( b Valenciennes, 1528-30; d Paris, bur. 26 Sept 1600). French composer. Educated at or near Valenciennes, he was a Protestant, and by 1564 he had settled in Paris. After serving the Duke of Anjou (c1580-84), he fled in 1589 to La Rochelle because of his Protestant sympathies, but he was back in Paris in Henri IV's service by 1596. One of the most prolific and original French composers of the late 16th century, he composed nearly 350 psalms, nearly 150 airs, over 100 chansons, over 40 Italian madrigals, a mass, motets and instrumental fantasias (most published posthumously). He was a chief exponent of musique mesurée; his application of this and other theories of musical and textual relationships had a lasting influence. His airs supplied a model for the later air de cour and his psalms were popular throughout the 17th century.

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