Du Caurroy was a late practitioner of the style of
musique mesurée, the musical method of setting French verse (
vers mesurés) in long and short syllables, to long and short note values, in a
homophonic texture, as pioneered by
Claude Le Jeune under the influence of
Jean-Antoine de Baïf and his
Académie de musique et de poésie. Many of Du Caurroy's chansons written in this style were not published until 1609, long after the disbanding of the Académie, and they contrast significantly with his otherwise more conservative musical output. According to Du Caurroy, he was initially hostile to writing in the style, but was so moved by a performance of a composition of Le Jeune's, a
pseaume mesuré sung by a hundred voices, that he wanted to attempt it himself. Du Caurroy was primarily interested in
counterpoint, and was widely read in the theoretical work of the time, including that of
Gioseffo Zarlino, who provided the best available summation of the contrapuntal practice in the 16th century. His contrapuntal interest is best shown in his sacred music, of which the largest collection is the two volumes of motets, 53 in all, entitled
Preces ecclesiasticae, published in Paris in 1609. They are from 3 to 7 voices. His
Missa pro defunctis, first performed at the funeral of
Henry IV of France, was the
requiem mass which was played at
St. Denis for the funerals of French kings for the next several centuries. It is a long composition containing the
Libera me responsory, the chant for which is similar to the famous
Dies irae. Du Caurroy also used the musique mesurée technique in his sacred compositions, including seven psalm settings, published in his
Meslanges (Paris, posthumously, 1610): one is in Latin, one of the few examples of a
musique mesurée setting in a language other than French.
Marin Mersenne's
Harmonie universelle contains a setting by Du Caurroy of
Pie Jesu, which is a canon for six voices. In this same book, Mersenne held that Du Caurroy was the finest composer of
musique mesurée, outranking even the renowned Claude Le Jeune. Du Caurroy also wrote instrumental music, including contrapuntal
fantasies for three to six instruments. The collection of 42 such pieces, published posthumously in 1610, is considered to be a strong influence on the next generation of French keyboard players, especially
Jean Titelouze, the founder of the
French organ school. ==References and further reading==