Turnhout, Gérard de (van)

Turnhout, Gérard de (van), Flemish composer; b. Turnhout, c. 1520; d. Madrid, Sept. 15, 1580. He began his career at Antwerp Cathedral and at the church of St. Gommaire of Lierre, where he was made maître de chapelle in 1559. He took Holy Orders, and was made music master of the Confrérie de la Vierge at Antwerp Cathedral in 1562, and then maître de chant there in 1563; in 1571 he was named maestro de capilla to the court of Philip II of Spain in Madrid. He publ. Sacrarum ac aliarum cantionum trium vocum (Louvain, 1569); his Missa O Maria vernans rosafor 5 Voices was included in Praestantissimorum divinae musices auctorum missae decem (Louvain, 1570), 3 Latin works and 10 chansons in Liber musicus (Louvain, 1571), 4 Dutch songs in Een duytsch Musyck Boeck (Louvain, 1572; ed. by F. Van Duyse, Vereeniging voor Nederlandsche Muziekgeschiedenis, XXVI, 1903), 4 French sacred works and other pieces in Premier livre du meslange des pseaumes et cantiques (Geneva, 1577), and a French sacred work and other pieces in Second livre du meslange des pseaumes et catiques (Geneva, 1577). See L. Wagner, ed., Gérard de Turnhout, Sacred and Secular Songs for Three Voices (Madison, Wise, 1970). His brother, Jan-Jacob van (Jean-Jacque de) Turnhout (b. probably in Brussels, c. 1545; d. probably there, after 1618), was also a composer. He was maître de chapelle at St. Rombaut in Mechelen (1577-80?), and maître de chapelle to Alexander Farnese, governor general of the Low Countries, by 1586. In 1611 he served with Géry Ghersem as maître de chapelle for the funeral of Archduchess Margaret of Austria. He publ. Il primo libro de madrigalifor 6 Voices (Antwerp, 1589) and Sacrarum cantionumfor 5 to 6 and 8 Voices ...liber primus (Douai, 1594).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire