Clément Janequin enjoyed a long career in the service of the Church, of members of the nobility and finally in the service of the King of France. He was a master of the French chanson of the period.
Chansons
Janequin wrote a number of psalm settings and chansons spirituelles (Spiritual Songs) and an even greater number of secular chansons, a number of which are programmatic. Of these La bataille (The Battle) is particularly well-known, with the imitative La chasse (The Hunt), Le chant des oiseaux (The Song of the Birds) and Les cris de Paris (The Street Cries of Paris).