Nicolas Gigault

Biography

Nicolas Gigault (ca. 1627 – 20 August 1707) was a French Baroque organist and composer. Born into poverty, he quickly rose to fame and high reputation among fellow musicians. His surviving works include the earliest examples of noëls and a volume of works representative of the 1650–1675 style of the French organ school.

Life

Little is known about Gigault's life. François-Joseph Fétis, a 19th-century musicologist, claimed Gigault was born in Clayes-en-Brie, a village near Paris. However, no locality survives by that name. It is supposed that Gigault's birthplace was just outside Paris. A similar situation occurred concerning Gigault's date of birth: André Pirro deduced in the early 20th century that Gigault must have been born in 1624/5, however, a later study by Pierre Hardouin revealed that the composer could not have been born before 1627.
Gigault's father, Estienne Gigault, was a bailiff at the law-courts of Paris. Gigault was born into poverty and his financial situation remained dire at least until 1648, when he and his two younger brothers renounced their rights of succession to avoid their father's debts. Nicolas Gigault's mother died when he was a child. Nothing is known about his education or how he came to become a musician. Pirro suggested several possible teachers, among them Charles Racquet, but no evidence exists of any lessons. Fétis's early claim that Jean Titelouze taught Racquet is now regarded as insubstantial, since Gigault was too young and his family could not afford trips to Rouen, where Titelouze worked.
As far as is known, Gigault's career began in 1646 when he was appointed organist of Saint-Honoré. In 1652 he left to take a similar position at Saint Nicolas-des-Champs, where he worked until his death. Gigault also served as organist at Saint Martin-des-Champs from 1673, and at the Hôpital du Saint Esprit orphanage from 1685. Gigault must have had a professional relationship with Étienne Richard, who worked with him at Saint Nicolas-des-Champs, and who also was organist of Saint Martin-des-Champs until his death in 1669.
Gigault married twice. The first marriage, to Marie Aubert in 1662, produced five children: two sons and three daughters. The sons, Anne-Joseph and Anne-Joachim, became organists. Gigault's youngest daughter Emérentienne-Margueritte married an organ-builder and one of her two children, Augustin-Hypolite Ducastel, became a harpsichord-builder. Marie Aubert died on 7 August 1700. Gigault soon remarried, but himself died just a few years later, on 7 August 1707.
The inventories of Gigault's possessions, taken in 1662 and in 1700 (on the account of his marriage and his wife's death, respectively), reveal that already by 1662 he was no longer poor and could afford a well-furnished home with a collection of paintings and sculptures, and a large number of musical instruments: a chamber organ, two harpsichords (one with two manuals, the other with one), three spinets, two clavichords, a bass viol, two treble viols, a theorbo and a guitar. Most of the paintings Gigault had in his home were of a devotional nature, which, coupled with the lengthy dedications of his organ collections to the Blessed Virgin Mary, suggests an important place of religion in Gigault's life. Apart from his activities as organist, Gigault was also in demand as an organ consultant and as an instrumentalist.