Ghersem, Géry de (EN)

Ghersem, Gersem, Géry de, *ca. 1573–75 Tournai, †25 May 1630 Tournai, Flemish composer and singer. He began his musical education as a choirboy at the cathedral in Tournai, where he sang for five years. In 1586 he became a discant singer in the Flemish chapel of Philip II of Spain, from 1593 he served there as a singer, and from 1598 as vicemaestro de capilla. In that same year he published five masses by his former teacher and superior, Ph. Rogier (†1596), adding his own mass Ave Virgo Sanctissima. At the end of 1604 he returned to the Low Countries and in Brussels took the position of director of the court chapel of Archduke Albert VII of Austria and Isabella. Between 1609 and 1630, Ghersem’s name reappears on the payroll lists of singers in the Flemish chapel of the Spanish court. Having received holy orders, Ghersem served as chaplain of the archducal chapel (from 1607), canon at the chapel of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in the church of Sainte-Waudru in Mons (1606), and later at Saint-Jacques in Brussels (1622). At the same time, he held a canonry at Sainte-Gudule in Brussels (1608), and later at the cathedral in Tournai (1614), where he was also buried.

Almost the entirety of Ghersem’s compositional output has been lost. The surviving works present him as a skilled contrapuntist, worthy of the esteem in which he was held by his patrons and by John, Duke of Braganza (later king John IV of Portugal) whose library contained numerous works by this composer.

Literature: G. Bourligueux Ghersem de Géry, sous-maître de la chapelle royale d’Espagne, in: Mélanges de la Casa de Velâzquez II, 1966.