Clément Janequin: Au joly jeu

Clément Janequin (c. 1485 in Châtellerault, Vienne -- 1558 in Paris) was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most famous composers of popular chansons of the entire Renaissance, and along with Claudin de Sermisy, was hugely influential in the development of the Parisian chanson, especially the programmatic type. The wide spread of his fame was made possible by the concurrent development of music printing. Janequin’s career was highly unusual for his time, in that he never had a regular position with a cathedral or an aristocratic court. Instead he held a series of minor positions, often with important patronage. He was born in Châtellerault, near Poitiers, though no documents survive which establish any details of his early life or training. In 1505 he was employed as a clerk in Bordeaux, to Lancelot du Fau, who eventually became Bishop of Luçon; he retained this position until du Fau’s death in 1523, at which time he took a position with the Bishop of Bordea