YEARBOOK OF THE ALAMIRE FOUNDATION

SELLING THE MADRIGAL: PIERRE PHALÈSE II AND THE FOUR ‘ANTWERP ANTHOLOGIES’
books in general, it is tempting to argue that reprints became a strategic tool for retaining
consumer interest in the genre.
Selling the madrigal abroad required a consistent marketing and promotional
program. Phalèse’s artistic profile and commercial drive during his first decade in
Antwerp established his business plan for the rest of his career. With clients already
familiar with chanson and instrumental music books bearing the Phalèse family name,
Phalèse II strengthened the firm’s focus on a new product line, the Italian madrigal.
He used anthologies to familiarize audiences with the music of Italian composers,
and often followed-up by issuing single-author volumes devoted to their works. In
all, he printed sixty-seven volumes of Italian madrigals (excluding reprints) before
his death in 1629. 55 Professional compilers must have improved the firm’s access to
source madrigals, the raw materials of the ‘Antwerp anthologies’. Pevernage and
Waelrant were also ready to supply dedicatory madrigals to honour the addressees.
While such additions assured Phalèse a strong local following, the sheer size and
diversity of the anthologies secured his entry into wider markets. Phalèse relied on
local, regional, and German bookdealers to reach them more efficiently. Finally, he
used prefatory material such as Gheesdalius’s poem first seen in Melodia olympica
(1591) to promote (and hopefully sell) the ‘Antwerp anthologies’ as a series.
55 This figure includes madrigal anthologies and anthologies including madrigals (19), madrigal books
(and mixed genre volumes including madrigals) by individual composers (45), and lutebooks containing
madrigals (3). See HOEKSTRA, The Reception and Cultivation of the Madrigal, pp. 171–187.
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