"A goose among swans": the connections and correspondence between Jacques Gaultier and Constantijn Huygens

Spring, M (2016) '"A goose among swans": the connections and correspondence between Jacques Gaultier and Constantijn Huygens.' In: Burgers, J.W.J, Crawford, T and Spring, M, eds. The lute in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century: proceedings of the International Lute Symposium, Utrecht, 30 August 2013. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Cambridge, pp. 120-141. ISBN 9781443890755

Official URL: http://www.cambridgescholars.com/the-lute-in-the-n...

Abstract

This chapter reviews the surviving correspondence between Constantijn Huygens the elder and Jacques Gaultier, and touches upon the persons mentioned in the letters. Huygens and Gaultier met as early as 1622 but remained in contact until at least 1649 and probably later. The paper reviews our knowledge of Gautier’s activities both during the long period from 1617-51 as revealed in the letters and other papers; in particular Gaultier’s short periods of imprisonment and his excursion to Spain. The piece includes a discussion of Gaultier’s surviving output. The letters between 1647-9 reveal much information about the purchase of lutes and the types of lutes deemed most desirable. The English journal of Lodewijck Huygens, the son of Constanijn, show that Gautier remained in London during the commonwealth years. This papers shows what happened to Gaultier after 1651/2 and new information about his death. In the years up to 1625 Gaultier was involved with the Duke of Buckingham, Henrietta Maria and Prince Charles, and was certainly caught up in court intrigues – a factor that may well have been important to the young Huygens. Yet their friendship remained for decades, maintained by a mutual interest in the lute, indeed arguably Huygens’s musical experiences on his four visits to England before 1625s shaped his musical preferences for life.

Item Type:	Book Chapter or Section
Subjects:	M Music and Books on Music > M Music M Music and Books on Music > ML Literature of music
Divisions:	Bath School of Music and Performing Arts
Date Deposited:	22 Sep 2016 09:36
Last Modified:	15 Aug 2021 09:43
URI / Page ID:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/8265

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