GOUDA, or Ter Gouwe, a town of the Netherlands in the province of South Holland, at the confluence of the Gouw with the Yssel, 12 miles N.E. of Rotterdam, at the junction of the railway from that city with the line between the Hague and Utrecht. The town is for the most part laid out in an open and lightsome manner, and like the other townβ of Holland is intersected by numerous canals. Portions of the old fortifications are changed into promenades, and the suburban quarters, Fluweelensingel, Bleekers-singel, Kattensingel, and Turfsingel, are adorned with fine tree3. The Groote Markt is the largest market square in Holland. Among the churches—five of which are Protestant, two Roman Catholic, and one Old Catholic—the first place belongs to the church of St John (Janskerk), a building of the 16th century, which replaced an earlier structure of the 15th, and which is not only remarkable for its dimensions, 345 feet in length and 150 feet broad, but possesses a celebrated organ, and a series of splendid painted windows, several of which are the workmanship of Dirk and Wouter Krabeth (1555-1603). (Compare Explanation of the Famous and Renowned Glass Work, &c., Gouda, 1876, reprinted from an older volume, 1718.) Of the other public buildings it is sufficient to mention the town-house, with a fine Gothic façade, founded in 1449, but rebuilt in 1690, the weigh-house, the house of correction for women, the gymnasium, St Catherine’s hospital, and the music hall. A public library containing many rare and valuable works is kept in St John’s church, and a municipal museum of antiquities was opened in 1874. In the time of the counts the wealth of Gouda was mainly derived from brewing and cloth weaving: about 1510, for example, the breweries numbered 156, and upwards of 1000 ...

GOUDIMEL, Claude, composer of the 16th century, must be named amongst the founders of modern music. The French and the Belgians claim him as their countryman, and the place of his birth is not sufficiently established. In all probability, however, he was born at Vaison near Avignon, about the year 1510. As to his early education we know little or nothing, but the excellent Latin in which some of his letters were written prove that, in addition to his musical knowledge, he also acquired a good classical training. In 1540 we find him established in Rome at the head of a music-school, and here, amongst many other celebrated musicians, Palestrina, the greatest master of the early Italian school, and one of the greatest masters of all schools, was amongst his pupils. About the middle of the century he seems to have left Rome for Paris, where, in conjunction with Jean Duchemin, he published, in 1555, a setting of Horace’s Odes, entitled, Horatii Flacci odae omnes quotquot carminum generibus differunt ad rhythmos musicos redactae. Infinitely more important is another collection of vocal pieces, a setting of the celebrated French version of the Psalms by Marot and Beza (Les Psaumes de David, mis en rime Française par Clement Marot et Theodore de Beze, mis en musique par Claude Goudirnel'), published in 1565. It is written in four parts, the melody being assigned to the tenor. Some of the tunes were probably of popular origin, and they are still used by the French Protestant Church. Others were adopted by the German Lutherans, a German imitation of the French versions of the Psalms in the same metres having been published at an early date. There is little doubt that, at the time of the last-named composition, Goudimel had embraced the new faith, although the French version of ...