Alard du Gaucquier

Alard du Gaucquier (c. 1534 – c. 1582) was a choirmaster at the Imperial Chapel of the Holy Roman Empire. He began composing noted Magnificats and masses in 1574. Approximately in the year 1558 he entered the service of the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian II as a tenor singer. He was indeed replaced by Philippe de Monte on 1 May 1568, In 1578, he requested release from his employment after having served the Holy Roman Emperor for twenty years, which was granted by Rudolf II along with a lifelong pension of 100 guilders. He moved to the Netherlands to become a conductor for his former pupil, Matthias, while the latter was acting as Governor-General there.

He received an invitation from Archduke Ferdinand II to become Kapellmeister at his Innsbruck court. Gaucquier left Brussels on 29 October 1581 to accept this position but he never arrived there. There is no further mention of Gaucquier until his widow was granted a pauper's pension of 50 florins in March, 1583.

Works In 1574 eight Magnificats, scored for four to six voices, were published in Venice. A set of four masses scored for five to eight voices was published in Antwerp in 1581. An additional four-voice mass has been attributed to him. His works are in cantus firmus, with significant instances of indirect chromaticism and dissonant false relations.