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Henri Dumont (also Henry Du Mont, originally Henry de Thier) (1610 – 8 May 1684) was a
baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
composer of the French school, born in the
Southern Netherlands The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands, 1556–1714) and later by the A ...
.


Life

Dumont was born to Henry de Thier and Elisabeth Orban in Looz (
Borgloon Borgloon (; french: Looz, ; li, Loeën) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2006, Borgloon had a total population of 10,697. The total area is 51.12 km2 (19.74 sq mi) which gives a population d ...
). The family moved to
Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...
in 1613, where Henri and his brother Lambert were
choirboy A choirboy is a boy member of a choir, also known as a treble. As a derisive slang term, it refers to a do-gooder or someone who is morally upright, in the same sense that " Boy Scout" (also derisively) refers to someone who is considered honor ...
s at the church of Notre-Dame (i.e., the
Basilica of Our Lady In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...
). In 1630 he was named organist and given a leave of two months to complete his education. In the principality of
Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
(where he spent much of his time) he studied with
Léonard de Hodémont Léonard (Collet) de Hodémont (1575–1639),Other sources document Liège as birthplace; see: Thierry Levaux: ''Dictionnaire des compositeurs de Belgique du moyen âge à nos jours'', Ohain-Lasne: Éditions Art in Belgium sprl, 2006. 736 p., ...
(1575–1639), absorbing trends from Italy. On 1 December 1632, he resigned in favor of his brother. In 1639 he went to Paris to become organist at the important parish church of Saint-Paul. From this time he used the name Dumont or Du Mont in place of De Thier. From 1652 he was harpsichordist at the court of the Duke of Anjou (
Philippe I, Duke of Orléans '' Monsieur'' Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (21 September 1640 – 9 June 1701), was the younger son of King Louis XIII of France and his wife, Anne of Austria. His elder brother was the "Sun King", Louis XIV. Styled Duke of Anjou from bir ...
, a brother of
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...
), and in 1660 he obtained that post to the young queen Marie-Thérése. In 1663 he became "maitre" of the ''Chapelle Royale'' in
Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
, in 1672 he became "Sous-maître de la musique du Roy" (with Pierre Robert) and in 1673 became Master of the Queen's Music. Dumont was married (1653) to Mechthild Loyens, daughter of the mayor of Maastricht. As a widower he acquired the substantial benefice of the abbey of Silly near
Lisieux Lisieux () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It is the capital of the Pays d'Auge area, which is characterised by valleys and hedged farmland. Name The name of the town derives from the l ...
in
Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
. In 1683 he resigned the last of his posts and died a year later in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.


Works

With the exception of a few songs and the instrumental pieces in the 1657 ''Meslanges,'' Dumont was a composer of religious music. His output includes nearly a hundred ''Petits Motets,'' the principal French genre of his time; his illustrious successors were
Jean-Baptiste Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he ...
and
François Couperin François Couperin (; 10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as ''Couperin le Grand'' ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented ...
. Du Mont was the first to publish separate continuo partbooks in France. * ''Meslanges à II, III, IV et V parties, avec la basse continue'' (1657) * ''Cantica sacra II, III, IV cum vocibus tum instrumentibus modulata. Liber primus,'' Paris 1652 * ''Meslanges à II, III, IV et V parties, avec la basse continue'' (1657) * ''Cinq Messes en plain-chant musical'' (1660, reprinted 1701 as Messes Royales en plein chant) * ''Airs à 4 parties avec la basse continue ... sur la paraphrase des psaumes'' (1663) * ''Motets à deux voix avec la basse continue'' (1668) * ''Motets à deux III et IV parties, pour voix et instruments, avec la basse continue'' (1681) The most important of these is ''Meslanges à II, III, IV & V parties avec le Bassecontinue contenant plusieurs chansons, motets, magnificats, Préludes et allemandes pour orgue et pour les viols. Et la litanie de la Vierge,'' eublished in partbooks posthumously by Ballard under the title: ''Motets pour la Chapelle du Roy, mis en musique par Monsieur Dumont Abbé de Silly, et Maistre de la Musique de ladite Chapelle... Imprimez par exprès commandement de Sa Majesté''. In addition, the
Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
holds numerous works in manuscript among which is ''Dialogus de anima'' for five voices, a masterpiece that is his only true
oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
.


Legacy

The anthology ''Cantica sacra'' published in 1652 contained motets for 1, 2, 3 or 4 soloists with continuo, the first of their kind in France. What was new was not the use of continuo (for which there was some precedent) but the combining, in sacred music, of solo voices with obbligato instruments, particularly in the ''petits motets'' for one or two voices. Here there are many innovations, such as the introduction of typical Italian devices such as vocalise and echo. The ''grand motets'' also look forward to those later written for
Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
. The
oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
genre and the ''recitativo'' style are both prefigured in the dialogue motets. As to the continuo, if he did not introduce it to France, he was the first to print a separate partbook and thus did much to propagate its use. His ''grands motets pour la Chapelle Royale'' (1686) reunite all the formal experiments of his previous work. It is notable that Dumont's motets were sung in parish churches into the 1730s, that is, 60 years after his death.


''Grands Motets''

Dumont's ''
grands motets The grand motet (plural grands motets) was a genre of motet cultivated at the height of the French baroque, although the term dates from later French usage. At the time, due to the stylistic feature of employing two alternating choirs, the works w ...
'' for the Chapelle Royale are the first representatives of the genre. Unlike the later works of
Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he ...
,
Delalande Delalande is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Michel Richard Delalande (1657–1726), French Baroque composer and organist * Pierre Antoine Delalande Pierre Antoine Delalande (27 March 1787 – 27 June 1823) was a French nat ...
, Desmarest,
Charpentier Charpentier () is the French language, French word for "carpenter", and it is also a French surname; a variant spelling is Carpentier. In English, the equivalent word and name is "Carpenter (surname), Carpenter"; in German, "Zimmermann (disambigua ...
, Mondonville and
Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera an ...
they are not made of successive movements unified by
key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...
and thematic material - rather, the versets (without final barline, regardless of what appears in some modern editions) are linked and ordered with a constant eye towards contrast, which can also be seen in the deployment of the performing forces: soloists, groups of soloists, sub-choir, ripieno and orchestra all join, retire, engage in dialogue, and reunite, the solo voices rejoining the choir. The five-part writing is typical of the French ''grand motet'' and remained so until the 18th century. Dumont used two violins and two violas ic which is noteworthy because it reflects North European practice, whereas Lully used one violin part and three violas. (This likely means clefs; the
violin family The violin family of musical instruments was developed in Italy in the 16th century. At the time the name of this family of instruments was viole da braccio which was used to distinguish them from the viol family (viole ''da gamba''). The standa ...
was not yet standardized.) * Note on pitch: The
meantone temperament Meantone temperament is a musical temperament, that is a tuning system, obtained by narrowing the fifths so that their ratio is slightly less than 3:2 (making them ''narrower'' than a perfect fifth), in order to push the thirds closer to pure. Me ...
prevailed in France until the end of the 18th century, above all in religious music using the organ (Dumont's instrument). * Note on
instrumentation Instrumentation a collective term for measuring instruments that are used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities. The term has its origins in the art and science of scientific instrument-making. Instrumentation can refer to ...
: The orchestra for ''grands motets'' contained théorbos and harpsichord (and organ), violins and viols. His five
plainchant Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ''plain-chant''; la, cantus planus) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text. ...
masses, known as the ''Messes Royales'', survived up to the mid-20th century (before
Vatican II The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and 1 ...
), though they display little of the genius developed in his motet writing. Nevertheless one can still hear them sung at major feasts in a few
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
places of worship (for example at St Eugène in Paris) and his motets also continue to find a place in the liturgy. In the 1681 ''Motets à ii iii & iv parties'' the following note appears, suggesting four singers as the normal size for a
choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...
(as
Joshua Rifkin Joshua Rifkin (born April 22, 1944 in New York) is an American conductor, pianist, and musicologist; he is currently a professor of music at Boston University. As a performer he has recorded music by composers from Antoine Busnois to Silvestre ...
argues in ''Bach's Chorus: A Preliminary Report''): "Quand on voudra deux pourrant chanter dans une mesme Partie, & la petit lettre italique signifie qu'une des deux doit chanter seul, & la grosse lettre ronde pour chanter Tous ensemble comme si c'estoir à deux choeurs."this note precedes number 37, ''Cantate Dominum''


Bibliography

* Laurence Decobert: ''Henry Dumont (1610–1684), sous-maître de la chapelle de Louis XIV : contribution à l'histoire de la musique religieuse au Grand Siècle'' (Lille, 1990)


Recordings

* ''Motets pour la chapelle du roi, Magnificat'' (La Chapelle royale, Philippe Herreweghe) Harmonia Mundi 1981 * ''Motets à voix seule'' (Ricercar Consort, Henri Ledroit haute-contre) Ricercar 1984 * ''Motets et dialogue'' (Les Talens Lyriques,
Christophe Rousset Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and European music of the 17th and 18 ...
) * ''Les litanies de la vierge'' (Ensemble Dumont, Peter Bennet) *''Grands Motets, Magnificat,'' Ricercar Consort, Choeur de Chambres de Namur, dir Philippe Pierlot. Ricercar 2002
A fairly extensive discography


References


External links





* *
Scores to the keyboard Allemandes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dumont, Henri 1610 births 1684 deaths People from Borgloon French Baroque composers Belgian classical composers Belgian male classical composers French male classical composers Belgian classical organists French classical organists French male organists 17th-century classical composers 17th-century male musicians Male classical organists