Pierre Cerveau

Pierre Cerveau was a French Baroque composer, born in Anjou and active during the last quarter of the 16th century.

The name Cerveau first appeared in 1573, as a "passing cantor" in the church's capitularies archives of the Cathedral Sainte-Croix d’Orléans.

[1] Later, the dedication to Charles Miron [fr], the bishop of Angers, of his "Airs" published in 1599 suggests that he could have been in the service of this prelate at that time.

He was quoted in Troyes around 1604, at the time when he was working on putting Lorenza Strozzi's Latin hymns[2] to music at the request of René Breslay [fr], Archdeacon of Angers.

Some of the melodies used by Cerveau can be found in the tunes of Gabriel Bataille and Pierre Guédron - we don't know if they were borrowings or whether both have drawn from a common source.