Gigault Nicolas, *1626 (?) Paris, †20 August 1707 Paris, French organist, harpsichordist, and composer. He was a teacher of J.-B. Lully. Gigault worked as an organist in several Parisian churches: Saint-Honoré (1646–1652), Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs (1652–1673), Saint-Martin-des-Champs (from 1673), and the Hôpital du Saint-Esprit (from 1685). He composed around 200 organ miniatures, which he published in two collections.
Among Gigault’s compositions, intended partly for organ, harpsichord, or other keyboard instruments, and partly exclusively for organ, his noëls (a collection from 1682) are particularly noteworthy. These are large-scale works structured as relatively schematic variation cycles and rank among the earliest examples of the genre. Gigault also wrote three organ masses based on chant material, as well as numerous short sacred pieces arranged in cycles according to church modes, including chant versets, preludes, fugues, and similar forms. Their characteristic features include extensive use of chant alongside dance elements, lively dotted rhythms, and rich ornamentation. In his work, Gigault drew on both earlier French traditions of organ music (e.g., Titelouze) and the virtuosic Italian style of the first half of the 17th century (e.g., Gabrieli, Frescobaldi), as well as the strict contrapuntal style typical of German composers of the period (e.g., Froberger). Although technically sound and formally varied, Gigault’s compositions, despite enriching the French sacred repertoire of the second half of the 17th century, did not achieve lasting popularity.
Literature: N. Dufourcq La musique d’orgue française de J. Titelouze à J. Alain, Paris 1941, 2nd ed. 1949; P. Hardouin Quatre Parisiens d’origine. Nivers, Gigault, Jullien, Boyvin, “Revue de Musicologie” XXXIX, 1957; G. Frotscher Geschichte des Orgelspiels und der Orgelkomposition, 3rd ed. Berlin 1966; W. Apel Geschichte der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700, Kassel 1967, English revised ed. 1972; E. M. Guenther Composers of French noel variations in the 17th & 18th centuries, “Diapason” 1973–74 nos. 1–3.
Compositions:
Livre de musique dédié à la très S te Vierge…, ed. Paris 1682 (includes twenty noëls with variations, several chant versets, and an allemande)
Livre de musique pour l’orgue…, ed. Paris 1685 (includes settings of 183 versets of the Ordinarium Missae and hymns)
Editions:
5 works ed. G. Tagliapietra in «Antologia di Musica Antica e Moderna per il Pianoforte» VII, Milan 1931–32
2 works ed. F. Raugel in: Les Maîtres français de l’Orgue, Paris 1933, 2nd ed. 1949
Livre de musique dédié à la Très Sainte Vierge, ed. G. Lambert, iss. 1, Paris 1968
Livre de musique pour l’orgue, eds. A. Guilmant and A. Pirro, in: Archives des maîtres de l’orgue, vol. 4, Mainz 1904, reprint Paris 1972
