YEARBOOK OF THE ALAMIRE FOUNDATION

238 SUSAN LEWIS HAMMOND
Tra romor di tamburi & suon di trombe,
D’archibusi, moschetti
Onde par che la Terr’ et l’Ciel ribombe
t’appresento (Cornelio) l’arme mie
Differenti di tuono & d’armonia:
Quelle minaccian’ fur’ et guerre rie,
Queste pac’ & riposo tuttavia:
Sia (ti priego Signore) dalla mia.
Through the din of the drums, and the
sounding of trumpets of arquebusses and
muskets,
so loud that Heaven and Earth resound,
I offer you (Cornelius) my arms,
which are different, in tone and harmony:
The former threaten furor and evil wars;
The latter, however, bring peace and rest.
Be on my side (I beg you, Lord).
who negotiated with Alexander Farnese for the surrender of the city on 8 July 1585. 33
Pruenen’s name appears directly in the text and is singled out by a textural shift from
overlapping voice entries to homophony for the patron’s name, Cornelio, which is
illustrated by the text below: 34
In addition to Tra romor di tamburi, there are four more madrigals by Waelrant and
two by Cornelius Verdonck, another composer in the Pruenen circle. Verdonck was
supported by Pruenen for many years during his stay in Antwerp from 1581–84; following
his service at the royal chapel in Madrid (from 1584), Verdonck returned to
Antwerp (by 1599) under the patronage of Cornelius’s nephew, Joannes de Cordes,
governor of Wichelsen and Serskamp. 35 Verdonck dedicated his Madrigali novamente
posti in luce, 6vv (Antwerp, Phalèse, 1603) to Cordes, and included a setting of
Pruenen’s own text Tempo fia ormai, benigno signore in the volume. 36
The political context surrounding the printing of Symphonia angelica in 1585
may have shaped the local reception of the volume and its Antwerp contributors. That
same year, Waelrant, Verdonck, and Pevernage were praised as national heroes in the
first stanza of a sonnet by the poet Jan vander Noot: ‘[Trehou], Waelrant, Verdonck,
and Pevernage, they together | Adorn Belgica, O most beautiful, strong land, | With
the heavenly art (full of honor, free from infamy) | Of music: which rouses men to
33 The Treaty of Submission of the city of Antwerp was dated 17 August 1585 (Archives communales,
Anvers, Privilegie Com, O, pg. 369 [French] and Placards de Brabant, I, pg. 614 [Flemish]), transcribed
in F. VERACHTER, Inventaire des Anciens Chartes et Priviléges et autres Documents conservés
aux Archives de la Ville d’Anvers, 1193–1856, Antwerp, 1860, p. 240.
34 Translation from K. JUNGHÄNEL cond., Symphonia Angelica: Madrigals by Waelrant, Gabrieli,
Marenzio, De Monte, Ferretti, ACC 8864 D.
35 Verdonck returned to the Low Countries from Madrid by 1599, when he took part in celebrations
marking the official visit of Archduke Albrecht and Archduchess Isabella to Antwerp – see R.
LENAERTS and K. FORNEY, art. Verdonck, Cornelis, in S. SADIE and J. TYRRELL eds., The New
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., London, 2001, 26, p. 472.
36 HOEKSTRA, The Reception and Cultivation of the Italian Madrigal, p. 151; and FORNEY, Antwerp’s
Role in the Reception and Dissemination of the Madrigal, p. 248, p. 252, n. 54.