View source for Nicolas Gombert

{{Short description|Franco-Flemish composer}}
'''Nicolas Gombert''' (c. 1495 – c. 1560)<ref name="Atlas, p. 396">Atlas, p. 396</ref> was a [[Franco-Flemish School|Franco-Flemish]] composer of the [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]].  He was one of the most famous and influential composers between [[Josquin des Prez]] and [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina|Palestrina]], and best represents the fully developed, complex [[polyphony|polyphonic]] style of this period in music history.<ref>Reese, p. 256</ref><ref>Taruskin, p. 593</ref>

==Life==
Details of his early life are sketchy, but he was probably born around 1495 in southern Flanders, probably between [[Lille]] and [[Saint-Omer]], possibly in the town of La Gorgue.  German writer and music theorist [[Hermann Finck]] wrote that Gombert studied with [[Josquin des Prez|Josquin]]; this would have been during the renowned composer's retirement in [[Condé-sur-l'Escaut]], sometime between 1515 and 1521.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online">Nugent/Jas, Grove online</ref>

Gombert was employed by the emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] as a singer in his court chapel in 1526 and possibly as a composer as well.  Most likely he was taken on while Charles was passing through Flanders, for the emperor traveled often, bringing his retinue with him, and picking up new members as he went.  A document dated 1529 mentions Gombert as ''magister puerorum'' ("master of the boys") for the royal chapel.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>  He and the singers went with the emperor on his travels throughout his holdings, leaving records of their appearances in various cities of the empire.  These visits were musically influential, in part because of Gombert's stature as a musician; thus the travels of Charles and his chapel, as did those of his predecessor [[Philip I of Castile]] with composer [[Pierre de la Rue]], continued the transplantation of the Franco-Flemish polyphonic tradition onto the Iberian Peninsula.<ref name="Atlas, p. 396"/>  At some point in the 1530s Gombert became a cleric and probably a [[priest]]; he received [[benefices]] at several cathedrals, including [[Kortrijk|Courtrai]], [[Lens, Pas-de-Calais|Lens]], [[Metz]], and [[Béthune]].<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>  He remained in the Imperial chapel as ''maître des enfants'' ("master of the children") until some time between 1537 and 1540, being succeeded by [[Thomas Crecquillon]] and later [[Cornelius Canis]]. Even though he held this very position at the Imperial chapel, he never officially received the title of ''maître de chapelle'' – music director – which was a title given to both [[Adrien Thibaut]] and Crecquillon.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/> While serving in this position, he likewise unofficially held the position of court composer, arranging numerous works commemorating the key happenings during Charles' life.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>

In 1540 during the height of his career, he vanished from chapel records.<ref name="Atlas, p. 396"/>  According to a contemporary physician and mathematician [[Jerome Cardan]], writing in ''Theonoston'' (1560), in 1540 Gombert was convicted of sexual contact with a boy in his care and was sentenced to hard labor in the galleys.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>  The exact duration of his service in the galleys is not known, but he was able to continue composing for at least part of the time.<ref name="Atlas, p. 396"/>  Most likely he was pardoned sometime in or before 1547, the date he sent a letter along with a motet from [[Tournai]] to Charles' ''gran capitano'' [[Ferrante I Gonzaga]].<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>  The ''[[Magnificat]]'' settings preserved uniquely in manuscript in Madrid are often held to have been the "swansongs" that according to Cardan won his pardon; according to this story, Charles was so moved by these Magnificat settings that he let Gombert go early.  An alternative hypothesis (Lewis 1994) is that Cardan was referring to the highly penitential First Book of four-part motets; however, in neither case is it clear how Gombert was able to compose while rowing in the galleys as a prisoner.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>

It is not known how long Gombert lived after his pardon or what positions, if any, he held; his career faded into relative obscurity after he was freed.  He may have retired to [[Tournai]], spending the final years of his life as canon there.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>  Bracketing dates for his probable death are 1556 and 1561; in the former year Finck mentioned that he was still living, and in 1561 Cardan wrote that he was dead, without giving details.

==Music and style==
[[Adrian Willaert]] and Nicolas Gombert are generally recognized as the exemplars of the late Franco-Flemish school, before the center of Renaissance art-music moved to Italy.  A Fleming, Willaert relocated to Italy and along with the originally Flemish composer [[Orlando di Lasso]] brought the Franco-Flemish style of simultaneously dense and lyrical [[counterpoint]] to Italy.  Like Willaert, Gombert brought the [[polyphonic]] style to its highest state of perfection; if [[imitation (music)|imitation]] is a common device in Josquin, it is integral in Gombert.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>

Gombert's style is characterized by dense, inextricable polyphony.  Extended [[Homophony|homophonic]] passages are rare in his sacred works, and he is particularly fond of imitation at very close time intervals, a technically very difficult feat (although he only rarely wrote strict [[canon (music)|canon]]).<ref name="Reese, p. 257">Reese, p. 257</ref>  He preferred the lower voice ranges instead of the four voices ([[Soprano|S]][[Alto|A]][[Tenor|T]][[Bass (voice type)|B]]) which were the most common voicings for pieces at the time, such as five and six parts in mostly male registers.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>  Gombert, unlike his predecessor and mentor, [[Josquin des Prez]], used irregular numbers of voice entries and avoided precise divisions of phrases, resulting in a less-punctuated, more continuous sonic landscape. [[Syncopation]]s and cross-accents are characteristic of his rhythmic idiom, giving [[Gregorian chant#Rhythm|ictus]] to his otherwise seamless, enduring lines.

Harmonically, Gombert's compositions stressed the traditional modal framework as a baseline, but especially in dense textures of six or more voices, he wrote [[polytonality|polymodal]] sections wherein a subset of voices would sing the lowered pitches of F or B{{music|flat}} while another subset would sing the raised pitches of F{{music|sharp}} or B: a D major and D minor chord or a G major and a G minor chord might be simultaneously sounded [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE-28Z_aUpQ&t=72m29s]. Melodic motion in one voice that, to retain melodic and harmonic coherence with the other voices, employed ''[[musica ficta]]'', or an extended set of pitches from the basic modal framework, was very prominent in his musical stylings.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>  The [[false relation]]s, usually between an F and an F{{music|sharp}} or a B{{music|flat}} and B, create a [[Consonance and dissonance|dissonance]] that Gombert employed for emotional effect while adhering to traditional rules of counterpoint.

Exemplary among Gombert's formally perfect pieces that employ [[False relation|cross-relations]] are his six-voice motet on the death of Josquin, ''Musae Jovis'', with its clashing [[semitone]]s, and occasional root-position [[Triad (music)|triad]]s a [[tritone]] apart.,<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/> and his six-voice chanson ''Tous les Regretz''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo11TwEUks8].

Out of the ten masses that Gombert composed, nine survive complete.  The chronology of the masses is not known, but an approximate order can be deduced from stylistic characteristics.  Two musical characteristics, sequence and ostinato, that were rare in Gombert’s later works, are present in his earlier masses ''Quam pulchra es'' and ''Tempore paschali''.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>

The [[motet]] was Gombert's preferred form, and his compositions in this genre not only were the most influential part of his output, but they show the greatest diversity of compositional technique.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>  His motets, alongside those of [[Adrian Willaert]] and [[Jacobus Clemens non Papa]], stand out from the rest of the [[Flanders|Flemish]] [[motet]] composers.<ref name="Atlas, p. 396"/>  Familiar characteristics of motets of the preceding generation, such as [[ostinato]], [[canon (music)|canon]], [[cantus firmus]], and double texts, are unusual in Gombert's style, excepting where he used aspects of the previous generation's style as an homage, such as in his motet on the death of Josquin, ''Musae Jovis''.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>  When considering texts for his motets, Gombert obtained his inspiration from Scripture – such as the [[Psalms]] – as opposed to the [[liturgy]] of the [[Roman Catholic church]].<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>  He was less attentive to textual placement and clarity than to the overall expressive sonority.<ref>Atlas, p. 397</ref>

Gombert's eight settings of the ''Magnificat'', which may have won him his pardon, are among his most famous works.  Each is written in one of the [[church modes]], and consists of a cycle of short motets, with the individual motets based on successive verses of the Magnificat text.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>

Some of Gombert's works are for unusually large vocal ensembles, including 8, 10, and 12 voices.  These works are not [[polychoral]] in the usual sense, or in the manner of the [[Venetian School (music)|Venetian School]] in which the voices were spatially separated; rather, the voice sub-groupings change during the pieces.  These large ensemble compositions include an eight-voice ''Credo,'' the 12-voice ''Agnus'' from the ''Missa Tempore paschali'', and 10- and 12- voice settings of the ''Regina caeli''.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>  In comparison with the northern Italian ''[[Venetian polychoral style|cori spezzati]]'' style, Gombert’s multi-voice works were not [[antiphon]]al.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>  Instead of dividing forces consistently, Gombert frequently changed the combinations of voice groups.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>  These vocal pieces contained more direct repetition, sequence and ostinato than his other music.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>

His secular compositions – mostly ''[[chanson]]s'' – are less contrapuntally complex than his [[motet]]s and [[mass (music)|mass]]es, but more so than the majority of contemporary secular pieces, especially the 'Parisian' chanson. During the middle of the sixteenth century, Gombert received credit for several of the Parisian chansons, but later studies have discovered that he was not the sole 'Nicolas' of those secular pieces but many were actually by [[Nicolas de La Grotte]] or [[Guillaume Nicolas]].<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>  Authors of the texts used in many chansons, a genre in which Gombert excelled, were mostly anonymous.  He turned to older verse, often of a folkish type, with typical subject matter including unhappy love, farewells, separations, infidelities and the like.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>  Many of these chansons appeared in [[lute]] and [[vihuela]] arrangements, with their wide geographical distribution showing their immense popularity.

His surviving works include 10 [[mass (music)|mass]]es, about 140 [[motet]]s, about 70 [[chanson]]s, a [[canción]] (probably written when he was in Spain), a [[madrigal]], and a handful of instrumental pieces.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>

==Influence==
Gombert was one of the most renowned composers in Europe after the death of [[Josquin des Prez]], as can be seen by the wide distribution of his music, the use of his music as source material for compositions by others, including [[Orlando di Lasso]] and [[Claudio Monteverdi]].  Printers paid singular attention to him, issuing for example, editions consisting solely of his works – most print editions at the time were anthologies of music by several composers.<ref name="Nugent/Jas, Grove online"/>  Although highly admired by his contemporaries, the next generation of Franco-Flemish composers mostly wrote in a more simplified style.  Part of this was an inevitable stylistic reaction to a [[counterpoint|contrapuntal]] idiom which had reached an extreme, and part of this was due to the specific dictates of the [[Council of Trent]], which required that text be understandable in sacred, especially liturgical, music – something which is next to impossible for a composer to achieve in a dense imitative texture.<ref>Taruskin, p. 597</ref>

While most composers of the next generation did not continue to write vocal music using Gombert's method of pervasive imitation, they continued to use this contrapuntal texture in instrumental works.  Forms such as the ''[[canzona]]'' and ''[[ricercar]]'' are directly descended from the vocal style of Gombert; [[Baroque music|Baroque]] forms and processes such as the [[fugue]] are later descendants.  Gombert's music represents one of the extremes of contrapuntal complexity ever attained in purely vocal music.

==Recordings==
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Music from the Court of Charles V'', [[Huelgas Ensemble]], Sony Vivarte SK 48249
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Missa [[media vita]], etc.'', [[Hilliard Ensemble]], ECM New Series 1884 [http://www.classicalacarte.net/Goldberg50/Dossiers/ecm_1884_9818792.htm]
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Gombert: Motets'', Beauty Farm, Fra Bernardo FB 1504211 [http://frabernardo.com/?portfolio=nicolas-gombert-motets-beauty-farm]
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Gombert: Motets II'', Beauty Farm, Fra Bernardo FB 1612457 
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Gombert: Masses, a la Coronatione, Media Vita, Philomena Previa, Beati Omnes. Motets, Media Vita, Beati omnes''. Beauty Farm, Fra Bernado FB 2005329
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Magnificat 1, etc.'', Oxford Camerata, Naxos 8.557732
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Magnificats 1–4'', Tallis Scholars, CD [[Gimell Records]] CDGIM 037 [http://www.classicalacarte.net/Goldberg50/Dossiers/gimell_cdgim_037.htm]
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Magnificats 5–8'', Tallis Scholars, CD Gimell Records CDGIM 038
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Eight-part Credo, etc.'', Henry's Eight: Hyperion CDA 66828
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Missa Tempore paschali, etc.'', Henry's Eight, Hyperion CDA 66943
*''[[Heavenly Spheres]]'', CBC Records, MVCD 1121, sung by [[Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal]].  Contains two motets by Gombert, including his elegy for Josquin, ''Musae Jovis''.
*''Flemish Masters'', Virginia Arts Recordings, VA-04413, performed by [http://zephyrus-va.org/ Zephyrus].  Includes Gombert's motet, ''Lugebat David Absalon'', the Obrecht ''Missa Sub tuum presidium'', as well as motets by Willaert, Clemens non Papa, Ockeghem, Des Prez, and Mouton.
*''Christmas to Candlemas'', Ensemble Gombert, Tall Poppies TP192. Includes Gombert's motet "Hodie nobis caelorum" and seasonal works by Mouton, Josquin, de Silva, Clemens non Papa, Tallis, Victoria, Lassus, Sheppard and Palestrina.
*''Josquin to Martin'', Ensemble Gombert, Move Records MCD 277. Includes Gombert's motet "Regina caeli laaetare" and works by Josquin, de Monte, Byrd, Brahms ("Drei Motetten," op. 110) and Frank Martin (Mass for Double Choir).
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Nicolas Gombert 1'', The Sound and the Fury, ORF CD 463. Includes ''Missa Quam Pulchra Es'', ''Ave Maria'', ''Salve Maria'', ''Sancta Maria'', ''Da Pacem'', ''Inviolata''.
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Nicolas Gombert 2'', The Sound and the Fury, ORF SACD 3006. Includes ''Missa Sur Tous Regrets'', ''Si Ignoras Te'', ''Homo Erat in Jerusalem'', ''Sancta Mundi'', ''Ave Salus Mundi'', ''Emendemus'', ''Ne Reminiscaris Domine'', ''Salvator Mundi''.
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Nicolas Gombert 3'', The Sound and the Fury, ORF CD 3077.  Includes twelve motets.
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Tribulatio et angustia'', Brabant Ensemble, Stephen Rice, Hyperion CDA67614
*Nicolas Gombert, ''Motets, Chansons, and a Magnificat'', Capella Alamire, Urquhart, Naxos 8.570180
*Listen to [https://web.archive.org/web/20070311143513/http://www.acc.umu.se/~akadkor/early/IVA_Gombert_Nicolas.html free recordings of songs] from [http://www.acc.umu.se/~akadkor/indexENG.html Umeå Akademiska Kör].

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist}}

'''Sources'''
*Atlas, Allan W.  ''Renaissance Music:  Music in Western Europe, 1400–1600''.  New York:  Norton, 1998.
*Brown, Howard Mayer  and Stein, Louise K.  ''Music in the Renaissance.''  2nd ed.  New Jersey:  Prentice-Hall, 1999.
*Nugent, George and Jas, Eric “Nicolas Gombert”. ''Grove Music Online''.  ed. L. Macy (accessed 19 November 2007), <http://www.grovemusic.com>.
*Reese, Gustave ''Music In the Renaissance''.  New York,  Norton, 1954.
*[[Richard Taruskin|Taruskin, Richard]] ''The Oxford History of Western Music: Volume 1 – The Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century''.  New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*{{ChoralWiki}}
*{{IMSLP|id=Gombert, Nicolas}}
*[[Ensemble Gombert]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5YQ-yCjNUM "Tulerunt Dominum Meum" ("They have taken away my lord")]

{{Franco-Flemish School}}
{{Renaissance music}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gombert, Nicolas}}
[[Category:1490s births]]
[[Category:1560s deaths]]
[[Category:Flemish composers]]
[[Category:16th-century Franco-Flemish composers]]
[[Category:French Renaissance composers]]
[[Category:French male classical composers]]
[[Category:16th-century French musicians]]
[[Category:Pardon recipients]]