Ouvrard, René
Ouvrard, René
Ouvrard, René, French ecclesiastic, man of letters, and composer; b. Chinon, Indre-et-Loire, June 16, 1624; d. Tours, July 19,1694. He received training in theology and music in Tours. In 1655 he went to Italy, where he met Carissimi in Rome. Upon his return to France, he was made maître de chapelle at Bordeaux Cathedral about 1657. About 1660 he became chef de la maîstrise at St. Just Cathedral in Narbonne. He went to Paris about 1663 to assume the duties of maître de musique at Saint-Chapelle. In 1679 he became canon at St. Gatien in Tours. Although Ouvrard’s music is not extant, his writings have been preserved, among them Secret pour composer en musique (Paris, 1658, under the pseudonym Du Reneau; 2nd ed., 1660), L’art et la science des nombres (Paris, 1677), and Architecture harmonique (Paris, 1679). His important correspondence with the French ecclesiastic Claude Nicaise remains in MS.
—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire