Jacques Arcadelt (also known as Jacob Arcadelt; born August 10, 1507; died October 14, 1568) was a composer from France and Flanders during the Renaissance. He worked in both Italy and France and is best known for writing non-religious vocal music. While he also composed religious music, he was one of the most famous early composers of madrigals, a type of music that became popular in Italy. His first book of madrigals was published about ten years after the first madrigals appeared, and it was the most widely printed collection of madrigals during that time. In addition to writing madrigals, Arcadelt was also skilled at composing chansons, a type of French music, especially later in his life when he lived in Paris.

Arcadelt was the most influential composer during the early, or "classic," phase of madrigal music. His published works helped spread the madrigal style beyond Italy more than any other composer’s. Later musicians admired Arcadelt’s style as an example of excellence. His first madrigal book was often used to teach music, and copies of it were printed more than 100 years after it was first published.

Life

Arcadelt was born in Namur, in the Habsburg Netherlands, on August 10, 1507. As a young man, he moved to Italy and was in Florence by the late 1520s, where he had the chance to meet or work with Philippe Verdelot, who wrote the earliest known madrigals with named composers. In 1538, or shortly before, he moved to Rome, where he was appointed to the papal choir at St. Peter’s Basilica. Many composers from the Netherlands worked in the choir during this time, and it is possible he arrived in Rome before going to Florence. In January 1539, he was likely made a member of the Julian Chapel. Records from that time list his name as "Jacobus flandrus," which suggests a Flemish origin, though it is not certain if this refers to Arcadelt. After a few months there, he joined the Sistine Chapel and was appointed magister puerorum. In the same year, four books of his madrigals were published. The first collection, Il primo libro di madrigali, was reprinted 45 times, making it the most widely copied madrigal collection of that time.

Arcadelt remained in Rome as a singer and composer at the Sistine Chapel until 1551, except for a short trip to France in 1547. During this time, he likely met Michelangelo in early 1542. However, Michelangelo’s sonnets set to music by Arcadelt were not well received. Michelangelo, in letters, suggested he did not consider himself musical or able to appreciate Arcadelt’s work. Michelangelo gave Arcadelt a piece of satin suitable for making a doublet.

Before leaving Italy in 1551 to return to France, Arcadelt wrote over 200 madrigals. In France, he spent the rest of his life, and many of his chansons were composed during this time. In 1557, he published a book of masses dedicated to Charles de Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine, who employed Arcadelt as maître de chapelle (choirmaster). The publication listed Arcadelt as a member of the royal chapel, meaning he likely served both Henry II (who died in 1559) and Charles IX during his later career. In Paris, he worked with the publishing house of Le Roy and Ballard, who printed his chansons, masses, and motets, just as Venetian printers had printed his madrigals in Italy.

Arcadelt died in Paris on October 14, 1568.

In Gargantua and Pantagruel, François Rabelais included Arcadelt in the introduction to Book IV. He placed the musician among Clément Janequin and Claudin de Sermisy, describing them as part of a choir singing a humorous song in which Priapus boasts to the gods on Mount Olympus about using a mallet to deflower a bride.

Music

During his long and productive career, Arcadelt wrote both sacred and secular music, all of which was vocal. He composed 24 motets (religious songs), 125 French chansons (songs), about 250 madrigals (some of which are not clearly attributed to him), three masses (sets of religious music), and settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah and the Magnificat (a hymn). Some of his madrigals may have survived anonymously in old manuscripts. His music was influenced by styles from his northern homeland, Italian secular music like the frottola, and the music he heard while singing in the Sistine Chapel choir. He was the most widely admired early madrigalist, and his influence on others was very strong. Arcadelt helped bring the madrigal form to its early stage of development.

One of Arcadelt's madrigals, Io dico che fra voi (a four-voice piece based on a poem by Michelangelo from the 1540s), shows his style. He wrote hundreds of madrigals over at least two decades, mostly for four voices, but also for three, five, or six voices. His madrigals are known for their clear, simple melodies, easy-to-sing structure, and strong harmonic foundation, usually using only the notes of a single scale. The music often uses one note per word, and while it sometimes repeats phrases, it is usually through-composed (not repeating the same music for each verse, unlike the chanson). Arcadelt mixed homophonic (one voice leading with others supporting) and polyphonic (multiple independent voices) textures in a balanced way. His madrigals represent the "classic" phase of the form, with clear structure, four-part writing, and refinement. Later madrigalists used more complex techniques like word painting, chromaticism, and virtuosity, which Arcadelt avoided.

Arcadelt's music was very popular in Italy and France for over 100 years. His first madrigal book was reprinted 58 times by 1654, and his music was often adapted for instruments like the lute, guitar, and viol. His popularity may have come from his ability to blend the Italian spirit with the technical skill of the Franco-Flemish style, as well as his catchy, easy-to-sing tunes. Unlike later madrigal composers, Arcadelt believed anyone who could read music could perform his works, not just professional singers.

Arcadelt chose texts from many poets, including Petrarch (he set one of Petrarch's poems as five connected madrigals, influencing later madrigal cycles), Pietro Bembo, Sannazaro, and Michelangelo. Some of his madrigals used anonymous poetry, just as some of his music may have survived without attribution. He also set the words of Giovanni Guidiccioni, who wrote Il bianco e dolce cigno (The white and gentle swan), one of the most famous madrigals of the 16th century.

Il bianco e dolce cigno was popular for many reasons. According to Alfred Einstein, the music "uses simple, tender singing to create a magical, emotional feeling. It achieves the ideal of sweetness and smoothness expected in music of the time. Arcadelt's work is rare in its lasting power." The piece has mostly homophonic texture with a harmony style similar to fauxbourdon. The subject is romantic, with a rising fourth figure representing "thousand deaths." Brief word-painting (music matching the meaning of the text) appears, like a flattened seventh on "piangendo" (crying). Musical phrases overlap the lines of poetry, a technique called enjambment.

Arcadelt lived in both France and Italy, so his chansons (French songs) and madrigals (Italian songs) share some features. Chansons were usually strophic (repeating the same music for each verse), while madrigals were through-composed. Arcadelt used some chanson techniques in his madrigals and vice versa. His chansons were mostly syllabic (one note per word) with simple, occasional polyphonic sections. Some chansons were contrafacta (same music with new French words instead of Italian). His chansons and madrigals were very similar in style.

In addition to madrigals and chansons, Arcadelt wrote three masses, 24 motets, settings of the Magnificat and the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and some sacred chansons (French spiritual songs). His masses were influenced by earlier Franco-Flemish composers like Jean Mouton and Josquin des Prez. His motets avoided the complex polyphony of Netherlandish composers, instead focusing on clear, declamatory (spoken-like) music similar to his secular works. Most of his religious music, except sacred chansons, was likely written during his time in the papal choir in Rome. Records show his music was performed in the Sistine Chapel during his time there. His Ave Maria was not originally his work; in 1842, Pierre-Louis Dietsch adapted his chanson "Nous voyons que les hommes" to Latin and added a bass line.

Antoine Gardano was Arcadelt's main Italian publisher, though a Venetian publisher, Scotto, also released one of his madrigal books. Il bianco e dolce cigno was featured in Gardano's book, helping it sell well. In Paris, some of Arcadelt's chansons appeared in publications as early as 1540, showing he wrote them in Italy. After returning to France, his chansons, masses, and motets were published by Le Roy and Ballard in the 1550s and 1560s, while his music was still printed in Venice.

Works

A complete modern edition of Arcadelt's works is published in CMM, xxxi, 1–10 (ten volumes), edited by Albert Seay. The first volume includes Arcadelt's masses; his secular compositions are in volumes two through nine, and his motets and other sacred music are in volume ten. Below is a partial list of his works. The numbering of the works is based on the number of voices used. For example, there is a book titled Il primo libro di madrigali (for four voices) and another titled Primo libro di madrigali (for three voices).

• Il primo libro di madrigali (four voices; Venice, 1539)
• Il secondo libro de madrigali (four voices; Venice, 1539, published by Scotto)
• Il vero secondo libro di madrigali (four voices; Venice, 1539)
• Terzo libro de i madrigali novissimi (four voices; Venice, 1539)
• Il quarto libro di madrigali (four voices; Venice, 1539)
• Primo libro di madrigali (three voices; Venice, 1542)
• Il quinto libro di madrigali (four voices; Venice, 1544)
• Numerous other madrigals in other collections and in manuscript, 1537 to 1559

• Quatorsiesme livre de chansons (four to six voices; Paris, 1561)
• Tiers livres de chansons (four voices; Paris, 1567)
• Quatrième livre de chansons (four voices; Paris, 1567)
• Cinquième livre de chansons (four voices; Paris, 1567)
• Sisième livre de chansons (four to five voices; Paris, 1569)
• Neuvième livre de chansons (four to six voices; Paris, 1569)

• Missa tres (four, five, and six voices; Paris, 1557)

• Magnificat primi toni (four to six voices; Paris, 1557)
• Lamentationes Jeremiae i (four voices; Paris, 1557)
• Lamentationes Jeremiae ii (four voices; Paris, 1557)
• Lamentationes Jeremiae iii (four voices; Paris, 1557)

• Numerous individual compositions published between 1532 and 1555; motets in Latin and sacred chansons in French.

References and further reading

• Abraham, Gerald. The Age of Humanism. Published by Oxford University Press in London in 1968.
• Atlas, Allan W. Renaissance Music. Published by W. W. Norton & Company in New York in 1998.
• Blume, Friedrich. Renaissance and Baroque Music. Published by W. W. Norton & Company in New York in 1967.
• Brown, Howard Mayer. Music in the Renaissance. Part of the Prentice Hall History of Music Series. Published by Prentice-Hall, Inc., in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, in 1976. ISBN 0-13-608497-4.
• Brown, Howard Mayer, and Stein, Louise K. Music in the Renaissance, second edition. Published by Prentice Hall in Upper Saddle River in 1999.
• Einstein, Alfred. The Italian Madrigal, three volumes. Published by Princeton University Press in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1949. ISBN 0-691-09112-9.
• Haar, James; Glozer, Letitia. "Arcadelt [Archadelt, Arcadet], Jacques." Entry in Grove Music Online (subscription required).
• Perkins, Leeman L. Music in the Age of the Renaissance. Published by W. W. Norton & Company in New York in 1999.
• François Rabelais. Gargantua and Pantagruel. Translated by J.M. Cohen. Published by Penguin Books in Baltimore in 1963.
• Randel, Don, editor. The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. Published by Harvard University Press in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1986. ISBN 0-674-61525-5.
• Gustave Reese. Music in the Renaissance. Published by W.W. Norton & Co. in New York in 1954/1959. ISBN 0-393-09530-4.
• Slonimsky, Nicolas. The Concise Edition of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 8th edition. Published by Schirmer Books in New York in 1993. ISBN 0-02-872416-X.