Pierre Moulu (1484?c. 1550) was a
Franco-Flemish
The designation Franco-Flemish School, also called Netherlandish School, Burgundian School, Low Countries School, Flemish School, Dutch School, or Northern School, refers, somewhat imprecisely, to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition or ...
composer of the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
who was active in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, probably 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 ...
.
Life
Little is known of his life, but internal evidence in his compositions indicates he was probably at the French royal chapel during the first two decades of the 16th century, at least, and was also associated with the cathedral in
Meaux
Meaux () is a commune on the river Marne in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is east-northeast of the centre of Paris.
Meaux is, with Provins, Torcy and Fontainebleau, ...
, on the Marne east of Paris. He composed music for ceremonial occasions, for example a sombre lament for the death of Queen
Anne of Brittany
Anne of Brittany (; 25/26 January 1477 – 9 January 1514) was reigning Duchess of Brittany from 1488 until her death, and Queen of France from 1491 to 1498 and from 1499 to her death. She is the only woman to have been queen consort of France ...
(1514), and he also composed a
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 pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...
which lists all the composers which he considered to be the most celebrated in France, arranged chronologically, and ending with
Josquin
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 ...
. Documents from the Vatican (1505–1513) help establish his identity, as they indicate that a "Petrus Moulu" held various clerical positions at Meaux Cathedral. He may have written his mass ''Stephane gloriose'', for the
cathedral of St Etienne (Saint Stephen) in this town.
[Zwitser, Missa Paranymphus]
Music
Moulu's music was clearly influenced by Josquin, but no documentary evidence survives to substantiate
Pierre de Ronsard
Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet or, as his own generation in France called him, a "prince of poets".
Early life
Pierre de Ronsard was born at the Manoir de la Possonnière, in the village of C ...
's claim that he studied with Josquin. The motet ''Anxiatus est in me spiritus meus'' which laments Queen Anne's death is modeled on a similar, and much more famous composition by Josquin for the death of
Ockeghem, ''La Déploration sur la mort Ockeghem.'' Moulu's music shows the style of pervasive
imitation
Imitation (from Latin ''imitatio'', "a copying, imitation") is a behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's behavior. Imitation is also a form of that leads to the "development of traditions, and ultimately our culture. I ...
and smooth
polyphony
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, h ...
with exactly equal voices which was prevalent in the generation after Josquin (well exemplified by, and perhaps most famous in, the music of
Nicolas Gombert
Nicolas Gombert (c. 1495 – c. 1560)Atlas, p. 396 was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most famous and influential composers between Josquin des Prez and Palestrina, and best represents the fully developed, complex ...
).
Of Moulu's music, five
mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
es survive, the most famous being his mass on the
Marian antiphon
Marian hymns are Christian songs focused on Mary, mother of Jesus. They are used in both devotional and liturgical services, particularly by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches. They are often used in the mont ...
''Alma Redemptoris Mater'', which can be sung in two different manners: with or without rests longer than a quarter. The latest discovery is the mass ''Paranymphus'', based on a motet by
Loyset Compère
Loyset Compère ( – 16 August 1518) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. Of the same generation as Josquin des Prez, he was one of the most significant composers of motets and chansons of that era, and one of the first musicians ...
. In addition to the masses, Moulu wrote motets and
chanson
A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic s ...
s, some of which are of doubtful authorship (
Mouton and Josquin are also suggested as the composer for several of these pieces).
Masses
# Missa ''Alma Redemptoris mater'', 4vv
# Missa ''Missus est Gabriel angelus'' (based on the motet by Josquin), 4vv
# Missa ''Mittit ad virginem'', 4vv
# Missa ''Paranymphus'' (based on the motet by Compère), 4vv
# Missa ''Stephane gloriose'', 4vv
Motets
# Adest nobis dies laetitiae, 4vv;
# Alleluia, Regem ascendentem, 4vv;
# Domine Dominus noster, 4vv; (by Mouton)
# Fiere attropos, 5vv;
# Induta est caro mea, 4vv;
# In hoc ego sperabo, 3vv;
# In illo tempore, 4vv; (probably by Mouton)
# In omni tribulatione, 4vv; (by Mouton)
# In pace, 5vv;
# Mater floreat florescat, 4vv;
# Ne projicias, 6vv;
# Oculi omnium, 3vv;
# O dulcis amica Dei, 5vv;
# Oremus pro conctis, 4vv;
# Quam dilecta, 3vv;
# Quam pulchra es 4vv; (also attributed to Mouton)
# Regina caeli, 4vv;
# Salve Barbara martyr, 7vv;
# Salve regina Barbara, 4vv;
# Sancta Maria, Dei mater, 4vv; (only alt-voice)
# Saule, Saule, quid me persequeris, 4vv; (by Jean le Brung)
# Sicut malus, 3vv;
# Tu licet (same as the 'Crucifixus' from the ''Missa Alma Redemptoris mater''), 2vv;
# Virgo carens criminibus, 4vv; (by Andreas de Silva)
# Vivo ego, 3vv;
# Vulnerasti cor meum, 5vv.
Chansons
# Amy souffrez, 3vv; (by
Heinrich Isaac
Heinrich Isaac (ca. 1450 – 26 March 1517) was a Netherlandish Renaissance composer of south Netherlandish origin. He wrote masses, motets, songs (in French, German and Italian), and instrumental music. A significant contemporary of Josquin de ...
)
# Au bois, au bois, madame, 4vv;
# En despit des faux mesdisans, 6vv;
# Et dout venès vous, 3vv;
# Hellas, hellas madame, 4vv;
# J'ay mis mon cueur, 7vv; (probably by Descaudain)
# La rousée de moys de may, 6vv; (by Mouton)
# N'aymés jamais ces gens, 3vv;
# Voicy le may, 4vv.
In addition some works of Moulu have survived without text. For example, as late as 1592, an untexted 3-voice canon appears in
Lodovico Zacconi
Lodovico (or Ludovico) Zacconi (11 June 1555 – 23 March 1627) was an Italian composer and musical theorist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He worked as a singer, theologian, and writer on music in northern Italy and Austria; f ...
's ''Prattica de musica'' under the name 'Pietro Molu'. This canon already appeared in 1503, printed by Petrucci, so Moulu's attribution is very unlikely.
Recordings
* Capilla Flamenca, ''The A-La-Mi-Re Manuscripts'', Flemish Polyphonic Treasures for Charles V. Naxos CD 8.554744. Contains the motet ''Mater floreat florescat.''
* The Brabant Ensemble, Stephen Rice (conductor), ''Missa Alma redemptoris & Missus est Gabriel'',
Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label.
History
Hyperion is an independent British classical label that was established in 1980 with the goal of showcasing recordings of music in all genres and from all time period ...
, Hyperion CDA 67761
Notes
References and further reading
* J.G. Chapman, ''The Works of Pierre Moulu: a Stylistic Analysis''. Ph.D. dissertation,
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, 1964.
* Article "Pierre Moulu," in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.
*
Gustave Reese
Gustave Reese ( ; 29 November 1899 – 7 September 1977) was an American musicologist and teacher. Reese is known mainly for his work on medieval and Renaissance music, particularly with his two publications ''Music in the Middle Ages'' (1940) ...
, ''Music in the Renaissance''. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954.
* Jan Jaap Zwitser, ''De Missa Paranymphus, een onbekende mis van Pierre Moulu?''. Doctoraalscriptie Universiteit Utrecht, 2002.
* Howard Mayer Brown/Richard Freedman: "Pierre Moulu", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed March 29, 2007)
(subscription access)* Moulu: ''Missa Alma redemptoris & Missus est Gabriel'',
Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label.
History
Hyperion is an independent British classical label that was established in 1980 with the goal of showcasing recordings of music in all genres and from all time period ...
(Hyperion CDA 67761)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moulu, Pierre
Renaissance composers
1484 births
1550 deaths
16th-century French people
Male classical composers