Philippe de Monte, born in Mechelen in 1521, was one of the most prolific composers of the Renaissance and is particularly known for his madrigals. Between 1554 and 1603, he published 34 books of madrigals with a total of over 1,100 secular pieces, surpassing all his contemporaries.[2][5] While his sacred output, comprising 38 settings of the Mass and some 260 other sacred compositions—including motets and madrigali spirituali—was smaller in number, it nevertheless impressed with its artistic diversity.[2][5]
Monte likely spent his youth as a choirboy and later worked as a singer, teacher, and composer in Italy, including in Naples and Rome.[5] After his return, he served as a music teacher and was associated for a time with the chapel of Philip II of Spain. Monte became famous primarily as Kapellmeister at the Habsburg court in Vienna under Maximilian II, where he took over the direction of the court chapel in 1567 and remained active in Prague after the court's relocation in 1583.[1][2]
His works are characterized by melodic subtleties and relaxed phrasing, with Monte always paying close attention to text intelligibility—a quality that is still audible in contemporary recordings.
The madrigal "Ultimi miei sospiri" by Philippe Verdelot, an important representative of early madrigal music, is considered one of the most beautiful secular works of the 16th century. Verdelot, a pioneer of the madrigal, composed pieces for up to six voices, thus opening up new possibilities for richly contrasting text settings. These techniques influenced the madrigal composition strategies of an entire generation and became the basis for the imitative masses of that era.
Like many composers of his time, Monte divided the mass movements into formal sections. In his "Missa Ultimi miei sospiri," he employed thematic transformations and imitative counterpoint techniques reminiscent of the madrigal. Particularly in works like "Fratres, ego enim accepi," Monte combined diverse texts into an unusual unity, creating artworks that unite biblical and liturgical aspects.