Everything about Giaches De Wert totally explained
Giaches de Wert (
1535 –
May 6,
1596) was a
Franco-Flemish composer active in
Italy. He was one of the leaders in developing the style of the late Renaissance
madrigal.
Life
He was probably born in
Weert, near
Antwerp, and went to live in Italy when he was still a child. He was a
choir boy at the chapel of
Maria di Cardona in
Naples, and then was a pupil of
Cypriano de Rore at the court of the
Este in
Ferrara (ca. 1550–1555). Subsequently he was briefly engaged at the courts of
Novellara,
Mantua and
Parma.
In 1565, he entered the service of the
Gonzaga in
Mantua and became choir master at the ducal chapel of S. Barbara where he stayed until 1592. He was succeeded by
Gastoldi.
His private life was stormy; his wife deserted him, and he'd an ill-fated love affair with
Tarquinia Molza, a singer at the Ferrara court.
Music and influence
De Wert wrote over 230
madrigals and other secular works (published in 16 volumes 1558–1608), as well as over 150 sacred pieces (
motets,
hymns etc.) which demonstrate his
contrapuntal mastery.
Stylistically, his madrigals were among the most advanced of the time: in the
1580s, he was one of the leaders in developing a new, expressive, emotionally intense style, along with
Luzzasco Luzzaschi and
Luca Marenzio, a style which culminated in the work of
Monteverdi and
Gesualdo. He tends to use a
homophonic texture in his madrigals, although never exclusively; passages of
polyphony appear as an animating contrast. In his latest works, in the
1590s, he began experimenting with the new
concertato style, with groups of voices in dialogue.
De Wert stands between
Cypriano de Rore and
Claudio Monteverdi, who worked under him at Mantua and whom he greatly influenced.
He died in Mantua.
References and further reading
- "Giaches de Wert", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
- Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0-393-09530-4
Recording
Heavenly Spheres, CBC Records, MVCD 1121, sung by Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal. Contains two six-voice motets by Wert, Ascendente Jesu in naviculam and Peccavi super numerum.Further Information
Get more info on 'Giaches De Wert'.
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