Ennemond Gaultier, known as ‘Vieux Gaultier’ or ‘Gaultier de Lyon,’ was a French lutenist and composer born around 1575 in Villette, Dauphiné, and died on 11 December 1651. He worked first in Lyon before becoming valet to the Queen Mother Marie de’ Medici and a court lutenist in Paris around 1620, and is thought to have studied with René Mesangeau. In 1631 Ennemond Gaultier retired from court life to his estate at Les Nèves, where he spent his final two decades composing. His younger cousin Denis Gaultier later included many of his pieces in a printed lute book of 1669, and the two were so closely associated that contemporaries frequently used the surname ‘Gaultier’ to mean either man.

As one of the founding figures of the 17th-century French lute school, Ennemond Gaultier helped pioneer the style brisé, the arpeggiated ‘broken’ texture that became the hallmark of French Baroque instrumental music. His Tombeau de Mézangeau, written for his teacher, is considered the first true instrumental tombeau, launching a genre later adopted by harpsichordists and violists. His widely copied courantes and allemandes shaped the harmonic language of later composers such as Froberger.

Sources:

• http://www.hoasm.org/IVE/GaultierE.html