René Mesangeau
French composer and lutenist
René Mésangeau (or Mézangeau, Mesangio, Mésengeot, Mesengé, Meziniot, Meschanson, Mesangior, Mazagau, Merengeau, Messangior, Mezanio, and Mezengau) (fl. 1567–1638) was a French composer and lutenist. He is considered to be one of the finest lutenists of the 17th century.
In 1619, he settled in France and married the daughter of the spinet maker Jean Jacquet. In 1621, he was appointed Musicien ordinaire du Roi at the French court by Louis XIII. It is known that during his life he visited Germany and England. He died around January 1638 in Paris.
His output consists of about fifty works, including his own works and transcriptions, which were influential in the development of lute music after 1630. He was a pioneer of the new D minor lute tuning that was important for the style brisé. His achievements brought him recognition by Pierre Ballard (1631 and 1638) and by Marin Mersenne in his Harmonie Universelle (1636).[1]
His pupil Ennemond Gaultier composed the first known tombeau (Le Tombeau de Mézangeau, 1638) for him.
Sources
Annala H.; Matlik H. (2007).
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “René Mesangeau” as french composer and lutenist. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q715372. VIAF identifies the subject as 17491507. The Library of Congress control number is nr93012492. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1567, 1638, 1619 and 1621.
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This entry incorporates text from “René Mesangeau” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.