Thomas Crecquillon orCréquillon (c. 1505 – probably early 1557) was aFranco-Flemish school composer of theRenaissance. While his place of birth is unknown, it was probably within the region loosely known at the time as theLow Countries, and he probably died atBéthune.
Very little is known about his early life. He was a priest and a member of the chapel of EmperorCharles V, but whether he wasmaître de chapelle or merely a singer is still a matter of dispute; the surviving documents are contradictory. Later he seems to have held positions atDendermonde,Béthune,Leuven, andNamur. Unlike many of the composers of theFranco-Flemish school, he seems never to have left his home region forItaly or other parts ofEurope. Crecquillon was retired by 1555, and most likely he died in 1557, probably a victim of the serious outbreak of the plague in Béthune that year. The location of his burial remains a mystery, and no likeness of Crecquillon is known to exist.
Crecquillon's music was highly regarded by his contemporaries, and shows aharmonic andmelodic smoothness which prefigures the culminatingpolyphonic style ofPalestrina. He wrote twelvemasses, more than 100motets and almost 200chansons. Stylistically he uses points of imitation, rather in the manner ofJosquin des Prez, in almost all of his sacred works (the masses and motets), following the contemporary trend towardpervading imitation andpolyphonic complexity. Unlike Josquin, however, Crecquillon rarely varies his texture for dramatic effect, preferring smoothness and consistency.
His secularchansons, unlike most of those by other composers of the same time, also use pervading imitation, although as is normal in a lighter form of music, they make considerable use of repetition (for example of the final phrase). Because they were imitative, it was Crecquillon'schansons which provided some of the best models for the later development of the instrumentalcanzona, the instrumental form which developed directly from thechanson. Many of hischansons were arranged for instruments, especiallylute.
The printersPetrus Phalesius the Elder (of Leuven) andTielman Susato (of Antwerp) published more music by him than by any other composer, which shows the extent of his reputation at the time, though his music is not as often recorded today as is that of many of the Netherlanders working at the same time.
His name is pronounced "toh-MAH krehk-kee-YON." Some historical sources spell the composer's last name with an acute accent mark above its "e", in which case the composer's last name is actually pronounced "krayk-kee-YON."
