Life
Nicolas Vallet was a French lutenist and composer, born around 1583 at Corbeny in Aisne, France. A Huguenot, he fled France around 1613 for reasons that remain unclear and settled in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic, where he worked as a self-supporting musician, lute teacher, and owner of a dance school. His major achievement, Le Secret des Muses, was published in two parts in 1615 and 1616 and contains compositions and instructional material for the ten-course Renaissance lute; it was among the last major publications for that instrument before the rise of the baroque lute. He also composed settings of the Psalms of David (1615) and Regia Pietas (1622). He died around 1642.
Impact
Nicolas Vallet stands at the close of the Renaissance lute tradition, and Le Secret des Muses remains one of the richest and most technically demanding lute collections of its era. As a French musician working in Amsterdam, he helped transplant French lute style to the Dutch Republic, and his music is still widely performed and recorded today as a high point of late Renaissance lute writing.
Repertoire
Bourrée d’Avignon, 1616
A lively dance from the second book of Le Secret des Muses, among the collection’s most frequently anthologized pieces.
Vallet: Le secret des muses: Bourrée d’Avignon — Performed by Nigel North
Prelude (from Le Secret des Muses), 1618
An improvisatory opening prelude from Vallet’s landmark collection for ten-course Renaissance lute.
Prelude “Le Secret des Muses” – Nicolas Vallet (A. Totaro) — Performed by Antonio Totaro · classical guitar
Morgan Marquié plays Prelude by Nicolas Vallet (1618) — Performed by Morgan Marquié