a Dutch Golden Age poet and composer. He was secretary to two Princes of Orange, Frederick Henry and William II of Orange, and the father of the scientist Christiaan Huygens. He became friends with John Donne, and translated his poems into Dutch. He was unable to write poetry for months because of his anguish over his wife's death, but eventually he composed, inspired by Petrarch, the sonnet Op de dood van Sterre (On the death of Sterre), which was well received. He still tried to find time to publish more of his work. In 1647 a number of Huygens' musical creations, Pathodia sacra et profana, was published in Paris.
