Era: Renaissance (~1400–1600)

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Renaissance (~1400–1600) English

ALLISON, Richard

Psalms by Richard Allison

Born c.1560–70
Died before 1610

  • Richard Allison was a composer during the late Elizabethan age. We know little of his life and work besides what has been published.
  • Allison’s published works include psalm settings and instrumental works.
    • Many of the composer’s most distinctive works were written for mixed consort of treble viol (or violin), flute, lute, cittern, bandora, and bass viol.
  • Based on his publications, we know Allison worked in the service of the Earl and Countess of Warwick in the 1590s, followed by Sir John Scudamore.
  • *Alternative spellings of the composer’s last name include:
    • Alison
    • Allysonn
    • Aloyson1

Pieces

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Renaissance (~1400–1600) Belgian

ARCADELT, Jacques

Jacques Arcadelt

Born near Namur, (present-day) Belgium, 1507
Died in France(?), Oct 14, 1568

  • Jacques Arcadelt [PRONUNCIATION] was a Franco-Flemish composer most famous for his madrigals. He is largely responsible for establishing the madrigal as a serious musical genre, and future generations of composers, such as Palestrina, would be significantly influenced by his music.2
  • While little is known about the composer’s upbringing, he may have grown up in France.
    • We do know that he spent much of his professional life in Italy. After spending a decade or so working in Florence, Arcadelt was hired as choirmaster for the chapel in Rome under Pope Paul III.
      • Fun fact – it was during Arcadelt’s time in Florence that he wrote the bulk of his madrigals.
    • Arcadelt returned to France around 1551, where he would stay until his death. During this time, he served under Cardinal de Lorraine and devoted most of his compositional efforts to chanson.
  • In his 200+ madrigals, Arcadelt set poetry by Petrarch, Sannazaro, Bembo, and Michelangelo, among others.3

Learn More:
Biography from Interlude

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Renaissance (~1400–1600) Italian

BASSANO, Hieronymus

Born in London, March 11, 1559
Buried at Waltham Abbey, Essex, Aug 22, 1635

  • Hieronymus Bassano [ee-eh-RO-nee-moos bah-SAH-no] was a member of a Jewish family4 of musicians and instrument makers who took their name from their hometown of Bassano del Grappa, Italy. The family was active in Venice and later, England.
  • Hieronymus (aka Jeronimo or Jerome) Bassano, like many of his relatives, was employed as a wind and viol player at the Tudor & Stuart courts from 1579 onward, first under Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), later under James I and Charles I.5

“The most ancientist musition the King hath.”

Court records in 1630 described Bassano thusly, so it looks like he enjoyed a nice long career.6

Pieces

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Renaissance (~1400–1600) English

BYRD, William

Born in London, c.1540
Died in Stondon Massey, Essex, July 4, 1623

  • Byrd was an Elizabethan composer and organist who navigated life as a church musician during the upset of the English Reformation.
  • Byrd composed music for both Anglican and Catholic liturgies, as well secular songs and works for organ and other instruments.7

Short biography

Pieces

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Renaissance (~1400–1600) Italian

CASULANA, Maddalena

Portrait of Casulana playing the flute

Born ca. 1544
Died in/near Vicenza, ca. 1590

  • Maddalena Casulana was an Italian composer, singer, and lutenist whose three books of madrigals were the first published by a woman.
  • Casulana was a well-known and highly respected musician during her lifetime. Unfortunately, frustratingly little is known about her life and upbringing, as is the case with most women musicians of this era. Therefore, musicologists have difficulty determining whether her professional success as a woman composer was an exception or more of a norm of the time.
  • In a letter to Isabella de’ Medici Orsini, the dedicatee of her first book of madrigals, Casulana expresses that her music endeavors to “not only to give witness to my devotion to Your Eccellency, but also to show to the world (to the degree that it is granted to me in this profession of music) the foolish error of men who so greatly believe themselves to be the masters of high intellectual gifts that [these gifts] cannot, it seems to them, be equally common among women.”
  • As a composer of madrigals, Casulana was highly adept at text painting and known for her use of chromaticism and unexpected harmonies.8

Learn More
Bio via Music by Women

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Renaissance (~1400–1600) Dutch

CLEMENS NON PAPA, Jacobus

Music score of music by Jacob Clemens non Papa

Born in c1510–15
Died in 1555/6

[ya-KOH-bus CLAY-mens nohn pah-PAH]

  • Jacobus Clemens non Papa (also called Jacob Clement) was one of the most prolific musical figures of the early 16th century. He is best remembered today for his polyphonic settings of the psalms in Dutch called the Souterliedekens.
  • Musicologists know little-to-nothing about the early life of the composer. The first public record of Clemens is in the late 1530s with the publication of several chansons.
    • *Regarding the “non Papa” distinction in the composer’s name – there’s a theory that the suffix was meant to be a joke as a play on the similarly-named Pope Clement VII, i.e., Jacob Clemens… not the pope ;).
  • One of the unique features of Clemens’s music is the fact that it is largely melody-driven rather than led by counterpoint (as was the standard of the time).
  • Clemens’s surviving 500ish manuscripts include 15 masses, two mass fragments, ~233 motets, two cycles of Magnificat settings, 159 souterliedekens and lofzangen, and just over 100 secular works.9

Learn More

Biography from Hyperion

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Renaissance (~1400–1600) French

DES PREZ, Josquin

Josquin des Prez

Born near Saint Quentin, c1450–55
Died in Condé-sur-l’Escaut, Aug 27, 1521

  • Josquin des Prez (pronunciation), often referred to as simply “Josquin,” is considered by many to be the greatest composer of the Renaissance. His music bridged the gap between the Middle Ages and the High Renaissance and would be a significant point of influence for 16th-century composers.
  • While Josquin’s music has ebbed and flowed in popularity since his death, miraculously, it’s never left the Western soundscape.10
  • Thanks to the printing press, Josquin became the first celebrity of the music industry.
  • As a composer, Josquin wrote for all the significant vocal genres of the time: masses, motets, and chansons. His music spans the gamut from sacred to secular, serious to playful, and everything in between.
  • Fun fact – Josquin and Leonardo da Vinci were colleagues at the Sforza court in Milan. Da Vinci’s Portrait of a Musician is almost certainly a portrait of Josquin.11

Learn More

Biography from Classical Music
Biography from Hyperion Records

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Renaissance (~1400–1600) English

DOWLAND, John

Painting of John Dowland holding a lute

Born in Westminster, 1562/63
Died in London, Jan 21, 1626

  • John Dowland was an esteemed lutenist, composer, and singer. We know little to nothing about his upbringing, but we do know he was sent to Paris in 1580 to serve the English ambassador to the French court.
  • In 1588, he pursued a degree in music at the University of Oxford.
  • In 1594, Dowland applied for the position of court lutenist but was rejected. He believed his rejection was due to his Catholic faith. He sought work elsewhere and landed a position at the Danish court of King Christian IV.
  • In 1612, Dowland finally achieved a position in England under King James I, where he remained until his death.
  • As a composer, Dowland published dozens of lute songs, known for their beautiful melodies and melancholy subject matter (e.g., “Come Again, Heavy Sleep,” “Flow my Tears”).12
    • “Sixteenth-Century England was obsessed with melancholy, seeing it as fashionable.”
    • “Melancholy was the sign of a superior individual… who was mature and capable of deep feeling.”13
  • Fun fact – Dowland was one of the first composers to make popular lute music in England.14

Learn More
Biography via Interlude

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Renaissance (~1400–1600) Spanish

FLECHA, Mateo

Born in Prades, c.1481
Died in Poblet, c.1553

  • Flecha was a Spanish (or Catalan, sources differ) composer and liturgical musician. He is sometimes called Mateo Flecha el Viejo (the elder) because his nephew, named Mateo Flecha after him, was also a composer.14
  • Flecha the Younger had a collection of his uncle’s work published posthumously in 1581, to great success, as we can gather from the number of editions it went through.15

Pieces

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Baroque (~1600–1750) Renaissance (~1400–1600) Italian

GABRIELI, Giovanni

Born in Venice (probably), c.1554–7
Died in Venice, Aug 1612

  • Gabrieli studied with Orlando de Lasso in Munich.
  • Gabrieli spent most of his career at the Basilica of St. Mark (S. Marco) in Venice, where his colleagues included his uncle Andrea Gabrieli. Many of Gabrieli’s compositions feature brass, due to the wind ensemble tradition at San Marco.16

Biography

Pieces

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Renaissance (~1400–1600) English

GIBBONS, Orlando

Orlando Gibbons

Born in Oxford, bap. Dec 25, 1583
Died in Canterbury, June 5, 1625

  • Orlando Gibbons was a late Renaissance composer, keyboardist, and leading musical voice of 17th-century English polyphony.
  • Gibbons came from a musical family – his father was a town wait in Cambridge, and his older brother was master of the choristers at King’s College, Cambridge.
  • Beginning around age 20, Gibbons was a musician in the Chapel Royal until his death.
    • For historical context, Queen Elizabeth I died in March 1603, making James I King of England. Given the date that Gibbons was first mentioned in the royal checkbook (May 1603), the musician’s employment likely coincided with the middle of this transitional period between monarchs.17
  • Gibbons is best known for his choral anthems, which display his mastery of 17th-century polyphony.
  • Historical fun fact – While serving as organist at Westminster Abbey, Gibbons officiated the funeral service of King James I.
  • Musical fun fact – Gibbons’s Fantasies in Three Parts for Viols is believed to have been the first music printed from copperplates in England.18

Pieces

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Renaissance (~1400–1600) English

HOLBORNE, Anthony

Born c.1545
Died c. 29 Nov – 1 Dec 1602

  • Little is known of Anthony Holborne. He published two collections of music during his lifetime: The Cittharn School (London, 1597) and Pavans, Galliards, Almains and Other Short Aeirs both Grave, and Light, in Five Parts, for Viols, Violins, or Other Musicall Wind Instruments (London, 1599).19
    • The cittharn (cittern) is a member of the lute family.
  • Holborne’s brother William Holborne was also a composer, and contributed some pieces to The Cittharn School.20

Short biography

Pieces

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Renaissance (~1400–1600) Italian

MALVEZZI, Cristofano

Born in Lucca, 28 June, 1547
Died in Florence, 22 January, 1599

  • Cristofano Malvezzi [“kree-STOH-fah-no mal-VET-si”] was an organist and composer best known for his work in the service of the Medici court during the late Renaissance, beginning in 1562.
  • Malvezzi also served as maestro di cappella at the cathedral in Florence from 1573 on. He would have been well-known among professional musicians at the time.

Pieces

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Baroque (~1600–1750) Renaissance (~1400–1600) Italian

MONTEVERDI, Claudio

Portrait of Claudio Monteverdi based on an original by Bernardo Strozzi

Born in Cremona, May 15, 1567
Died in Venice, Nov 29, 1643

Pieces

The Coronation of Poppea: “Pur ti miro”

Orfeo

Pieces

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Renaissance (~1400–1600) Italian

PALESTRINA, Giovanni Pierluigi da

iovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Born in Palestrina (near Rome), between Feb 3, 1525 and Feb 2, 1526
Died in Rome, Feb 2, 159421

Short biography
More detailed biography

Pieces

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Baroque (~1600–1750) Renaissance (~1400–1600) German

PRAETORIUS, Michael

Born in Creuzburg an der Werra, nr Eisenach, c. Feb 15, 1571
Died in Wolfenbüttel, Feb 15, 1621

  • Praetorius was an organist and a music theorist in addition to a composer. He wrote Syntagma musicum, an encyclopedic three-volume work exploring the music of his time (very valuable for historians and students of early performance practice).
    • The three volumes cover:
      1. History and principles of sacred music
      2. An overview of the musical instruments of Praetorius’ time, especially the organ
      3. A dictionary of musical forms with instruction on compositional techniques.
  • Praetorius held many significant church and court appointments during his life, and was considered one of the region’s prominent organists.22
  • Praetorius left behind a considerable fortune at his death, and he endowed most of it to create a foundation for the poor.
  • Greatest Hit: Praetorius composed the harmonization of Lo, How a Rose E’er-Blooming that appears frequently in carol collections and hymnals.23

Biography

Pieces

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Baroque (~1600–1750) Renaissance (~1400–1600) German

SCHEIDT, Samuel

Born in Halle, bap. Nov 3, 1587
Died in Halle, March 24, 1654

  • Scheidt, along with his contemporaries Heinrich Schütz and J.H Schein, is considered preeminent among German composers of the early Baroque.
  • Scheidt was an excellent organist and an expert on organ construction. Throughout his career he was invited to inspect new organs and supervise organ building projects.24

Pieces

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Baroque (~1600–1750) Renaissance (~1400–1600) German

SCHEIN, Johann Hermann

I know the competition is stiff, but in my humble opinion, J.H. Schein had the best hair in all of classical music.

Born in Grünhain, near Annaberg [now Annaberg-Bucholz], Jan 20, 1586
Died in Leipzig, Nov 19, 1630

  • Schein was a poet as well as a composer.
  • Schein was one of J.S. Bach’s predecessors as Cantor of the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.
  • Schein was good friends with his contemporary Heinrich Schütz, who visited Schein on his deathbed and composed a motet at Schein’s request.25

Pieces

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Baroque (~1600–1750) Renaissance (~1400–1600) German

SCHÜTZ, Heinrich

Born in Köstritz [now Bad Köstritz], near Gera, baptized Oct 9, 1585
Died in Dresden, Nov 6, 1672

  • Schütz is considered the first German composer of international significance.
  • Schütz’s music is notable for its combination of Italian musical styles (learned notably from Monteverdi in Venice), Lutheran musical tradition and idiomatic German text setting.26

Pieces

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Renaissance (~1400–1600) Dutch German

SUSATO, Tielmann

Tielman Susato
Tielman Susato offers his Chanson book to Maria of Hungary, governess of the Netherlands, woodcut from "vingt et six chansons musicales & nouvelles", printed in Antwerp by Tielman Susato, in 1545

First name also spelled “Tielman” or “Tylman”

Born c1510–1515, in Soest, near Dortmund
Died (possibly in Sweden), 1570 or later27

Biography

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Renaissance (~1400–1600) English

TALLIS, Thomas

Born circa 1505
Died in Greenwich, November, 158528

Biography

Pieces

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Renaissance (~1400–1600) English

WEELKES, Thomas

Image of stained glass depicting Thomas Weelkes

Born in Elsted, baptized Oct 25, 1576
Died in London, Nov 30, 1623

PRONUNCIATION NOTE: almost (but not quite) like two syllables; “wee-lks”

  • Historians have found little to no information about Thomas Weelkes’s childhood and early adulthood. He was likely the son of the rector of Elsted.
  • The earliest evidence of Weelkes’s existence is the publication of his first book of madrigals in 1597. In 1598, Weelkes was appointed organist of Winchester College, where he composed his most highly regarded madrigals.
  • Likely at the end of 1601, Weelkes was appointed as organist of Chichester Cathedral.
    • In 1602, he earned a music degree from the University of Oxford.
    • While employed at Chichester Cathedral, he was reprimanded on multiple occasions for unruly and/or neglectful behavior. In 1616, he was reported to the bishop as being “noted and famed for a common drunkard and notorious swearer & blasphemer.” Weelkes was dismissed from his post in 1617, though he earned back his position as organist in 1622.
  • As a composer, Weelkes’s legacy lies primarily in his madrigals, which were rich in musical imagery and continued the genre’s evolution from his predecessors (namely Byrd and Morley).
    • As a church organist, he also wrote many notable anthems.29

Learn More
Bio via Interlude

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