YEARBOOK OF THE ALAMIRE FOUNDATION

SELLING THE MADRIGAL: PIERRE PHALÈSE II AND THE FOUR ‘ANTWERP ANTHOLOGIES’
virtue and freedom.’ 37 With the inclusion of patriotic composers and texts such as Tra
romor di tamburi, the anthology Symphonia angelica illustrates how the Italian
madrigal could be adapted to the local context of Antwerp’s surrender in 1585. As a
Flemish diplomat, Pruenen paved the way for future support from other northern dignitaries;
many of Phalèse’s subsequent madrigal editions bear dedications to Netherlanders
rather than Italians. 38 The selection of dedicatees for the ‘Antwerp anthologies’
forecasts a broader pattern in Phalèse editions: a gradual shift from Italian-born
to native patrons for his Italian works.
DISTRIBUTION TO REGIONAL AND FOREIGN MARKETS
As a printer (and later sole publisher), Phalèse’s livelihood depended on patronage
from consumers across Europe. Though Kerman and Hoekstra have emphasized the
Antwerp-based audience for Phalèse madrigal books, there is ample evidence that
Phalèse took great care to reach consumers outside the city as well. 39 With its range
of composers and styles the anthology naturally appealed to patrons, collectors, and
performers across northern Europe. Kerman’s own analysis of Nicholas Yonge’s
reliance on the three earlier ‘Antwerp anthologies’ as source material for Musica
transalpina (1588) attests to their transmission and reception in England. 40 All four
anthologies were part of the ducal library in Munich that now survives at the
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Symphonia angelica (1585), Musica divina (1588),
Harmonia celeste (1589), and Melodia olympica (1594) belonged to the court library
37 The translation by Mary Matthijssen-Maris is from WEAVER, Waelrant and Laet, pp. 331–332.
Matthijssen-Maris interprets Trehou as a reference to the composer Jean-Jacques de Turnhout, rather
than Gregorius Trehou, a Netherlander who was later active in Denmark. The original Dutch is as follows:
Trehou, Walrands, Verdonck en | Pivernage mede | Verçieren Belgica, u schoonste | strydtbaer
landen | Medt de hemelsche kunst’, (vol eeren, | vry van schanden) | Musica, die den mensch’verweckt
tit | deughdt en vrede – see W. WATERSCHOOT, De ‘Poetische werken’von Jonker Jan Van der Noot:
Analytische bibliografie en tekstuitgave met inleiding en verklarende aantekeningen, Ghent, 1975, 2,
p. 204. See also J. STELLFELD, Bibliographie des éditions musicales plantiniennes, Brussels, 1949,
p. 140; and K. BOSTOEN, Dichterschap en koopmanschap in de zestiende eeuw: Omtrent de dichters
Guillaume de Poetou en Jan vander Noot, Deventer, p. 267.
38 A shift from Italian to northern dedicatees is immediately apparent when examining the table of dedications
of madrigal books printed in the Low Countries, 1555–1620, in HOEKSTRA, The Reception
and Cultivation of the Italian Madrigal, pp. 169–170.
39 KERMAN, The Elizabethan Madrigal, p. 49; and HOEKSTRA, The Reception and Cultivation of the
Italian Madrigal, p. 147–156. Cf. FORNEY, Antwerp’s Role in the Reception and Dissemination of
the Madrigal, pp. 248–249; and K. FORNEY, Music Patronage and the Rise of Bourgeois Culture in
the Low Countries, in Actas del XV Congreso de la Sociedad Internacional de Musicología, Revista
de Musicología, 16 (1993), 1, pp. 607–610.
40 KERMAN, The Elizabethan Madrigal, pp. 48–57.
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