Claudin de Sermisy

Claudin de Sermisy (born c. 1490, France—died October 13, 1562, Paris) was a singer and composer who, with his contemporary Clément Janequin, was one of the leading composers of chansons (part-songs) in the early 16th century. His name was associated with that of the mid-13th-century Sainte-Chapelle, Louis IX’s magnificent palace chapel, as early as 1508, and in 1510 he is listed as a singer in Queen Anne of Brittany’s private chapel. After her death, Sermisy is believed to have become a member of the chapel of Louis XII in 1515, and he remained in royal service under Francis I and was appointed assistant chapel master by 1533. That year he also became a canon of the Sainte-Chapelle, where he was buried in 1562.

More than half the pieces published in Pierre Attaingnant’s famous collection of chansons (1529) are by Sermisy, and about 200 of Sermisy’s chansons—more than 20 of which were settings of poems by his contemporary Clément Marot—were published during his life. Airy and dancelike in style, they frequently employ, with great terseness and precision, a declamatory style in which chords follow the accents of speech. Sermisy also published at least 78 motets (most for four voices), some 11 Magnificat settings, and 13 masses, as well as music for Holy Week. These sacred works are distinguishable from most other contemporary works by their privileging of text over complex musical counterpoint.