He was a type-setter, musician, priest, choirmaster and poet born in Monteux, Provence, France to Jean Saboly, who was a consul. He studied with the Jesuits of Avignon and from there he attended college at Carpentras. He was ordained as a priest in 1640 and from 1643 held several posts as choirmaster in the cities of Arles, Avignon and Nimes. He remained very close to his Provencal roots however, and wrote around 67 Christmas pieces using that area’s language of the time. He has been credited with writing a version of the Christmas carol “Un Flambeau, Jeanette, Isabella” and his other compositions, which were anonymously published in editions of eight or twelve pieces each time, include masses. Motets, noels that were mainly in text only form and his “Pastre dey Montannas” which was featured in the 1996 movie Mondo. Much of his word lay undiscovered for many years or had purely just been forgotten, but over two hundred years later Francois Seguin, found them compiled them, and published them in 1877. He died in Avignon when he was 60 in 1675, and there is now a street in the city, which bears his name.
Sources:
- http://66.218.71.231/language/translation/translatedPage.php?tt=url&text=http%3A%2F%2Fperso.orange.fr%2Fchantsaquatrevoix%2Fpage_saboly.html&lp=fr_en&.intl=us&fr=slv8-msgr
- http://imdb.com/name/nm0754857/
- http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php?title=Nicolas_Saboly&printable=yes
- http://composers-classical-music.com/s/SabolyNicolas.htm
- http://www.lucas-said.net/SabolyGB.htm