MOUTON, JEAN  BIOGRAPHY

Born in northern France, near Samer, Jean Mouton was employed as a singer and teacher at the collegiate church of Notre Dame at Nesle, where, in 1483, he became maître de chapelle. By 1500 he was at Amiens Cathedral and the following year at St André in Grenoble, in both places with responsibility for the choristers, and in the latter holding a useful benefice, in absentia, after he had entered the service of Queen Anne of Brittany, possibly as early as 1502. He remained in the royal service under François I, providing music for royal occasions. He accompanied the King to the meeting with Pope Leo X in Bologna in 1515 and probably to that with Henry VIII at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. On both occasions the chapel choirs of the rulers played an important part in the elaborate ceremonies, the first earning Mouton papal favour. His pupils included Adrian Willaert. Mouton's compositions include liturgical settings, a quantity of motets, and secular chansons.