Nicolas de Grigny

Nicolas de Grigny (baptized 8 September 1672 – 30 November 1703) was a French organist and composer. He died at the age of 31, leaving behind a single collection of organ music and an for harpsichord.

Life Nicolas de Grigny was born in Reims in the parish of Saint-Pierre-Le-Vieil.Halbreich. While his exact date of birth is unrecorded, he was baptized on 8 September 1672. He was born into a family of musicians: his father, grandfather, and uncle Robert were organists at Reims Cathedral, the Basilica of Saint-Pierre, and the Church of Saint-Hilaire, respectively.Howell, Sabatier, Grove.Greene's Biographical Encyclopedia of Composers, p. 211. Few details regarding his life survive, and nothing is known of his formative years.

Between 1693 and 1695, he served as organist of the abbey church of Saint-Denis, in Paris, where his brother André de Grigny was sub-prior. During this period, Grigny studied with Nicolas Lebègue, who was by then one of the leading French keyboard composers.Higginbottom, Grove. In 1695, Grigny married Marie-Magdeleine de France, the daughter of a Parisian merchant. He returned to his hometown shortly thereafter; the birth record of his first son indicates that Grigny was residing in Reims by 1696. The couple ultimately had seven children.

By late 1697, Grigny was appointed titular organist of Notre-Dame de Reims; the exact date of his appointment remains unknown. In 1699, the composer published his (First organ book containing a mass and the hymns for the principal feasts of the year) in Paris. Grigny died in 1703 at the age of 31, shortly after accepting a position at , a parish church in Reims. His was reissued in 1711 through the efforts of his widow. The collection circulated outside France, where it was copied in 1713 by Johann Sebastian Bach and later by Johann Gottfried Walther.

Work

Nicolas de Grigny's surviving music consists of a large volume of organ works, the (Paris, 1699; second edition 1711), and a single ouverture for harpsichord. The 1711 reissue of his organ collection was the only edition known until 1949, when a single surviving copy of the 1699 printing was discovered at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The original edition was published by Christophe Ballard using the plates prepared by the engraver . The first modern edition, published by Alexandre Guilmant in 1904, was based on the 1711 reissue.

Unlike many contemporary French , Grigny's publication contains no preface. The collection is divided into two sections: a mass setting, and settings of five hymns for the principal feasts of the liturgical year: (five versets), (three versets), (four versets), (four versets), and (three versets). The volume comprises 42 pieces in total.

The mass is structured with five versets, nine versets, an Offertory, two versets, one verset, an , two versets, a Communion, and an verset. As specified by the (1662), Grigny bases the mass on the chant , stating the chant melodies in the first and last Kyrie, the Gloria, and the first Sanctus and Agnus Dei. The collection also features a , a movement built upon a pedal point.

Nicolas de Grigny

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