Jacques de Saint-Luc (baptized 19 September 1616ca. 1710) was a Walloon lutenist and composer.
Saint-Luc was born in
Ath
Ath (; nl, Aat, ; pcd, Ât; wa, Ate) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium.
The municipality consists of the following districts: Arbre, Ath, Bouvignies, Ghislenghien, Gibecq, Houtaing, ...
in 1616; nothing is known about his early years. In 1639 he was invited to become a musician at the court in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, and two years later he had his portrait painted by
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...
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 Ch ...
. 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
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, where, according to contemporary sources, he was employed by Prince Eugene of Savoy. Saint-Luc was still alive in 1707 and 1708, when he published some of his compositions in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
; 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
Ennemond Gaultier (Gaultier le Vieux, Gaultier de Lyon; also spelled ''Gautier'' or ''Gauthier'')
(c. 157517 December 1651) was a French lutenist and composer. He was one of the masters of the 17th century French lute school.
Gaultier was born i ...
,
Denis Gaultier
Denis Gaultier (''Gautier'', ''Gaulthier''; also known as Gaultier le jeune and Gaultier de Paris) (1597 or 1602/3 – 1672) was a French lutenist and composer. He was a cousin of Ennemond Gaultier.
Life
Gaultier was born in Paris; two conflict ...
,
Charles Mouton
Charles Mouton (1617 - before 1699) was a French lutenist and composer.
There were musicians in Mouton's mother's family, one of whom worked at the French court. Mouton was living in Paris in 1664, where he had several affluent students. He to ...
, and others) and adopted their scheme of grouping pieces into suites, he only used the characteristic French '' style brisé'' in his preludes.