Philippe de Monte

Philippe de Monte, also Philip de Monte, Filippo di Monte, Philippe de Mons (* 1521 in Mechelen, † July 4, 1603 in Prague) was a Franco- Flemish composer of the 16th century.

Life and work

Born in 1521 in the Flemish Mechelen, Philippe de Monte stayed in 1540 in Naples, where he musicae as praeceptor, was employed as a music teacher in the house of the noble family Pinelli. About 1550 Monte was a singer in the chapel of the cathedral at Cambrai, 1555, he also held up as a singer in the chapel of Philip II of Spain in England, before returning in 1560 to Naples, where exactly is inherently uncertain. Only since Montes position as Kapellmeister at the Habsburg court in the summer of 1568 his life is documented in more detail. He served as maestro di cappella at first under Emperor Maximilian II in Vienna and was continued to be employed after his death in 1576 by Rudolf II, now in Prague, in this position. In the 1580s ensued a protracted conflict over Montes benefice in the cathedral of Cambrai, where he wanted to retire to, but on the one hand did not want to accept it as canon, the cathedral chapter of Cambrai, and on the other hand, Rudolf II wanted him out yet not let go clarified reasons. Unfortunately, died Zanotti 1587 before he was officially installed as the new Kapellmeister and Monte remained from then on until his death on July 4, 1603 as maestro di cappella at the Habsburg court.

The focus of his compositional work is Monte in the motet and the madrigal. He composed more than 1200 Madrigals, who appeared in 36 books in the prestigious Venetian printers, in addition, he wrote approximately 40 trade shows, 50 songs ( on texts by Pierre de Ronsard ) and no less than 300 motets.

With Philippe de Monte, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Giovanni and Andrea Gabrieli the madrigal reached its high classical period. As a collector of all modernist aspirations and tendencies of the 16th century the madrigal is of similar importance as in the following century the opera. In his church music (masses, motets ) but Monte was more conservative than as madrigalist.