The motets of Pierre Certon

Pierre Certon (c. 1510--1572) is considered to be the most prolific French composer of the sixteenth century. He wrote both secular and sacred compositions including over three hundred chansons, fifteen chansons spirituelles, eighty-two psalm settings, thirty-nine motets, eight complete masses and one Magnificat. Although much work has been done on his chansons, very little attention has been devoted to a modern transcription and analysis of his thirty-nine motets. No complete modern edition of all of these sacred works presently exists.;Little is known about Pierre Certon's life before his association with the private chapel of the King's Court, the Sainte-Chapelle du Palais in Paris. He first appeared on the records on May 8, 1532 as a clerk of the chapel. In 1536 he became "Maitre des enfants de la Sainte-Chapelle " and held this post until the end of his life. He also received the designations, "chapelain perpetual" in 1548, "chantre de la chapelle du Roy" in 1567 and "compositeur de musique de la chapelle du Roy" in 1570, a title which had been given to only two composers before him, Pierre Sandrin in 1547 and Clement Janequin in 1557.;Certon's sacred style is modeled on the music of Josquin. He composes in a lightly imitative polyphonic style and uses contrasting sections of homophony or paired duets and different vocal combinations to sustain interest. His motets are written for three to six voices and mainly employ a loose paraphrase technique based on plainchant cantus firmi and canon. The plainchant sources of the motets comprise antiphons, hymns, responsories, tracts, exhortations, litanies, psalms and biblical extracts. These are analyzed with attention given to their place and function in the offices and masses that may have been celebrated at the Sainte-Chapelle during Certon's time.;Certon was acquainted with many musicians of his day including Claudin de Sermisy (who was "sous-maitre" of the Sainte-Chapelle), Guillaume Morlaye, Thomas Champion and Pierre Attaingnant, as well as Sandrin and Janequin. He was especially close to Sermisy---he composed a "deploration" on Sermisy's death in 1562, similar to Josquin's "deploration" for Ockeghem in 1497. Certon's musical contacts are all the more interesting because he spent his whole life in Paris, the central musical location in France. He was therefore in close proximity to the royal court where the best musicians would have been employed. Certon's associations with these musicians and the musical life of Paris almost certainly influenced the interest and significance of his musical output.