English Translation

For reasons of prestige, a musician could not close his call to the first court of the West. And since the monarchs themselves were gifted with art, as knowledge and intellectual culture spread around them, they soon tried to commit the first musicians of Europe. Rudolf's second court chapel became a focal point of secular music. There is probably at that time no musician of reputation who would not have reached an offer from Vienna and Prague: we know that already in 1567 a Count Arco on behalf of Emperor Maximilian II with Giovanni Pierlugi da Palestrina, the first musician of Europe, the prince of Catholic church music, the then Kapellmeister at the church of St. Maria Maggiore to Rome was negotiating for a job at the court. Palestrina, however, demanded more than the emperor was willing to pay. At the same time, the court had established relations with Philipp de Monte, who lived in Naples, which eventually led to a treaty in 1568. Monte was then one of the leaders of Dutch music, which dominated alongside Italian music. Born in Mecheln in 1521, he grew up in the great tradition of the multi-voiced choral style, which he soon dominated as one of the first masters of his time. For some time he was a member of the English court chapel, then went to Naples. In Italy he willingly received the inspirations of the modern Madrigal style, thus turning into an artist who was able to shape the spiritual and the secular tones with the same superiority. Since 1568 he held the leading position in the Prague court chapel, which he developed into ever greater splendor after Rudolf the Second ascended to the throne. He received 30 guilders a month as "Obrister Kapellmeister" and a "yearly dress", which, however, resulted in occasional fees for delivered compositions as well as for payment of debts. He not only had to conduct the Hofkapelle for this, work on their personnel questions, provide young people with the necessary literature for the programmes of the performance. He was also given full physical and mental care over the 14 to 17 Kapell- Sängerknaben, which he had to accommodate, dress and feed. For this he was paid about 1400 guilders each year. He was sent on trips as well. Thus he had to visit his Dutch homeland repeatedly, soon "for the performance of several singers and boys", soon "to bring a virgin from Mecheln out of Niderlandt, who can beat excellently well on the Virginal, and otherwise also sing and play music." The Virginal was the most popular form of harpsichord in England and the Netherlands at the time, a precursor to our piano: it was therefore the obligation of a pianist to be heard at Hof. We are unfortunately unknown whether Monte brought the talented woman of the country to Prague. He himself remained until his death (4th century). During these 35 years some of his most important works have been created, especially at the religious Mass "Benedicta es" and several four- and five-part Masses: at secular Masses "La Fiammetta", "Il pastor fido", and the Sonnet of Ronsard, all five- to seven-part. Rafael Sadeler engraved the image of the 73-year-old Monte in copper in 1594; with the pointedly cut chin beard, the magistral-strict expression of nose, eyes and forehead, he reminds something of his younger Saxon contemporaries Heinrich Schütz. In the picture he wears the skirt, Lower German skins, engulfed in Slavic or Hungarian manners, mentally committed to the Italian madrigal, set to music in Prague, Italian, Latin and French texts, he embodies the concept of an adaptable universalism, which also lives up to the spirit of the time in the abundance and manifoldness of the work. The Hofkapelle had an average number of 44 singing members at the time. Besides the eight bassists, six tenorists, nine altoists and three discantists, 16 boys sang; next to the Supreme Kapellmeister there was a vice-chapel master and three organists.