Philippe de Monte

Philippe de Monte (born 1521, Mechelen, Flanders [now in Belgium]—died July 4, 1603, Prague, Bohemia [now in Czech Republic]) was one of the most active composers of the Netherlandish, or Flemish, school that dominated Renaissance music; he is especially known for his sacred music and for his madrigals.

Like many Netherlandish composers at the time, Monte journeyed to Italy to pursue his career. He spent his early adulthood as a music instructor in the employ of a wealthy family in Naples. By 1554, the year his first book of madrigals saw publication, he had returned to the Low Countries. Monte then visited England in 1554–55 as a singer in the chapel of Philip II of Spain (the consort of Queen Mary I), and while there he befriended the adolescent William Byrd. He eventually moved back to Italy, where he lived in peripatetic fashion as a teacher and composer.

Monte was in Rome in 1568 when he became musical director to the Habsburg emperor Maximilian II at his court in Vienna. He flourished in the following years, publishing his work regularly and actively participating in prestigious royal celebrations. When Maximilian died and his son Rudolf II acceded to the throne in 1576, Monte remained in his position. Four years later he transferred to Prague, which Rudolf had made the new imperial residence. Although Monte was apparently unhappy in Rudolf’s court, in which music played a less central role than it had in Maximilian’s, he was highly productive. In addition, while serving the emperors, he was awarded honorary posts at Cambrai Cathedral in what is now France.

Monte’s hundreds of compositions are characterized by a fluent but nonexperimental technique, and he excelled in subtle contrasts of register and voice grouping. Of the variety of voicings that appear in his repertoire, he most commonly composed for five parts. Monte’s sacred works, which stand comparison with those of Italian composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, include approximately 40 masses, most of which are parodies, and at least 250 motets that are noted for their elegance.

Although Monte wrote several dozen chansons, the overwhelming majority of his secular compositions are madrigals. Indeed, not only was he one of the last Netherlandish masters of the form, but he was the most prolific of his contemporaries, publishing more than 1,200 (including some spiritual madrigals) in nearly 40 books during his lifetime. Although Monte’s madrigals are typified by their solemnity, he gradually developed an individualistic style in which balance was provided by energetic rhythms. Many of his early works in the form are settings of Petrarch.