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Philippe Verdelot
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Philippe Verdelot was a French Renaissance composer who spent most of his life in Italy. He was born between 1480 and 1485 in Les Loges, in the French region of Seine-et-Marne, and died between 1530 and 1540. Little is known about his early life. He probably came to Italy young and worked in cities in the north, possibly also in Venice. From 1523 to 1525 he was maestro di cappella at the baptistery of Florence, and until 1527 possibly also at the cathedral.
Music and breakthrough
In 1526 he collaborated on the staging of La Mandragola, the cynical comedy by Niccolò Machiavelli. The songs he wrote for it, called canzone, are regarded as the earliest madrigals. For that reason he is often called the father of the Italian madrigal, and he was one of the first and most prolific composers of the genre. His motets also reveal his political sympathies: he probably supported the reformer Girolamo Savonarola, as appears from his setting of In te domine speravi and from his motet Letamini in domino.
Influence
Verdelot possibly died during the siege of Florence in 1529 and 1530, or from the plague that was then raging in the city. After 1530 there is no evidence that he was still alive. His madrigals set an example for later Italian composers and taught them to keep the music close to the meaning of a poem.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 2007Madrigals for a Tudor King
- 2016Verdelot: Madrigali diminuiti
Mentioned in other articles
- Madrigaal Genre
In Florence in the 1520s and 1530s, northern composers such as Philippe Verdelot and Jacques Arcadelt wrote part-songs on Italian poems, often in the spirit of Petrarch.