Louis Bourgeois

Full biography Louis Bourgeois

Louis Bourgeois (also known as Loys Bourgeois) was a French composer and music theorist who lived during the Renaissance era ). In addition to being a composer, Bourgeois was also famous for being one of the main compilers and editors of Calvinist hymn tunes.

Bourgeois was born in Paris around 1510 and is thought to have died after 1561. He wrote French songs to entertain both in his earlier and later years. In the mid-16th century, Bourgeois was living in Geneva where he worked as a court musician for John Calvin, the founder of the Calvinist movement. Around the same time, he composed and edited a large collection of psalms, which would become an integral part of the Calvinist hymnal.

It is worth noting that, while in Lyon, Bourgeois wrote a fierce piece of invective against the Catholic Church , which was a common theme among Protestant scholars and theologians at the time.

Bourgeois is perhaps best known for his composition of the Genevan Psalter, which is a collection of over 125 psalms and hymns set to music. Many of the tunes in this collection are still used in churches around the world today, including the well-known hymn "Old Hundredth".

Bourgeois was a remarkable musician and his contributions to Protestant hymnody cannot be overstated. He helped to develop the Calvinist tradition of singing psalms in vernacular languages, a practice that has since become an important part of many Protestant denominations.