Phalèse Pierre I, Petrus Phalesius, actually P. van der Phaliesen, *ca. 1505–10 Leuven, †ca. 1573–76 Leuven, Belgian music publisher. He received a thorough education, knew Latin, French and German. In 1542, he became a bookseller at the University of Leuven. In 1545, he began his editorial work by publishing numerous scientific and pedagogical books, five lute tablatures with transcriptions of chansons, which he printed with M. de Raymaker (Rotarius), J. Baethen, S. van Sassen and R. Velpen. In 1547, he received a three-year printing privilege and in 1551, permission to open his own printing house. From 1554, all music prints were signed with his name. In 1554–56, he published eight volumes of Cantionum sacrarum vulgo motet vocant 5–8 vocum, in 1561 Cantuale iuxta usum insignis ecclesiae Amstelredamensis – his only work pressed using the single-print technique with a Gothic plain font. He published ten volumes of masses by Clemens non Papa (1556–60), he began printing French lute tablatures in 1563, he published Luculentum theatrum musicum in 1568, containing 142 pieces by, among others, J. Arcadelt, Clemens non Papa, Th. Crecquillon, N. Gombert, J. Obrecht, Orlando di Lasso, and A. Willaert. He also made reprints of the Parisian publishing houses Le Roy and Ballard. On 19 July 1570, he took an examination at the Antwerp printers’ guild; he received the title of “expert en l’art d’imprimer musique” and formed a partnership with the Antwerp publisher and printer Jean Bellère (*1526, †15 October 1595), although both publishing houses remained in their cities. The joint publishing house published only music prints, mainly works by composers of the Flemish school (E. Andriaenssen, J. de Castro, Clemens non Papa, N. Gombert, Orlando di Lasso, J. Obrecht, A. Willaert, and J.P. Sweelinck). Their first joint work was Praestantissimorum divinae musices auctorum missae decem 4, 5 et 6 vocum. Phalèse’s publications were distinguished by their beautiful graphic design, rich ornamentation, excellent font and good quality paper.
After Phalèse’s death and the brief activity of his son Corneille, who published, among other things, a reprint of the Munich edition of Patrocinium musices, pars 1 by Orlando di Lasso, the company was taken over by his younger son Pierre II (*ca. 1545 Leuven, †13 March 1629 Antwerp). His first publication was Patrocinium musices, pars 2–4 by Orlando di Lasso (1577–78). In 1581, he moved the company to Antwerp, was accepted by Gilde de Saint Luc, and from then on, the publishing house bore the name Pierre Phalèse et Jean Bellère. In 1583–91, the company published four collections of Italian madrigals (reissued several times until 1634): Harmonia celeste, Musica divina, Symphonia angelica and Melodia olympica, as well as books of madrigals by individual Italian composers (A. Agazzari, F. Anerio, G. Croce, G. Frescobaldi, L. Marenzio, C. Monteverdi, B. Pallavicino, S. Rossi, and O. Vecchi). Italian music was popularised in this way, but editions by Dutch composers were not neglected. From 1596, Phalèse the Younger conducted an active publishing activity himself, initially dominated by secular music but over time, religious music gained the upper hand; he published, among others, Florilegium sacrarum cantionum quinque vocum (1609), containing 66 motets by contemporary composers of various nationalities. He was a true music connoisseur, which is evident in the arrangement of the anthologies he published. He gained the reputation of the most excellent and most productive Dutch printer, both due to the quality and variety of his prints and the size of the print runs. After his death, until 1674, the Haeredes Petri Phalesi company was run successively by his daughters: Magdalena (baptised 25 July 1586 Antwerp, † 30 May 1652 Antwerp) and Maria (baptised 10 December 1589 Antwerp, † ca. 1674 Antwerp). Both published around 90 prints in 1629–74, containing masses, motets and madrigals, mainly by Italian composers, including many reprints from Venetian publishing houses: Gardano, Vincenti and Magni. In the last 20 years of its existence, due to a decline in production, the company lost some of its importance, but for 125 years, it was the leading music publishing house in the Netherlands and one of the leading in Europe. It printed around 190 individual works and 170 collective works, including works by all the outstanding Dutch, French and Italian composers.
Literature: A. Goovaerts Notice biographique et bibliographique sur Pierre Phalèse, Brussels 1869; A. Goovaerts Histoire et bibliographie de la typographie musicale dans les Pays-Bas, Antwerp 1880, reprint Hilversum 1963; H. Vanhulst Catalogue des éditions de musique publiées à Louvain par Pierre de Phalèse et ses fils 1545–1578, Brussels 1990; N. Gabrils Eugeen Schreurs, I. Bossuyt Petrus Phalesius en het stedelijk muziekleven in de Vlaamse Renaissancestad Leuven, Leuven 2005.
