Giaches de Wert (1535 – May 6, 1596) was a Franco-Flemish composer active in Italy. He was one of the leaders in developing the style of the late Renaissance madrigal. Events January 18 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro April - Jacques Cartier discovers the Iroquois city of Stadacona, Canada (now Quebec) and in May, the even greater Huron city of Hochelaga June 24 - The Anabaptist state of Münster (see Münster Rebellion) is conquered and disbanded. ... May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (127th in leap years). ... Events February 5 - 26 catholics crucified in Nagasaki, Japan. ... In music, the Dutch School refers, somewhat imprecisely, to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. ... A madrigal is a setting for 4–6 voices of a secular text, often in Italian. ...

Life

He was probably born in Weert, near Antwerp, and went to live in Italy when he was still a child. He was a choir boy at the chapel of Maria di Cardona in Naples, and then was a pupil of Cypriano de Rore at the court of the Este in Ferrara (c. 1550–1555). Subsequently he was briefly engaged at the courts of Novellara, Mantua and Parma. The Cathedral of our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal, Antwerp) in the Handschoenmarkt, in the old quarter of Antwerp is the largest cathedral in the Low Countries and home to a number of triptychs by Renaissance Belgian painter Rubens. ... Naples panorama Naples (Italian Nàpoli, Neapolitan Napule, from Greek Νέα Πόλις - Néa Pólis - meaning New City; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is the largest city in southern Italy and capital of Campania Region and the Province of Naples. ... Cypriano de Rore or Cipriano de Rore (1515 or 1516 – 11 September to 20 September 1565) was a Flemish composer and teacher. ... For Tolkiens fictional character, see Estë To know more about the city, see Este Este, Italian princely family, rulers of Ferrara (1240–1597), Modena and Reggio (1288–1796). ... Ferrara is a town, an archiepiscopal see and a province in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, capital city of the province of Ferrara. ... Events February 7 - Julius III becomes Pope. ... Events Russia breaks 60 year old truce with Sweden by attacking Finland February 2 - Diet of Augsburg begins February 4 - John Rogers becomes first Protestant martyr in England February 9 - Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper is burned at the stake May 23 - Paul IV becomes Pope. ... Mantua Mantua (in Italian Mantova) is an important city in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province with the same name. ... Parma is a medieval city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, with splendid architecture and a fine countryside around it. ...

In 1565, he entered the service of the Gonzaga in Mantua and became choir master at the ducal chapel of S. Barbara where he stayed until 1592. He was succeeded by Gastoldi. Events March 1 - the city of Rio de Janeiro is founded April 27 - Cebu City is established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. ... The Gonzaga family ruled Mantua in Northern Italy from 1328 to 1708. ... Mantua Mantua (in Italian Mantova) is an important city in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province with the same name. ... Events January 30 - The death of Pope Innocent IX during the previous year had left the Papal throne vacant. ... Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi (active 1582 - 1609), was an Italian Baroque composer. ...

His private life was stormy, his wife deserted him, and he had an ill-fated love affair with Tarquinia Molza, a singer at the Ferrara court.

Music and influence

De Wert wrote over 230 madrigals and other secular works (published in 16 volumes 1558–1608), as well as over 150 sacred pieces (motets, hymns etc.) which demonstrate his contrapuntal mastery. A madrigal is a setting for 4–6 voices of a secular text, often in Italian. ... Events January 7 - French troops led by Francis, Duke of Guise take Calais, the last continental possession of England July 13 - Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul des Thermes at Gravelines. ... Events March 18 - Sissinios formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia May 14 - Protestant Union founded in Auhausen. ... In Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions. ... A hymn is a song specifically written as a song of praise, adoration or prayer, typically addressed to a god. ... Counterpoint is a musical technique involving the simultaneous sounding of separate musical lines. ...

Stylistically, his madrigals were among the most advanced of the time: in the 1580s, he was one of the leaders in developing a new, expressive, emotionally intense style, along with Luzzasco Luzzaschi and Luca Marenzio, a style which culminated in the work of Monteverdi and Gesualdo. He tends to use a homophonic texture in his madrigals, although never exclusively; passages of polyphony appear as an animating contrast. In his latest works, in the 1590s, he began experimenting with the new concertato style, with groups of voices in dialogue. Luzzasco Luzzaschi (c. ... Luca Marenzio (1553? - August 22, 1599) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance. ... Portrait of Claudio Monteverdi in Venice, 1640, by Bernardo Strozzi Claudio Monteverdi (May 15, 1567 (baptised) – November 29, 1643) was an Italian composer, violinist and singer. ... Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa Carlo Gesualdo (?March 8, ?1566 – September 8, 1613), Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, was an Italian composer, lutenist, nobleman, and notorious murderer of the late Renaissance. ... Homophony is a musical term that describes the texture of two or more instruments or parts moving together and using the same rhythm. ... Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of several independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ... Concertato (sometimes called stile concertato) is a term in early Baroque music referring to either a genre or a style of music in which groups of instruments or voices share a melody, usually in alternation, and almost always over a basso continuo. ...

De Wert stands between Cypriano de Rore and Claudio Monteverdi, who worked under him at Mantua and whom he greatly influenced. Cypriano de Rore or Cipriano de Rore (1515 or 1516 – 11 September to 20 September 1565) was a Flemish composer and teacher. ... Portrait of Claudio Monteverdi in Venice, 1640, by Bernardo Strozzi Claudio Monteverdi (May 15, 1567 (baptised) – November 29, 1643) was an Italian composer, violinist and singer. ...

He died in Mantua. Mantua Mantua (in Italian Mantova) is an important city in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province with the same name. ...

References and further reading

• "Giaches de Wert", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1561591742
• Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0393095304

Gustave Reese (November 29, 1899 – September 7, 1977) was an American musicologist and teacher. ...

Recording

• Heavenly Spheres, CBC Records, MVCD 1121, sung by Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal. Contains two six-voice motets by Wert, Ascendente Jesu in naviculam and Peccavi super numerum.