Clément Janequin

Clément Janequin (born c. 1485, Châtellerault, Fr.—died 1558, Paris) was a leading 16th-century French composer of chansons, famous for his program chansons, part-songs in which sounds of nature, of battles, and of the streets are imitated.

He worked in Bordeaux in the service of Lancelot du Fau, who became bishop of Luçon, and later for the bishop of Bordeaux. He entered the priesthood and in 1525 became canon of St. Emilion. Variously employed after 1529, when the bishop died, he was at times a student and settled in Paris in 1549. From about 1555 he was singer, and later composer, to Henry II, although not a full-time servant of the King. He died a pauper.

Although he set psalms and composed two masses and a motet, Clément’s fame lies in his 286 chansons. His program chansons include “La Bataille de Marignan” (“La Guerre”), imitating sounds of battle; “Voulez ouir les cris de Paris,” with Paris street cries; and “Le Chant des oiseaux,” with the sounds of birds. His style shows fine formal balance and subtle handling of texts. He is rare among great composers in that he never held an important and regular position as musician or composer to a nobleman or a bishop or archbishop.