Arcadelt, Jacob (EN)

Arcadelt, Arcadet, Arcadente, Archadet, Archadelt, Harcadelt, Harchadelt, Jacob, Jacobus, Giaches, Jacques, Jachet, *circa 1500, †14 Octobwer1568 Paris, composer of French or Flemish origin. He was identified with a singer called Jacobus Flandrus, active in the Roman Cappella Giulia in 1539, but no sources confirm this hypothesis. He was probably a student of Josquin des Prés and Ph. Verdelot. In 1530, he was active in Florence; he left it briefly due to political unrest; perhaps he went with a group of other artists to Lyon. In the anthology of motets Secundus liber cum quatuor vocibus motteti del fiore published there by J. Moderne (1532), there were three pieces by Arcadelt. After the restoration of the Medici dynasty (1532), Arcadelt returned to Florence. From this period, there are, among others, madrigals: Vero inferno to texts by Lorenzo de Medici and Deh dimmi amor and Io dico che fra noi to texts by Michelangelo. After the death of Alessandro de Medici (1537), Arcadelt probably settled in Venice. Here, in 1539, four books of his 4-voice madrigals were published by A. Gardan and G. Scott. In December 1540, Arcadelt became a member of the papal chapel, recorded as Jacobus Arcadelt. From that moment, the Sistine diaries allow us to trace his activities until January 1550. Already as a canon at the church of St-Barthélemy in Liège, in 1545 he received two benefices in Liège from Pope Paul III (St-Barthélemy and St-Pierre). In 1546, he obtained “permission to go to his homeland” (to France? to Liège?), and in 1547, he returned to Rome from France. In 1551, there was no information about his stay in Rome. He probably moved to France, because there, from 1553, Arcadelt’s works began to be systematically published in chansons anthologies. In a collection of masses published in 1557 by the firm of A. Le Roy et R. Ballard, Arcadelt is described as maistre de chapelle of Cardinal Charles de Lorraine and musicien du roy; indeed, in 1554–62, his name appeared in the accounts of the chapel of the King of France. During this period, Arcadelt received new benefices: canons in Paris at St-Germain de l’Auxerrois and Notre-Dame, and canons in Reims.

Publications of madrigals with Arcadelt’s name in the title are actually collective publications, but with the majority of his works. Individual reissues differ slightly in terms of the title page and the set of works by Arcadelt and other authors. The first known edition of the first book of 4-voice madrigals from 1539 is actually the second edition, referred to in the dedication as “seconda impressione.” Chansons were initially published by P. Attaingnant and N. Du Chemin in Paris and J. Moderne in Lyon. After Attaingnant’s death (1551), Arcadelt became involved with the company A. Le Roy et R. Ballard, which published his works from 1553. From 1561, the name of Arcadelt appeared on the title pages of the chansons anthology as the most important, most numerously represented in the collections and probably the most attractive composer. Reissues of these anthologies appeared almost until the end of the 16^th century. Arcadelt’s works were preserved mainly in collections published by the following companies: Moderne, Attaingnant, Rubens, Gardano, Scotto, Rampazetto, Du Chemin, Le Roy et Ballard, Rigaud, Phalese, Schöffer, Kriesstein, Du Bose e Guéroult, Montanus et Neuber and others, and part of it still remains in manuscripts.

The main area of Arcadelt’s work is secular music, especially madrigals and chansons. As a creator of madrigals, Arcadelt is considered one of the earliest and most prolific masters of this form in the 16^th century (along with C. Festa and Ph. Verdelot). His first book of 4-voice madrigals gained him enormous popularity among his contemporaries, with an impressive number of 54 editions between 1539 and 1654. Arcadelt mostly wrote madrigals in 4 voices. They are characterised by transparency of form (which brings them closer to frottolas), fluidity of the melodic line, accurate adaptation of the music to the text and harmonic simplicity resulting from the preference for diatonic music. Arcadelt’s chansons were also very popular. Most of them are 4-voice dance pieces to texts by Virgil, Martialis and Horace. They exhibit features considered today to be characteristic of this genre: particle repetitions, changes in metre from duple to tripartite, the use of motifs based on repeated sound, and a mostly chordal texture, although the leading of the voices is slightly more independent than in madrigals. Imitations and canon were used by Arcadelt sporadically.

Religious music reflected the technical achievements in the field of secular music. Of the three masses, two are of the missa parody type: Missa Noe Noe based on a motet by J. Mouton and Missa Ave Regina based on a motet by P. de Silva. The third, the Marian Missa de Beata Virgine, is the original mass. Motets, usually in 4 voices, are usually in an imitated technique, sometimes using the canon. To sum up, Arcadelt’s work is characterised by the following features: a preference for 4-voice, smooth and easy-to-sing melody, clear phrasing, reliance on diatonic music and the resulting uncomplicated harmony. However, Arcadelt treats dissonances more freely than Palestrina. Using basically simple means, Arcadelt developed his own style that characterises all his work, both secular and religious.

Literature: R. Eitner J. Arcadelt, “Monatshefte für Musikgeschichte” XIX, 1887; A. Einstein The Italian Madrigal, Princeton 1949; E. Lovinsky A Newly Discovered Sixteenth Century Motet Manuscript at the Biblioteca Vallicelliana in Rome, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” III, 1950; W. Frey Michelagniolo und die Komponisten seiner Madrigale, “Acta Musicologica” XXIV, 1953; G. Reese Music in the Renaissance, New York 1954; W. Kurthen Ave Maria von J. Arcadelt, “Musica sacra” LXXVIII, 1958; F. Lesure Arcadelt est mort en 1568, “Revue de Musicologie” XLVII, 1961; A. Seay Arcadelt und Michelangelo, “Renaissance News” XVIII, 1965; R. van Haarlem The “Missa de beata Virgine” by Josquin Used as a Model for the Mass of the Same Name by Arcadelt, “Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muzieksechiedenis” XXV, 1975; Th.W Bridges The Publishing of Arcadelt’s First Book of Madrigals, dissertation, Harvard University 1982; D. Harrán Stories from the Hebrew Bible in Music of the Renaissance, “Musica Disciplina” XXXVII, 1983; R.J. Agee Ruberto Strozzi and the Early Madrigal, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” XXXVI, 1985; J. Haar Toward a Chronology of the Madrigals of Arcadelt, “Journal of Musicology” V, 1987; B.V. Rivera The Two-Voice Framework and its Harmonization in Arcadelt’s First Book of Madrigals, “Music Analysis” VI, 1987; L. Lera J. Arcadelt Orizzonte culturale e modelli stilistici di un padre del madrigale, in: Le origini del madrigale, published by L. Zoppelli, Asola 1990; P. Moret J. Arcadelt musicien namurois (1507–1568), “Bulletin de la Société Liégeoise de Musicologie” 1993 No. 83.