Claude Coffin
Claude Coffin was a French cantor and composer, active in Paris during the first third of the 17th century.
Biography[edit]
Not much is known of his life except his office of cantor of the Chapel of music of the king. In 1625, an act[1] reveals this office and his address in the rue de la Mortellerie.
He must have acquired a certain notoriety since in 1636 Marin Mersenne included a fugue of him in his Harmonie universelle and praised the quality of his compositions: "The notes which follow show more clearly what I have just said, and contain a fugue composed by Sieur Coffin, one of the oldest and best disciples of Du Caurroy.[2]
This mention tells us also that he was one of the students of Eustache Du Caurroy, a very skilful countrapuntist working for the King's Chapel.
Works[edit]
Psaulms set in music[edit]
On an unknown date, Coffin published Psalmes de David, à 3, 4 et 5 voix by Pierre I Ballard.[3] These psalms were most probably written on the translation of Philippe Desportes; The two psalms published for voice and lute in 1617 (see below) were probably part of this corpus.
Court and ballet arias[edit]
A few of his were published in various collections:
- Two tunes and two psalms for voice and lute in the "Seventh Book" of Airs de différents auteurs mis en tablature par eux-mêmes (Paris, Pierre I Ballard, 1617 : RISM 1617 exp 8, Guillo 2003 n° 1617-A :
- Je suis amour le grand maistre des Dieux (Also published for single voice the same year: Guillo 2003 n° 1617-B)
- C’en est fait je ne croyray plus (idem)
- Seigneur, c’est à toy que je crie (Ps. XXVII translated by Philippe Desportes)
- Heureux qui d’un soin pitoyables (Ps. XL, translated by Philippe Desportes)
- Four tunes for voice and lute in the "Eighth book" of the same collection (Paris, Pierre I Ballard, 1618 : RISM 1618 exp 9 and S 3419, Guillo 2003 n° 1618-A), All four republished for single voice the following year (Guillo 2003 n° 1619-A) :
- Je me meurs, je suis à la gesne
- En fin par le secours de ma raison
- Dieu que je fus heureux
- Les voyci de retour remplis d’amour
Two arias from the Ballet des Indiens (Paris, 1621) published in Airs de cour de différents auteurs (Paris, Pierre I Ballard, 1621 : RISM 1621 exp 13, Guillo 2003 n° 1621B) :
- Favoris des dieux et du jour, nous quittons l’indien séjour
- Six bergers viennent de Trasse suivant les pas et la trasse
- A fugue with three voices on Vive le Roy, vive le Roy Louis appears in the Livre cinquième de la composition de musique of the Harmonie universelle in 1636.
References[edit]
- ^ Paris AN : MC/ET/IV/135 (21 March 1625): Obligation to Jean Guichard, a hotel merchant residing in the Rue Saint-Gervais, for 150 lt for mouth expenses and for a loan of money. Qhoted after Jurgens 1967 (p. 94).
- ^ Harmonie universelle, Livre cinquième de la composition, Proposition IX, (p. 218).
- ^ Guillo 2003 n° ND-25. Lost edition attested by two sources, including the catalog of the house Ballard in 1683.
Bibliography[edit]
- Marc Desmet, La paraphrase des psaumes de Philippe Desportes et ses différentes versions musicales. Thèse de doctorat inédite, Université François-Rabelais de Tours, 1994.
- Laurent Guillo : Pierre I Ballard et Robert III Ballard : imprimeurs du roy pour la musique (1599–1673). Liège : Mardaga et Versailles : CMBV, 2003. 2 vol. ISBN 2-87009-810-3.
- Madeleine Jurgens, Documents du minutier central concernant l'histoire de la musique (1600–1650). [1 : études I-X]. Paris, 1967.
External links[edit]
- Claude Coffin on Magazine de l'Opéra baroque
- DIEU QUE JE FUS HEUREUX by Claude Coffin on Philidor.com
