Goudimel, Claude (EN)

Goudimel, Godimel, Godymel, Jodimel, Jodrymel, Claude; *ca. 1514 Besançon, †between 28 and 31 August 1572 Lyon, French composer. From 1549 to 1551 he studied at the University of Paris; from 1551 to 1552 he worked as a proofreader for the publisher Nicolas du Chemin, and from 1552 to 1555 he was the publisher’s business partner. After 1557 he resided in Metz, which he left in 1567. In 1572 he was in Lyon, where he was murdered during the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre. Goudimel maintained close contacts with numerous poets and writers, including Pierre de Ronsard, Louis de Masures, and S. Schede. He prepared for publication a collection of motets and a collection of chansons by various composers.

Goudimel belonged to that group of sixteenth-century composers who cultivated solid polyphonic craftsmanship while avoiding innovation, placing practical usefulness at the forefront of their works. He owed his popularity in France and elsewhere in sixteenth-century Europe chiefly to his psalm settings; his other compositions did not achieve comparable success. Goudimel produced three settings of the Psalms in the form of polyphonic songs and motets, based on melodies drawn from the Huguenot Psalter. The first version (67 psalms, the Ten Commandments, and the Canticle of Simeon) is written in a motet style. These are large-scale compositions divided, in accordance with the structure of the text, into several (five or six) sections. In them the composer employed all the polyphonic devices known at the time. The second version (150 psalms and other prayers), technically somewhat simpler, consists of ornate contrapuntal settings of melodies placed either in the tenor or the highest voice. The third version (also complete), the best known, is written predominantly in note-against-note texture, with the melody in the tenor (only very rarely in the highest voice). This final and simplest version, intended for domestic use, became widely adopted throughout Europe as the standard repertory of the Reformed Church.

The number of works in the latter two versions does not correspond exactly to the number of psalms. On the one hand, the Huguenot Psalter prescribed the same melodies for different texts; on the other, the composer set some melodies more than once using the same technique. Precise study of the issue is hindered by the fact that, of the 83 psalms published in 1562, only the bass partbook survives. Goudimel’s psalms were frequently reprinted (not only with French texts) and paraphrased by other composers. They are written mainly in three- and four-part textures, though scorings for larger ensembles also occur. A characteristic feature of Goudimel’s masses is their technical simplicity and strict observance of the rules of counterpoint. They possess a clear texture, usually in four voices, though many passages are written in three voices. The style of these compositions does not differ markedly from that of contemporary French composers. Goudimel’s chansons are likewise ascetic in character; here, however, the composer paid greater attention than in his sacred works to the meaning of the text, attempting to express it through musical means.

Literature: G. Becker Goduimel et son oeuvre, notice biographique et critique, “Bulletin de la Société d’histoire du protestantisme français” XXXIV, 1885; M. Brenet Claude Goudimel, “Annales Franc-Comtoises” 1898 no. 3; F. Lesure Claude Goudimel, étudiant, correcteur et éditeur parisien, “Musica Disciplina” II, 1948; E. Trillat Claude Goudimel, le Psautier huguenot et la Saint-Barthélémy lyonnaise, Lyon 1949; P.-A. Gaillard Bourgeois et Goudimel, “Schweizerische Musikzeitung” XC, 1950; U. Teuber Claude Goudimel als Psalmkomponist, “Dansk kirkesangs årsskrift”, 1953; P. Gaillard Zum Werkverzeichnis Claude Goudimel, “Jahrbuch für Liturgik und Hymnologie” I, 1955; P. Pidoux Notes sur quelques éditions des pseaumes de Claude Goudimel, “Revue de Musicologie” XLII, 1958; P. Pidoux Le psautier huguenot du XVIe siècle, 2 vols., Basel 1962; R. Häusler Satztechnik und Form in Claude Goudimels lateinischen Werken, Berno 1968; F. Lesure Deux „nouveaux” recueils de psaumes en forme de motets de Claude Goudimel, “Revue de Musicologie” LIV, 1968; D. Gutknecht Vergleichende Betrachtung des Goudimel-Psalters mit dem Lobwasser—Psalter, “Jahrbuch für Liturgik und Hymnologie” XV, 1970; J. Kłobukowska Msze francuskie w repertuarze kapeli roranckiej, “Muzyka” 1971 no. 3; F. Lesure Musique et musiciens français du XVIe siècle, Geneva 1976.