YEARBOOK OF THE ALAMIRE FOUNDATION

228 SUSAN LEWIS HAMMOND
PRODUCING MADRIGAL BOOKS AT THE PHALÈSE PRINT SHOP
Phalèse the Younger was the heir to a reputable family printing firm founded by his
father, Pierre Phalèse the Elder (c.1510–c.1576), in Louvain in 1542. 5 Upon inheriting
the business, Phalèse fils moved the operation to Antwerp: an entry for Valesus
confirms that Phalèse II joined the Guild of St. Luke that regulated the print trade in
Antwerp in 1581. 6 His decision to relocate may have been motivated by the firm’s
association with the printer-publisher Jean Bellère (1526–1595), who had served as
the firm’s Antwerp distributor since 1570. 7
In his early years in Antwerp, Phalèse gradually incorporated madrigals alongside
works similar to those published by his father. During the first thirteen years of
the firm’s activity in Antwerp (1582–1595), the names Phalèse and Bellère appear at
the bottom of the title pages of thirty-two volumes of music (see Table 1). 8
Eighteen of the thirty-two volumes contain Italian-texted music: nine singlecomposer
editions, six anthologies, and three mixed-genre books. This rate of transmission
suggests a steady market, if not a flourishing one, for the Italian madrigal. A
close examination of Table 1 reveals that Phalèse II’s earliest editions cautiously rely
on well-known composers and repertories. The first three volumes contain works by
northerners Jean de Castro (c.1540/45–1600) and Orlando di Lasso (1530/32–1594).
Both composers had established reputations in the northern marketplace. Castro’s
music was printed in Louvain, Antwerp, and Paris and included a multi-genre volume
that grouped three-voice canzones, madrigals, and motets (Antwerp, Laet, 1569). 9
Lasso was an even safer investment for a northern printer; volumes devoted to his
5 On the biography of the Phalèse family, see S. BAIN and H.VANHULST, art. Phalèse, Pierre (i) and
(ii), in S. SADIE and J. TYRRELL eds., The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed.,
London, 2001, 19, pp. 545–549.
6 P. ROMBOUTS and T. VAN LERIUS, De Liggeren en andere Historische Archieven der Antwerpsche
Sint Lucasgilde, Antwerp – Amsterdam, 1864, repr. Amsterdam 1961, 1, p. 276. There is no entry for
Phalèse in the Antwerpse Poortersboeken (‘citizenship books’) which record entries of new citizens.
7 On Jean Bellère, see L. VAN DEN BRANDEN, Archiefstukken Antwerpse Boekwezen, in De Gulden
Passer, 61–63 (1983–1985), pp. 179–187; A. ROUZET, Dictionnaire des imprimeurs, libraries et éditeurs
des XVe et XVIe siècles, Niewkoop, 1975, pp. 9–10; and S. BAIN, art. Bellère, Jean, in S. SADIE
and J. TYRRELL eds., The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., London, 2001, 3,
p. 189.
8 Table 1 follows entries found in K. SCHLAGER ed., Einzeldrucke vor 1800, (Répertoire international
des sources musicales, ser. A/I, 1–9, 11–13), Kassel, 1971–; and F. LESURE ed., Recueils imprimés
XVIe–XVIIe siècles, (Répertoire international des sources musicales, ser. B), Munich, 1960. Volumes
without RISM numbers are drawn from the listing of publications by Pierre Phalèse and Jean Bellère
in BAIN and VANHULST, art. Phalèse, Pierre (ii), p. 547. Table 1 does not include the reprints of
Rinaldo del Mel’s Sacrae cantiones (RISM M2196, 1589), Musica divina (RISM 1588 16 , 1591 11 , and
1595 4 ), Harmonia celeste (RISM 1589 9 and 1593 4 ), Symphonia angelica (RISM 1590 17 and 1594 8 ), and
Melodia olympica (RISM 1594 7 ).
9 See WEAVER, A Descriptive Bibliographical Catalog, no. 32, pp. 149–154.