact with a boy in his care and was sentenced to hard labor in the galleys.
The exact duration of his service in the galleys is not known, but he was able to continue composing for at least part of the time.
Most likely he was pardoned sometime in or before 1547, the date he sent a letter along with a motet from
Tournai
Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...
to Charles' ''gran capitano''
Ferrante I Gonzaga.
The ''
Magnificat
The Magnificat (Latin for "y soulmagnifies he Lord) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary or Canticle of Mary, and in the Byzantine Rite as the Ode of the Theotokos (). Its Western name derives from the incipit of its Latin text. This ...
'' settings preserved uniquely in manuscript in Madrid are often held to have been the "swansongs" that according to Cardan won his pardon; according to this story, Charles was so moved by these Magnificat settings that he let Gombert go early. An alternative hypothesis (Lewis 1994) is that Cardan was referring to the highly penitential First Book of four-part motets; however, in neither case is it clear how Gombert was able to compose while rowing in the galleys as a prisoner.
It is not known how long Gombert lived after his pardon or what positions, if any, he held; his career faded into relative obscurity after he was freed. He may have retired to
Tournai
Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...
, spending the final years of his life as canon there.
Bracketing dates for his probable death are 1556 and 1561; in the former year Finck mentioned that he was still living, and in 1561 Cardan wrote that he was dead, without giving details.
Music and style
Adrian Willaert
Adrian Willaert ( – 7 December 1562) was a Flemish composer of High Renaissance music. Mainly active in Italy, he was the founder of the Venetian School. He was one of the most representative members of the generation of northern composers ...
and Nicolas Gombert are generally recognized as the exemplars of the late Franco-Flemish school, before the center of Renaissance art-music moved to Italy. A Fleming, Willaert relocated to Italy and along with the originally Flemish composer
Orlando di Lasso brought the Franco-Flemish style of simultaneously dense and lyrical
counterpoint
In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...
to Italy. Like Willaert, Gombert brought the
polyphonic
Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ...
style to its highest state of perfection; if
imitation is a common device in Josquin, it is integral in Gombert.
Gombert's style is characterized by dense, inextricable polyphony. Extended
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 ...
passages are rare in his sacred works, and he is particularly fond of imitation at very close time intervals, a technically very difficult feat (although he only rarely wrote strict
canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western canon, th ...
).
[Reese, p. 257] He preferred the lower voice ranges instead of the four voices (
S A T B) which were the most common voicings for pieces at the time, such as five and six parts in mostly male registers.
Gombert, unlike his predecessor and mentor,
Josquin des Prez
Josquin Lebloitte dit des Prez ( – 27 August 1521) was a composer of High Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he was a central figure of the ...
, used irregular numbers of voice entries and avoided precise divisions of phrases, resulting in a less-punctuated, more continuous sonic landscape.
Syncopation
In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat (music), off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of ...
s and cross-accents are characteristic of his rhythmic idiom, giving
ictus to his otherwise seamless, enduring lines.
Harmonically, Gombert's compositions stressed the traditional modal framework as a baseline, but especially in dense textures of six or more voices, he wrote
polymodal sections wherein a subset of voices would sing the lowered pitches of F or B while another subset would sing the raised pitches of F or B: a D major and D minor chord or a G major and a G minor chord might be simultaneously sounde
Melodic motion in one voice that, to retain melodic and harmonic coherence with the other voices, employed ''
musica ficta
''Musica ficta'' (from Latin, "false", "feigned", or "fictitious" music) was a term used in European music theory from the late 12th century to about 1600 to describe pitches, whether notated or added at the time of performance, that lie outside ...
'', or an extended set of pitches from the basic modal framework, was very prominent in his musical stylings.
The
false relation
A false relation (also known as cross-relation, non-harmonic relation) is the name of a type of dissonance that sometimes occurs in polyphonic music, most commonly in vocal music of the Renaissance and particularly in English music into the eighte ...
s, usually between an F and an F or a B and B, create a
dissonance that Gombert employed for emotional effect while adhering to traditional rules of counterpoint.
Exemplary among Gombert's formally perfect pieces that employ
cross-relations are his six-voice motet on the death of Josquin, ''Musae Jovis'', with its clashing
semitone
A semitone, also called a minor second, half step, or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically.
It is defined as the interval between ...
s, and occasional root-position
triads a
tritone
In music theory, the tritone is defined as a interval (music), musical interval spanning three adjacent Major second, whole tones (six semitones). For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it (in short, F–B) is a tritone as it can be ...
apart.,
and his six-voice chanson ''Tous les Regretz
Out of the ten masses that Gombert composed, nine survive complete. The chronology of the masses is not known, but an approximate order can be deduced from stylistic characteristics. Two musical characteristics, sequence and ostinato, that were rare in Gombert’s later works, are present in his earlier masses ''Quam pulchra es'' and ''Tempore paschali''.
The
motet
In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...
was Gombert's preferred form, and his compositions in this genre not only were the most influential part of his output, but they show the greatest diversity of compositional technique.
His motets, alongside those of
Adrian Willaert
Adrian Willaert ( – 7 December 1562) was a Flemish composer of High Renaissance music. Mainly active in Italy, he was the founder of the Venetian School. He was one of the most representative members of the generation of northern composers ...
and
Jacobus Clemens non Papa, stand out from the rest of the
Flemish motet
In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...
composers.
Familiar characteristics of motets of the preceding generation, such as
ostinato
In music, an ostinato (; derived from the Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces inc ...
,
canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western canon, th ...
,
cantus firmus
In music, a ''cantus firmus'' ("fixed melody") is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.
The plural of this Latin term is , although the corrupt form ''canti firmi'' (resulting from the grammatically incorrect trea ...
, and double texts, are unusual in Gombert's style, excepting where he used aspects of the previous generation's style as an homage, such as in his motet on the death of Josquin, ''Musae Jovis''.
When considering texts for his motets, Gombert obtained his inspiration from Scripture – such as the
Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament.
The book is an anthology of B ...
– as opposed to the
liturgy
Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...
of the
Roman Catholic church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
.
He was less attentive to textual placement and clarity than to the overall expressive sonority.
Gombert's eight settings of the ''Magnificat'', which may have won him his pardon, are among his most famous works. Each is written in one of the
church modes, and consists of a cycle of short motets, with the individual motets based on successive verses of the Magnificat text.
Some of Gombert's works are for unusually large vocal ensembles, including 8, 10, and 12 voices. These works are not
polychoral in the usual sense, or in the manner of the
Venetian School in which the voices were spatially separated; rather, the voice sub-groupings change during the pieces. These large ensemble compositions include an eight-voice ''Credo,'' the 12-voice ''Agnus'' from the ''Missa Tempore paschali'', and 10- and 12- voice settings of the ''Regina caeli''.
In comparison with the northern Italian ''
cori spezzati'' style, Gombert’s multi-voice works were not
antiphonal.
Instead of dividing forces consistently, Gombert frequently changed the combinations of voice groups.
These vocal pieces contained more direct repetition, sequence and ostinato than his other music.
His secular compositions – mostly ''
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'' – are less contrapuntally complex than his
motet
In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...
s and
mass
Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
es, but more so than the majority of contemporary secular pieces, especially the 'Parisian' chanson. During the middle of the sixteenth century, Gombert received credit for several of the Parisian chansons, but later studies have discovered that he was not the sole 'Nicolas' of those secular pieces but many were actually by
Nicolas de La Grotte or
Guillaume Nicolas.
Authors of the texts used in many chansons, a genre in which Gombert excelled, were mostly anonymous. He turned to older verse, often of a folkish type, with typical subject matter including unhappy love, farewells, separations, infidelities and the like.
Many of these chansons appeared in
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 ...
and
vihuela
The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...
arrangements, with their wide geographical distribution showing their immense popularity.
His surviving works include 10
mass
Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
es, about 140
motet
In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...
s, about 70
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, a
canción
''Canción'' ("song") is a popular genre of Latin American music, particularly in Cuba, where many of the compositions originate.Orovio, Helio 2004. ''Cuban music from A to Z''. p42 Its roots lie in Spanish popular song forms, including tiranas, P ...
(probably written when he was in Spain), a
madrigal
A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th centuries) and early Baroque (1580–1650) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the ...
, and a handful of instrumental pieces.
Influence
Gombert was one of the most renowned composers in Europe after the death of
Josquin des Prez
Josquin Lebloitte dit des Prez ( – 27 August 1521) was a composer of High Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he was a central figure of the ...
, as can be seen by the wide distribution of his music, the use of his music as source material for compositions by others, including
Orlando di Lasso and
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string instrument, string player. A composer of both Secular music, secular and Church music, sacred music, and a pioneer ...
. Printers paid singular attention to him, issuing for example, editions consisting solely of his works – most print editions at the time were anthologies of music by several composers.
Although highly admired by his contemporaries, the next generation of Franco-Flemish composers mostly wrote in a more simplified style. Part of this was an inevitable stylistic reaction to a
contrapuntal
In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous Part (music), musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and Pitch contour, melodic contour. The term ...
idiom which had reached an extreme, and part of this was due to the specific dictates of the
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent (), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the "most ...
, which required that text be understandable in sacred, especially liturgical, music – something which is next to impossible for a composer to achieve in a dense imitative texture.
[Taruskin, p. 597]
While most composers of the next generation did not continue to write vocal music using Gombert's method of pervasive imitation, they continued to use this contrapuntal texture in instrumental works. Forms such as the ''
canzona
The canzona, also known as the canzon or canzone, is an Italian musical form derived from the Franco-Flemish and Parisian '' chansons''.
Background
The canzona is an instrumental musical form that differs from the similar forms of ricercare ...
'' and ''
ricercar
A ricercar ( , ) or ricercare ( , ) is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term ''ricercar'' derives from the Italian verb , which means "to search out; to seek"; many ricercars serve a preludial func ...
'' are directly descended from the vocal style of Gombert;
Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
forms and processes such as the
fugue
In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...
are later descendants. Gombert's music represents one of the extremes of contrapuntal complexity ever attained in purely vocal music.
Recordings
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Music from the Court of Charles V'',
Huelgas Ensemble, Sony Vivarte SK 48249
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Missa
media vita, etc.'',
Hilliard Ensemble, ECM New Series 188
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Gombert: Motets'', Beauty Farm, Fra Bernardo FB 150421
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Gombert: Motets II'', Beauty Farm, Fra Bernardo FB 1612457
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Gombert: Masses, a la Coronatione, Media Vita, Philomena Previa, Beati Omnes. Motets, Media Vita, Beati omnes''. Beauty Farm, Fra Bernado FB 2005329
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Magnificat 1, etc.'', Oxford Camerata, Naxos 8.557732
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Magnificats 1–4'', Tallis Scholars, CD
Gimell Records CDGIM 03
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Magnificats 5–8'', Tallis Scholars, CD Gimell Records CDGIM 038
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Eight-part Credo, etc.'', Henry's Eight: Hyperion CDA 66828
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Missa Tempore paschali, etc.'', Henry's Eight, Hyperion CDA 66943
*''
Heavenly Spheres
''Heavenly Spheres'' (L'Harmonie des Sphères) is an a cappella choral album by the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal under the direction of Christopher Jackson (keyboardist), Christopher Jackson. Recorded in 1998, it features songs from ...
'', CBC Records, MVCD 1121, sung by
Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal
The Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal is a professional early music vocal music, vocal ensemble based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
History
The group was co-founded in 1974 by the Organ (music), organ and harpsichord players Christopher Jack ...
. Contains two motets by Gombert, including his elegy for Josquin, ''Musae Jovis''.
*''Flemish Masters'', Virginia Arts Recordings, VA-04413, performed b
Zephyrus Includes Gombert's motet, ''Lugebat David Absalon'', the Obrecht ''Missa Sub tuum presidium'', as well as motets by Willaert, Clemens non Papa, Ockeghem, Des Prez, and Mouton.
*''Christmas to Candlemas'', Ensemble Gombert, Tall Poppies TP192. Includes Gombert's motet "Hodie nobis caelorum" and seasonal works by Mouton, Josquin, de Silva, Clemens non Papa, Tallis, Victoria, Lassus, Sheppard and Palestrina.
*''Josquin to Martin'', Ensemble Gombert, Move Records MCD 277. Includes Gombert's motet "Regina caeli laaetare" and works by Josquin, de Monte, Byrd, Brahms ("Drei Motetten," op. 110) and Frank Martin (Mass for Double Choir).
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Nicolas Gombert 1'', The Sound and the Fury, ORF CD 463. Includes ''Missa Quam Pulchra Es'', ''Ave Maria'', ''Salve Maria'', ''Sancta Maria'', ''Da Pacem'', ''Inviolata''.
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Nicolas Gombert 2'', The Sound and the Fury, ORF SACD 3006. Includes ''Missa Sur Tous Regrets'', ''Si Ignoras Te'', ''Homo Erat in Jerusalem'', ''Sancta Mundi'', ''Ave Salus Mundi'', ''Emendemus'', ''Ne Reminiscaris Domine'', ''Salvator Mundi''.
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Nicolas Gombert 3'', The Sound and the Fury, ORF CD 3077. Includes twelve motets.
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Tribulatio et angustia'', Brabant Ensemble, Stephen Rice, Hyperion CDA67614
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Motets, Chansons, and a Magnificat'', Capella Alamire, Urquhart, Naxos 8.570180
*Listen t
fro
References
Notes
Sources
*Atlas, Allan W. ''Renaissance Music: Music in Western Europe, 1400–1600''. New York: Norton, 1998.
*Brown, Howard Mayer and Stein, Louise K. ''Music in the Renaissance.'' 2nd ed. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1999.
*Nugent, George and Jas, Eric “Nicolas Gombert”. ''Grove Music Online''. ed. L. Macy (accessed 19 November 2007),
.
*Reese, Gustave ''Music In the Renaissance''. New York, Norton, 1954.
* Taruskin, Richard ''The Oxford History of Western Music: Volume 1 – The Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
External links
*
*
* Ensemble Gombert
"Tulerunt Dominum Meum" ("They have taken away my lord")
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gombert, Nicolas
1490s births
1560s deaths
Flemish composers
16th-century Franco-Flemish composers
French Renaissance composers
French male classical composers
16th-century French musicians
Pardon recipients