A tombeau (plural tombeaux) is a musical composition (earlier, in the early 16th century, a poem) commemorating the death of a notable individual. The term derives from the French word for "tomb" or "tombstone". The vast majority of tombeaux date from the 17th century and were composed for

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...

or other plucked string instruments. The genre gradually fell out of use during the 18th century, but reappeared in the early 20th.

History

"In instrumental music, ''tombeau'' signifies a musical 'tombstone' (French ''le tombeau'' = tomb). The musical genre of the tombeau is generally connected with music for the

of the 17th and 18th centuries. Of some 60+ surviving pieces, most are intended for the

theorbo The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck that houses the second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box with a flat top, typically with one or three sound holes decorated with rose ...

, 5 for the baroque

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, 7 for the

viola da gamba The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin family, violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bow (m ...

and 3 for

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

. The earliest example of this genre seems to be the ''Tombeau de Mezangeau'' (1638) by French lutenist Ennemond Gaultier." "Musical predecessors are memorial pavans like those by

Anthony Holborne Anthony ntonyHolborne olburne(c. 1545 – 29 November 1602) was a composer of music for lute, cittern, and instrumental consort of instruments, consort during the reign of Elizabeth I of England, Queen Elizabeth I. Life An "Anthony Holbu ...

(''Countess of Pembrokes Funeralle'', 1599). In France, where this musical genre emerged first, strong influence of literary models, particularly of memorial poems that were popular from the 16th to the end of the 17th centuries, may have been another important factor." "The tombeau preeminently comes in two forms, as a slow elegiac

allemande An ''allemande'' (''allemanda'', ''almain(e)'', or ''alman(d)'', French: "German (dance)") is a Renaissance and Baroque dance, and one of the most common instrumental dance styles in Baroque music, with examples by Couperin, Purcell, Bach ...

grave in 4/4 or as a pavan, a tri-partite

renaissance dance Renaissance dances belong to the broad group of historical dances, specifically those during the Renaissance period. During that period, there was a distinction between country dances and court dances. Court dances required the dancers to be trai ...

already long out of date for the era of tombeaux, but with all the trappings of the allemande (cf.

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 ...

, ''Tombeau pour M. Racquette''). There are also a few unique tombeaux that appear as

gigue The gigue ( , ) or giga () is a lively baroque dance originating from the English jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th centuryBellingham, Jane"gigue."''The Oxford Companion to Music''. Ed. Alison Latham. Oxford Music Online. 6 July ...

s; that is because the gigue grave resembles the allemande in a number of respects." "As opposed to the Italian lamento, the tombeau should not have used expressive elements of mourning, which were skeptically viewed in France. Nevertheless, certain typical

onomatopoetic Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as ''oink'', '' ...

features were used: repeated note motifs depicting the knocking of Death at the door, ascending or descending

diatonic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair ...

chromatic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, es ...

scales which depict the soul's tribulation and transcendence. Froberger's

Lamentation A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about something ...

on the Death of Ferdinand III or the Meditation sur ma Mort Future would be a prime example of such a form. Some tombeaux include a motif of four descending notes, a metaphor for grief given influential expression by John Dowland in his Lachrimae (1604). These genres offered many suitable expressive characteristics: the suspirans figure (a three-note upbeat), dotted rhythms, particularly in repeated notes, and slow-moving harmonies in the minor mode whose gravity is heightened by a tendency to settle on pedal points. Later examples also tend to use chromatic progressions related to the lamento bass. The few courante tombeaux exploit the same rhythmic features in triple metre." "Developed by Parisian

lutenist A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" commonly r ...

s (

, Charles Mouton, Jacques Gallot, François Dufault), the genre was soon taken over by

clavecin A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one or more strings. ...

ists (

Johann Jakob Froberger Johann Jakob Froberger ( baptized 19 May 1616 – 7 May 1667) was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. Among the most famous composers of the era, he was influential in developing the musical form of the suite of dance ...

Louis Couperin Louis Couperin (; – 29 August 1661) was a French Baroque composer and performer. He was born in Chaumes-en-Brie and moved to Paris in 1650–1651 with the help of Jacques Champion de Chambonnières. Couperin worked as organist of the ...

, both on the death of their friend Blancrocher in 1652) and was then spread into Central Europe (

Jan Antonín Losy Jan Antonín Losy, Count of Losinthal (German: ''Johann Anton Losy von Losinthal''); also known as Comte d'Logy (''Losi'' or ''Lozi''), (c. 1650 – 22 August 1721) was a Bohemian aristocrat, Baroque lute player and composer from Prague. His lute wo ...

Sylvius Leopold Weiss Sylvius Leopold Weiss (12 October 168716 October 1750) was a German composer and lutenist. Born in Grottkau near Breslau, the son of Johann Jacob Weiss, also a lutenist, Weiss was one of the most important and most prolific composers of lute m ...

)." The tombeau genre went into decline at the end of the 18th century. It reappeared in the 20th century with

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

's ''

Le Tombeau de Couperin ''Le Tombeau de Couperin'' (''The Tomb of Couperin'') is a suite (music), suite for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, composed between 1914 and 1917. The piece is in six movements, based on those of a traditional Baroque music, Baroque suite. Each ...

'' (1919). Other 20th century tombeaux include

Manuel de Falla Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was a Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20t ...

's ''Le Tombeau de

Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

'' for solo guitar,

Arthur Benjamin Arthur Leslie Benjamin (18 September 1893 in Sydney – 10 April 1960 in London) was an Australian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. He is best known as the composer of ''Jamaican Rumba'' (1938) and of the '' Storm Clouds Cantata'', fea ...

's ''Le Tombeau de Ravel'' for clarinet and piano, the last movement of '' Pli selon pli'' by

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...

, and ''Tombeau for Michael Collins'' (1987) by Mona Lyn Reese. Surely between the tombeau and the hommage the

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten ''Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten'' () is a short canon in A minor, written in 1977 by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, for string orchestra and bell. The work is an early example of Pärt's tintinnabuli style, which he based on his reac ...

'' by

Arvo Pärt Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in p ...

and ''for Morton Feldman'' (1987) by Stephen L. Mosko. In the 21st century a series of tombeaux was written by

Roman Turovsky-Savchuk Roman Mykhailovych Turovsky-Savchuk (born May 16, 1961) is an American artist-painter, photographer and videoinstallation artist, as well as a lutenist-composer,

List of tombeaux

Lute and other plucked string instruments

* François Dufaut: ''Tombeau de Monsieur Blancrocher'' * Jacques Gallot: ''Tombeau de Condé'', ''Tombeau de Madame'', ''Tombeau de Turenne'' *

: ''Tombeau de Monsieur Blancrocher'', ''Tombeau de Mlle Gaultier'', ''Tombeau de Mr. Lenclos'', '' avane ouTombeau de Mr. Raquette'' * Ennemond Gaultier: ''Tombeau de Mezangeau'' *

: ''Tombeau'' * Charles Mouton: ''Tombeau de Gogo'', ''Tombeau de Madame'', *

Robert de Visée Robert de Visée (1652-1730) was a French lutenist, guitarist, theorbist and viol player at the court of the kings Louis XIV and Louis XV, as well as a singer and a composer for lute, theorbo and guitar. Biography Robert de Visée's place and d ...

: ''Tombeau de Mr. Francisque Corbet'', ''Tombeau de Dubut'', ''Tombeau du Vieux Gallot'', ''Tombeau de Mr. Mouton'', ''Le Tombeau e Tonty', ''Tombeau de Mesdemoiselles de Visée'' *

: ''Tombeau sur la mort de M. Cajetan Baron d'Hartig'', ''Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte de Losy'' *

Jacques de Saint-Luc Jacques de Saint-Luc (baptized 19 September 1616ca. 1710) was a Walloon lutenist and composer. Saint-Luc was born in Ath in 1616; nothing is known about his early years. In 1639 he was invited to become a musician at the court in Brussels, and t ...

: ''Tombeau sur la mort de Mr Francois Ginter'' *

Roman Turovsky-Savchuk Roman Mykhailovych Turovsky-Savchuk (born May 16, 1961) is an American artist-painter, photographer and videoinstallation artist, as well as a lutenist-composer,

: ''Tombeau sur la mort de Omelyan Kovch'', ''Tombeau sur la mort de Petro Kalnyshevsky'' * : ''Tombeau de Mr. de Maltot''

Viola da gamba

* Charles Dollé: ''Tombeau de

Marin Marais Marin Marais (; 31 May 1656, in Paris – 15 August 1728, in Paris) was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe ...

'' *

: ''Tombeau de M.

Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( – 22 March 1687) was a French composer, dancer and instrumentalist of Italian birth, who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he spent most of his life working in the court o ...

'', ''Tombeau pour Marais le cadet'', ''Tombeau de M. Meliton'', ''Tombeau de M. de Ste-Colombe'' * Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe: ''Tombeau 'Les regrets'', ''Tombeau pour Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe le père'' *

Roman Turovsky-Savchuk Roman Mykhailovych Turovsky-Savchuk (born May 16, 1961) is an American artist-painter, photographer and videoinstallation artist, as well as a lutenist-composer,

: ''Tombeau de

Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving works. Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to be ...

'', ''Tombeau de

Forqueray Forqueray is the surname of a family of baroque French musicians and composers, and may refer to one of these articles below: * Antoine Forqueray (1672–1745), composer and virtuoso of the viola da gamba, father of Jean-Baptiste. * Jean-Baptiste ...

Harpsichord

* Jean-Henri d'Anglebert: ''Tombeau de M. de Chambonnières'' *

: ''Tombeau de Monsieur Blancrocher'' *

: ''Tombeau fait à Paris sur la mort de Monsieur Blancrocher'' * Mona Lyn Reese: ''Tombeau for Michael Collins''

Other instruments

: '' Tombeau de Couperin''

References

External links

Tombeau & Baroque LuteAnother Lute Website (Tombeaux)
- Overview of Lute video's of the famous tombeaux of the great composers {{Authority control Music genres 17th century in music Funerary and memorial compositions

History

List of tombeaux

Lute and other plucked string instruments

Viola da gamba

Harpsichord

Other instruments

References

Further reading

External links