Jacob Arcadelt (c. 1505-1568); FRA

Jacques Arcadelt (c. 1507–1568) was a Franco-Flemish composer whose career unfolded principally in Italy and France and who became one of the most influential masters of the early madrigal. Probably born in the region of Liège or Namur, he was active in Florence by the late 1520s, where he worked in an environment shaped by the Medici court and by the rapid development of Italian secular song. By the 1530s he had moved to Rome and later became a singer in the papal chapel, serving during the pontificates of Paul III and Julius III. Around the middle of the century Arcadelt left Italy for France, where he entered the service of Cardinal Charles de Lorraine and was associated with the French royal court. His music circulated exceptionally widely in print, bringing him an international reputation during his lifetime and long afterward.

Arcadelt composed masses, motets, chansons, and other vocal music, but his lasting importance rests above all on his madrigals. His First Book of Madrigals for Four Voices, first published in 1539, became one of the most frequently reprinted music collections of the sixteenth century. Arcadelt's madrigals generally favor clear declamation, balanced phrases, graceful melody, and a relatively transparent texture, qualities that helped establish the early madrigal as a sophisticated yet immediately expressive form. Among his best-known pieces is Il bianco e dolce cigno, whose elegant setting of a poem by Giovanni Guidiccioni became an enduring model of the genre. His French chansons similarly combine melodic directness with polished contrapuntal writing. By joining Franco-Flemish contrapuntal technique with the expressive clarity of Italian secular music, Arcadelt helped shape a style that influenced madrigal composers throughout Europe for much of the sixteenth century.

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Read biography at allmusic.com.