1561 in music explained

Events

• May – Luzzasco Luzzaschi is appointed assistant organist at the Este court in Ferrara.^[1]
• 20 December – Virtuoso bass-tenor Alessandro Merlo joins the Cappella Sistina in Rome^[2]
• date unknown –
  • Rodrigo de Ceballos succeeds Bernardino de Figueroa as maestro de capilla at the Royal Chapel of Granada.
  • Philibert Jambe de Fer sues the Lyonnais printer Jean d'Ogerelles for failing to give his name on the title page of a volume of his psalm settings.^[3]

Publications

• Il terzo libro della muse, a collection of secular music
• Jacques Arcadelt – French: Quatorsième livre de chansons (Paris: Le Roy & Ballard)
• Jacquet de Berchem – Italian: Primo Secundo e Terzo Libro del Cappricio for four voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano), a madrigal cycle setting stanzas of Orlando Furioso, and the first musical work to be titled "Cappricio"
• Ippolito Chamaterò – First book of madrigals for four voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Ippolito Ciera – First book of madrigals for five voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Nicolao Dorati – Third book of madrigals for five voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Jacquet of Mantua
  • First book of Italian: messe del fiore for five voices (Venice: Girolamo Scotto), published posthumously
  • Second book of Italian: messe del fiore for five voices (Venice: Girolamo Scotto), published posthumously
• Jacobus de Kerle
  • Latin: Liber psalmorum ad vesperas (Book of Vespers Psalms) for four voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
  • First book of Magnificats for four voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Gerardus Mes – Dutch; Flemish: Souter liedekens (Antwerp: Tielman Susato), a collection of psalms
• Jan Nasco – Lamentations for four voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Christoph Praetorius – Latin: Melodia epithalamii for five voices (Wittenberg), a wedding motet

Births

• January 24 – Camillo Cortellini, Italian composer, singer, and violinist (d. 1630)
• July 17 – Jacopo Corsi, Italian composer and patron of the arts (d. 1602)
• August – Sebastian Aguilera de Heredia, Spanish monk, organist and composer (d. 1627)
• August 20 – Jacopo Peri, Italian singer and composer of early opera (d. 1633)^[4]
• date unknown – Juan Blas de Castro, Spanish singer, musician, and composer (d. 1631)
• probable
  • Elias Mertel, German lutenist, composer and intabulator (d. 1626)
  • Peter Philips (c.1560/1561), eminent English composer, organist, and Catholic priest, the most published English composer in his time (d. 1628).
  • Philippe Rogier, Franco-Flemish composer at the Spanish court (d. 1596).

Deaths

• February 15 – Cornelius Canis, Franco-Flemish composer, singer, and choir director (b. c. 1500/1510)
• date unknown – Jan Nasco, Franco-Flemish composer and writer on music (b. c. 1510)
• probable
  • Louis Bourgeois, French composer, famous for his Protestant hymn tunes (b. c. 1510)
  • Ippolito Ciera, Italian composer
  • Luis de Milán, Spanish Renaissance composer, vihuelist and writer on music (b. c. 1500)
  • Hendrik Niehoff, Dutch pipe organ builder (b. 1495)

Notes and References

1. Edmond Strainchamps, "Luzzaschi, Luzzasco", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
2. Richard Sherr, "Merlo, Alessandro [Alexander]", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
3. Howard Mayer Brown, "Jambe de Fer, Philibert", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
4. Web site: Jacopo Peri Italian composer . Encyclopedia Britannica . 7 May 2019 . en.