Sermisy, Claudin de (c. 1490–1562)

French composer. He was master of the choristers at the French royal chapel, and wrote about 110 sacred works, including motets, Masses, and a Passion. His reputation, however, both during his lifetime and since, has rested on his chansons, of which about 175 survive. They have attractive melodies and are simpler and more homophonic and syllabic in style than those of his contemporaries. Many of them were arranged by other composers for a variety of vocal and instrumental forces.

He was attached to the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris 1508–14. In 1515 He became a singer in the royal chapel just before Louis XII's death, and in the same year his choir competed with the Papal choir before Leo X; he later succeeded Antoine de Longueval as master of the choristers. In 1520, with François I, he met the English king Henry VIII at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. A similar meeting followed in 1532 at Boulogne; and on both occasions the French and English choirs sang together. In 1533 he was made a canon of the Sainte-Chapelle, with a living and a substantial salary attached to it; but his duties there were light and he remained in the royal chapel, with which, under François I, he visited Bologna.

Works Church and secular music 11 Masses, motets; about 175 chansons for several voices.