YEARBOOK OF THE ALAMIRE FOUNDATION

236 SUSAN LEWIS HAMMOND
Harmonia celeste are somewhat more revealing. The dedicatory addresses of these
two anthologies are paired with dedicatory music: madrigals that glorify patrons, thus
offering an aural, musical counterpart to the penned prefaces they follow. Anthologies
were particularly well suited to provide the combination of a flattering dedication
and musical selections that reflected well on a patron. Phalèse follows his dedication
of Musica divina with the four-voice madrigal Fra l’altre virtu, also dedicated to
Bartolomei. Together, the dedication and dedicatory madrigal form a double-opening
(folios 1v–2r). Though the madrigal is unattributed in the 1583 edition of Musica
divina, the headline in the 1588 edition names Peuernage as the composer. This link
between Bartolomei and Pevernage suggests the composer may have served as the
point of contact between the dedicatee and the compiler/printer, Pierre Phalèse.
This hypothesis is supported by the fact that later in 1583 Pevernage himself compiled
the next anthology in the series, Harmonia celeste. He dedicated the volume to
the Milanese merchant Cesare Homodei, who was active in Antwerp prior to becoming
a citizen of Cologne on 19 August 1585. 26 Two madrigals by Pevernage, Qvando la
voce al dolce canto and Con humilatto sta fatica mia, follow the dedication. They
each bear the headline Al Molto Magnifico S.[ignore] Cesare Homodei. A final dedicatory
madrigal, Cesar gentil degno da loro (also by Pevernage), opens the six-voice
settings on folio 23 verso with praise of Homodei’s love of music.
The strongest link between compiler and dedicatee is found in Symphonia
angelica, addressed to the senator and treasurer of Antwerp, Cornelius Pruenen. 27 As
a northerner of high social standing, Pruenen was a model dedicatee with well-honed
musical skills, tastes, and spending habits. 28 Pruenen had supported several local musicians,
including Waelrant, and in 1582 purchased madrigal books from the Plantin
shop. 29 In fact, Waelrant’s dedication of Symphonia angelica honours an association
26 H. STEHKÄMPER, Kölner Neubürger 1356–1798. Erster Teil: Neubürger 1356–1640, (Mitteilungen
aus dem Stadtarchiv von Köln, 61), Cologne, 1975, p. 156, cited in K. DERDE and S. WILLAERT,
Andreas Pevernage, p. 174, n. 61. Despite the move, Homodei remained a significant patron of Antwerp
music books: Jean de Castro’s Madrigali... con doi canzoni (Antwerp, Phalèse & Bellère, 1588) also
bears a dedication to him.
27 For biographical information on Pruenen, see I. GHIJS, art. Pruynen, Cornelis, in Nationaal Biografisch
Woordenboek, 13 (1990), columns 670–672.
28 On the musical literacy of Antwerp audiences, see HOEKSTRA, The Reception and Cultivation of the
Italian Madrigal, pp. 147, 152–156. On the education of Antwerp citizens in general, see G. MARNEF,
Antwerp in the Age of Reformation: Underground Protestantism in a Commercial Metropolis,
1550–1577, Baltimore, 1996, pp. 33–37; and J. MURRAY, A smackering of... Grammar, in Antwerp
in the Age of Plantin and Brueghel, Norman, Oklahoma, pp. 96–113.
29 A payment to Huybrecht Walravens sanger dates from 1567 (Stadsarchief Antwerpen, Vierschaar 330,
Processtukken Pieter Matheuss: Van Dyck tegen de Stad Antwerpen, quoted in PERSOONS, De Genealogie
van de Antwerpse Toonkundige Hubertus Waelrant [1517–1595], pp. 153–154). An entry in Plantin’s
Grand livre 1582–1589 (7 June 1582) confirms that Pruenen acquired the Secondo libro di Regnard
and Madrigali di prenestim from the Officina Plantiniana (Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Grand
livre 1582–1589, Arch. 20, fol. 50).