Faignient (b. c. 1537 possibly in Cambrai; † c. 1578 in Antwerp) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance.[1][2][3]
It was not until 1992 that an Antwerp "certificaat" dated February 17, 1576 was published, referring to Noé Faignient in the following way: "Noel Faeynient, sangmeester alhier, woonende by de Nyeuwe Borsse alhier, oudt omtrement XXXIX jaren" (thus about 39 years old in 1576), from which the approximate year of birth is derived. The composer was granted citizenship in Antwerp in 1561; this document mentions "Noe Menestriers, son of Bastien, born at Cambrai, musician". The mentioned Certificaat also confirms the statement of Pierre François Sweerts (Franciscus Swertius) in the publication Athenae belgicae (Antwerp 1628) that Faignient worked in Antwerp as a music teacher: "Antverpiae aliquot annos iuventutem musicam docuit". Few other details are known about the composer's life. Three children of the Faignient family were baptized in Antwerp's Notre-Dame Cathedral, in 1561, 1575, and 1577. In 1566, the collection of poems "Suite du Labeur en liesse" was published in the same city, containing a sonnet with admonitory content by the poet Guillaume de Poetou (c. 1528-1567/68), addressed directly to Noé Faignient.
The Antwerp archival records also provide indirect information about Faignient's demise. The composer's fourth child was baptized in Antwerp Cathedral on December 18, 1577, during his father's lifetime, and another document dated December 20, 1578, refers to his second wife, Anna Oldenhoff, as a widow; thus, Faignient died between December 1577 and December 1578. An earlier statement (Albert Smijers 1946) that Faignient served as singing master to Duke Erich II of Brunswick-Lüneburg from 1580 to 1581 is thus shown to be incorrect.
Significance[edit source text]
Compositions in the collection "Chansons, madrigales et motets par Noé Faignient 1568" are close to di Lasso's work because of the art of figurative and affective word expression, which may have prompted Johann Gottfried Walther in his "Musicalisches Lexicon" of 1732 to call Faignient a "Simia Orlandi" (Monkey of Orlando). In addition, Faignient's work has become known primarily through numerous printed collections published between 1569 and about 1650, including arrangements for organ and for lute.
(Wikipedia)
Note: Translated from the German version of Wikipedia into English.
