Géry Ghersem

Géry de Ghersem, also written Gersem, was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer born in Tournai, probably around 1573-1575, and who died in the same city on 25 May 1630. His career is understood above all through his service at the court of Philip II in Madrid, where he was a member of the Capilla Flamenca, and through his subsequent ecclesiastical and musical career in the Southern Netherlands.

He sang for five years as a chorister at the cathedral of Tournai. It seems that George de la Hèle may have briefly taught him, although this detail is not certain. He arrived in Madrid on 28 June 1586 as one of fourteen boys recruited in Flanders for the Capilla Flamenca, and there he served as a cantorcillo until he was promoted to cantor in 1593, under the direction of Philippe Rogier. After Rogier's death in 1596, he fulfilled his commission to publish some of his masses; in 1598 six were published in Madrid, financed by Philip II and Philip III, one of them composed by Ghersem himself. That same year he was passed over as director of music in favour of Mateo Romero, although he did become sub-director.

He returned to Flanders in 1604 and took over the domestic chapel of the Archdukes Albert and Isabella in Brussels, and from 1607 he was also chaplain of the oratory. He was also a priest and enjoyed several canonries in Mons, Brussels and Tournai. His reputation was considerable: Philip III, the Archduchess Isabella and John IV of Portugal held him in high esteem, and writers such as Cerone praised him.

His surviving legacy is slight. The only complete work that has survived is the Missa 'Ave virgo sanctissima' for seven voices, built with canons in almost all of its movements on a motet by Francisco Guerrero. Fragments survive of a motet and of a mass for eight voices, while his villancicos, much prized in his day, appear to be lost.