French composer Jacques Mauduit seems to have lived a charmed life. He was born on September 16, 1557, into aristocratic privilege and gifted with a curious, absorbent mind. From an early age, he was trained in humanities and in philosophy, and over the course of far-flung travels, managed to master Spanish and Italian, among European other languages. Science and mechanics also held his interest, but it was music that impassioned him most of all. What's extraordinary is that, according to Marin Marsenne, Mauduit was entirely self-taught in music, through books. This was obviously no handicap: His biography is spotted with extraordinary accomplishments and affiliations. By inheritance from his father, Mauduit held a post as royal secretary and registrar in the judiciary, and he moved in courtly circles throughout his life. His character was admired by contemporaries as much as his music, considered gentle, devoted, pious, and sober, one who completely eschewed the seedy ambitiousness common to figures of the court. His public breakthrough as a composer was probably in 1581 with his victory in the motet category of the competition at St. Cecelia's Day in Évreux. Around that time, he joined Jean-Antoine de Baïf's Academie de Poésie et Musique and became one of the principal composers of their musique mesurée à l'antique alongside Claude Le Jeune. He also went on to become the principal organizer of the Académie's musical functions. The first publication of his music was in the same year as his contest victory, 1581, with the collection of Chansonnettes mesurées. The music in that collection is fairly representative of his work in general: careful, respectful of the text, and based more on harmony than on melody. During his lifetime, Mauduit became the top French conductor, organizing grand concerts that mixed choirs with large instrumental ensembles in imitation of contemporary developments in Italy. His teaching was legendary and he may also have been responsible for the addition of the sixth string to the viol. When Pierre de Ronsard died in 1586, the requiem mass sung was by Mauduit. Later, Mauduit was the man who saved Le Jeune from execution at the hands of city guards during the Paris siege of 1591. Concerts of Mauduit's music ballooned in size and scale as the end of his life approached. The year 1614 saw the performance of his odes mesurée (on the occasion of Louis XIII's return from Britanny) by a group of 135 singers and instrumentalists. In 1619, his ballet La déliverance de Renaud was realized with the aid of 92 singers and 45 instrumentalists. The last surviving member of Baïf's academie, when he died on August 21, 1627, he was one of the most loved and respected musicians in all of France. The eminent mathematician and music theorist Marin Marsenne, perhaps Mauduit's greatest admirer, said his "airs brought to life the poems of his contemporaries" and called him the "father of music."