Pierre Passereau was born sometime before 1509 and died sometime after 1547. In 1509 this French chanson composer was singing for the Duke of Angoulme who later became Francois I. Between 1525 and 1530 Passereau was probably a tenor at Cambrai Cathedral though this is not certain. He was important as a contributor to the corpus of chanson literature given the printing by Attaingnant of one volume consisting of works by Janequin and Passereau, an unheard of practice at the time. Initial printings of his works may have been done at the behest of Francois. Though historically Passereau's chansons are considered lightweight his works were quite popular in their day. Tradition has it that his "Il est bel et bon" was even sung on the streets of Venice. The popularity of his songs may have been due to their characteristic lively rhythms, common subjects and use of ribald language. Many of his chansons were printed in several editions and transcribed for other instruments, again attesting to the fact that his chansons were important and popular in their day.
