Claude Goudimel (c. 1520-1572); FRA

Claude Goudimel (c. 1514–1572) was a French Renaissance composer and music editor, probably born in Besançon. By the late 1540s he was active in Paris, where he became associated with the printer Nicolas Du Chemin and participated in the publication of numerous collections of music. Goudimel composed masses, motets, chansons, and other vocal works, but his career became increasingly connected with the French Reformed tradition after his conversion to Protestantism. He eventually settled in Lyon, where he was killed in 1572 during the violence surrounding the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacres.

Goudimel is remembered especially for his settings of the Genevan Psalter, which provided harmonizations of French metrical psalm melodies used by Calvinist congregations. His several approaches ranged from relatively simple chordal settings, in which the psalm tune could be clearly heard, to more elaborate contrapuntal treatments intended for skilled singers. These psalm settings circulated widely and became influential throughout Protestant Europe. His sacred Latin music, including masses and motets, demonstrates his command of the Franco-Flemish polyphonic tradition, while his psalm harmonizations reveal how Renaissance compositional technique could be adapted to the new religious and practical demands created by the Reformation.

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Read biography at allmusic.com.