Denis Gaultier

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Denis Gaultier

Denis Gaultier (also Gaultier le Jeune, Gaultier de Paris; * 1597 or 1603 (place of birth unknown, possibly Marseille ), † January 1672 in Paris ) was a French lutenist and composer.

life and work

In 1626 it can be proven for the first time in Paris. He studied composition with the organist Charles Racquet and worked in Paris as a sought-after virtuoso and composer until his death. He was not employed at the court, but played in 1656 in the presence of the Swedish Queen Christina, in 1666 at a concert in honor of the wife of Louis XIII and in 1671 before the king in Saint-Germain.

Denis Gaultier's music has come down to us in two prints:

  • Pièces de luth sur trois différens modes nouveaux (1669) (All compositions by Denis Gaultier)
  • Livre de tablature ... de Mr. Gaultier Sr. de Nève et de Mr. Gaultier son cousin (completed posthumously in 1672 by the widow and M. de Montarcis)

The title of the second print addresses the problem of attributing the works of the two Gaultiers: For some of the works, the various manuscripts make attributions to both Gaultiers (Gaultiuer le Jeune & Gaultier de Paris = usually Denis Gaultier; Gaultier le Vieux, de Lyon, Sieur de Nèves, de Vienne = Ennemond Gaultier , Denis' older cousin, who was born near Vienne (Dauphiné) around 1575 and died on December 17, 1651 in Nèves). Often works are also just referred to as "Gaultier".

Among the many manuscripts that contain works by Denis Gaultier, the splendid manuscript "La Rhétorique des Dieux" (D-Bkk 78 C 12) stands out. This parchment manuscript contains a formulated program, washed ink drawings by Eustache Le Sueur , Robert Nanteuil and Abraham Bosse and 12 sections for music. These 12 sections are arranged in the church modes according to Antoine Parran's "Traité de musique théorique et pratique" (Paris, Ballard 1639). The image content of Abraham Bosses drawings can also be traced back to this font. The client for this manuscript is Anne-Achille de Chambré.

The plan of the manuscript given in the preface was not fully executed. It is missing u. a. two pictures, there are rearrangements in the book block and a partial rebinding by means of folding strips, there are only 62 pieces in the 108 prepared pages resp. Double pages entered and of these only 30 provided with a title. Texts compiled from various contemporary works on ancient literature are entered under 27 pieces. The plan says that there should be such texts under all pieces. In addition, sheets of paper are inserted with "Accords", but these do not represent any practical tuning instructions, but rather refer to the mode representations in the pictures, respectively. refer to the following pieces.

The decisive question for the evaluation of the music entries, however, is whether the registered versions have particular authority and - as is often claimed - come from the immediate vicinity of Denis Gaultier or even from himself. A direct collaboration between the two notators of the tablature entries and Denis Gaultier can largely be ruled out due to stylistic studies. This means that the special authorization that was traditionally granted to the entries due to the layout and requirements of the magnificent manuscript is no longer required. Newer literature dates the tablature entries to a longer period between 1655 and 1660. This is in contrast to the earlier dating of the entire codex with approx. 1652.

Editions

  • Monique Rollin, François-Pierre Goy: Oeuves de Denis Gaultier ( Corpus des Luthistes Français ). Paris (CNRS) 1996 (with biography, source study and list of concordances)
  • François Lesure, François-Pierre Goy (eds.): Denis Gaultier. La Rhétorique des Dieux. 1652, facsimile, Geneva (Minkoff) 1991
  • David Joseph book (ed.): La Rhétorique des Dieux. Facsimile, Madison (AR Editions) 1990 ( limited preview in Google book search).

literature

  • David Joseph Book: On dating the Lute Music in "La Rhétorique des Dieux": New Evidence from Watermarks. In: Journal of the Lute Society of America XXV (1992, © 1995), pp. 25-37
  • François-Pierre Goy: Antiquité et musique pour luth au XVIIe siècle: les sources de l'iconographie et des arguments de la Rhétorique des Dieux. in: Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budé, Octobre 1995, pp. 263-276
  • Christian Meyer:  Gaultier, Denis. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 7 (Franco - Gretry). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2002, ISBN 3-7618-1117-9 , Sp. 625–626 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  • Andreas Schlegel: Comments on the "Rhétorique des Dieux", 1st part: On the history of its origins. In: Guitar & Lute. Volume 11, No. 2, 1989, pp. 17-23; Part 2: The tablature entries against the stylistic background of 17th century French lute music. In: Guitar & Lute. Volume 11, No. 3, 1989, pp. 17-23; 3rd part: The tablature entries in the rhetorique. In: Guitar & Lute. Volume 11, No. 4, 1989, pp. 27-32.
  • Andreas Schlegel: What I was able to learn so far thanks to the "Rhétorique des Dieux". In: The Lute. Yearbook of the German Lute Society. No. 1, 1997, pp. 45-83

Web links

Commons : Denis Gaultier  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

media

Audio file / audio sample La Rhétorique des Dieux: Appolon orateur ? / i

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Konrad Ragossnig : Handbook of the guitar and lute. Schott, Mainz 1978, ISBN 3-7957-2329-9 , p. 43.
personal data
SURNAME Gaultier, Denis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gautier le Jeune; Gaultier de Paris
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French lutenist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH 1597 or 1603
DATE OF DEATH January 1672
Place of death Paris