Peter Philips

This article is about the composer Peter Philips. For other people, see Peter Phillips (disambiguation) .

Peter Philips (also Phillipps , Phillips , Pierre Philippe , Pietro Philippi , Petrus Philippus ; * August 5, 1560 or August 4, 1561 , probably in London ; † 1628 in Brussels ) was an English-born composer , organist, harpsichordist and Catholic priest. He spent most of his life on the European continent (Italy, Flanders) because, as a Catholic in Protestant England in the 16th century, he belonged to a disadvantaged and persecuted minority.

Life

Philips received his first musical training from 1572 to 1578 as a choirboy at St. Paul's Cathedral in London under Sebastian Westcott († 1582). He lived in Westcott's house until Westcott's death and was honored by him in his will.

Because of the difficult situation of the Catholics under Elizabeth I , Peter Philips left England in August 1582 and traveled via Flanders to Rome , where he worked as an organist at the English Jesuit College. He also worked for Alessandro Farnese (1520–1589) for three years . During this time, in February 1585, he made the acquaintance of a co-religionist who lived in exile like him: Thomas, third Baron Paget (c. 1544–1590). Philips entered Paget's service as a musician and they left Rome in March 1585. In the next few years they toured half of Europe and came to Genoa, Madrid, Paris, Brussels and finally to Antwerp, where Philips settled in 1590 after Paget's death.

Philips married in Antwerp and earned his living with harpsichord and virginal lessons. In 1593 he went to Amsterdam to see and hear the Dutch organist Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck . On the way back he was accused by a compatriot of participating in a plot against Queen Elizabeth I and of planning her murder. Philips temporarily had to go to prison in The Hague , where he is said to have written the famous Pavana and Galliarda Dolorosa ( Fitzwilliam Virginal Book No. LXXX and LXXXI). However, he was able to convince the judges of his innocence and was acquitted for lack of evidence.

In 1597 Philips became organist in Brussels at the court of Archduke Albrecht VII of Habsburg and his wife Isabella Clara Eugenia , the governors of the Spanish Netherlands . Philip's colleagues were Peeter Cornet (c. 1575–1633), Vicenzio Guami and the Spaniard Juan Zacarías, as well as the maitre de chapelle Géry de Ghersem and the court organ builder M. Langhedul. In 1603, Philips probably met Francis Tregian the Younger, a Catholic exile who was in Brussels at the time. Tregian was an educated music lover for whom the famous Fitzwilliam Virginal Book was compiled and copied.

Philips is also likely to have met the young Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1643), who came to Brussels in 1607–1608 in the entourage of the papal nuncio Guido Bentivoglio . Philips was also friends with John Bull , who stayed at the Brussels court from 1613–1614 after his escape from England.

After the death of his wife and children, Peter Philips entered the clergy and was ordained a priest (1601 or 1609); subsequently he received a canonical in Soignies (1610) and another in Béthune (1622 or 1623). He died in 1628 and was buried in Brussels.

Peter Philips was quite famous during his lifetime and his music was popular as far as Lisbon and Stockholm . Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568–1625), the so-called 'Samt-Brueghel', painted in his famous allegorical painting "The Hearing" not only a typical Flemish harpsichord and other instruments, but also the notes of a madrigal by " Pietro Philippi, Inglese ".

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Peter Philips was a very fruitful composer, he left about 50 madrigals and hundreds of motets , as well as numerous works for harpsichord, virginal or organ. The various international influences of his life are reflected in his music: the England of his childhood and youth, his stays in Italy and the relatively international atmosphere at the Brussels court.

Keyboard music

27 works for keyboard instruments by Philips have been preserved, 19 of them in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (Pavanen and Galiards, Fantasies, Intabulations ). Among the English virginalists, however, he takes on a special role for the reasons mentioned above: His music is an unusual, but very attractive and aesthetic mixture of English and Italian influences. B. in his version of the Passamezzo Pavana and Galiarda Passamezzo , which in parts imitate a Venetian double choir; the Galiarda also ends with a typical Italian "saltarella". Particularly unusual for an Englishman are his intabulations of Italian madrigals: "Tirsi", "Freno" and "Cosi moriro" by Marenzio , "Chi fara fede al Cielo" by Striggio , the famous "Amarilli" (1603) by Giulio Caccini , and "Fece da voi. À sei." (one of his own madrigals from 1596). There are also some chansons by Orlando di Lasso: "Le Rossignuol" (1595), "Bon Jour mon Cœur" (1602) & "Margott Laborez" (1605).

The earliest known piece by Philips is a Pavana, dated '1580' in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (No. LXXXV) and bearing the note: The first one Phi [lips] made . This piece was very popular, it was arranged by several other composers (Thomas Morley, John Dowland, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck ( Pavana Philippi )). The Pavana Pagget with Galliarda is dated '1590' and was apparently composed as memorial music for the death of Philips patron and travel companion Lord Thomas Paget. The very famous Pavana dolorosa (No. LXXX) is marked " Treg. ": Presumably a dedication to Francis Tregian (see above). This piece is written for a keel instrument with a short octave - the effective deep bass under a chromatic line in the tenor in the third part is otherwise not playable (except for people with unusually huge hands).

Secular vocal music

• Primo Libro de Madrigali a sei voci (1596), for 6 voices
• Second book of madrigals (1598), for 8 voices
• Third book of madrigals (1603), for 6 voices
• Individual works by Philips already appeared in the Melodia Olympica (1591) collection by Pierre Phalèse the Younger (1550–1629) (further editions 1594 and 1611).

Sacred vocal music

• Cantiones sacrae pro praecipuis festis totius anni et commini sanctorum (1612, in Phalèse), for five voices.
• Gemmulae sacrae Binis et Ternis Vocibus cum Basso Continuo Organum (1613).
• 3 trios, in: Salomon De Caus, L'Institution Harmonique (Frankfurt 1616): Les Rossignols spirituels (two and four-part arrangements of popular songs, with sacred texts in Latin and French).
• Deliciae sacrae binis et ternis vocibus cum basso continuo organum (1616).
• Litaniae Lauretanae (1623).
• Paradisus sacris cantionibus consitus, una, duabus et tribus vocibus decantantis (1628); 106 (!) Motets for one to three voices and basso continuo.

literature

• Willi Apel , "Philips", in: History of Organ and Piano Music up to 1700 , publ. and afterword by Siegbert Rampe, Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2004 (originally 1967), pp. 291–294.
• P. Dirksen u. Jean Ferrard, "Introduction" to: Peeter Cornet, Complete Keyboard Music , ed. von dens., Utrecht: Koninklijke Vereeniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis 2001 ( Monumenta Musica Neerlandica 17), p. VII.
• JA Fuller Maitland et al. W. Barclay Squire (ed.), "Introduction" to: The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (revised Dover Edition, 2 vols.), Corrected a. ed. Blanche Winogron, New York: Dover Publications, 1979/1980, Vol. I, pp. VIII-IX.
• Léonardo García-Alarcon, Un tableau et une table de consonances , Genève, 2008. Text on the CD: Motets et Madrigaux , dir. Leonardo García Alarcón - Cappella Mediterranea (2-5 octobre 2007, Ambronay AMY015).
• Susi Jeans & OW Neighbor, "Bull, John", in: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , Vol. 4 (ed. By Stanley Sadie, 2nd ed.), London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001, p. 586.
• David J. Smith, "Philips, Peter", in: Music in past and present , person part , Vol. 13, Kassel et al .: Bärenreiter, 2000, pp. 514-519.
• John Steele, "Philips, Peter", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , Vol. 19 (ed. By Stanley Sadie, 2nd ed.), London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001, pp. 589-594.
• Annedoris Baumann, madrigal and chanson on keyboard instruments: poetic-musical arrangements by Peter Philips , Frankfurt am Main: P. Lang, 2003.

grades

• The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (Revised Dover edition), JA Fuller Maitland and W. Barclay Squire, corr., Ed. And Preface by Blanche Winogron, New York: Dover Publications 1979–1980. SBN 486-21068-5.
• Eight Keyboard Pieces by Peter Philips: A collection of all Philips' known music for keyboard instruments contained in sources other than the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. John Harley (ed.). Stainer & Bell, London 1995.
• Peter Philips: Complete Keyboard Music . Musica Britannica vol. 75, David J Smith (ed.). Stainer & Bell, London 1999.
• Cantiones Sacrae Octonis Vocibus (1613) . Musica Britannica vol. 61. John Steele (ed.). Stainer & Bell, London 1992.
• Select Italian Madrigals . Musica Britannica vol. 29. John Steele (ed.). Stainer & Bell, London 1985.

Web links

• Literature by and about Peter Philips in the catalog of the German National Library
• Sheet music and audio files by Peter Philips in the International Music Score Library Project

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "... to sie and heare an excellent man of his faculties".
2. ↑ In any case, the Pavana is dated 1593.
3. ↑ P. Dirksen u. Jean Ferrard, "Introduction" to: Peeter Cornet, Complete Keyboard Music , ed. von dens., Utrecht: Koninklijke Vereeniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis 2001 ( Monumenta Musica Neerlandica 17), p. VII.
4. ↑ A contact between Philips and Bull is documented for at least 1608-1609, see: Susie Jeans, (OW Neighbor): "Bull, John". In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.):. 2nd ed. Vol. 4. Macmillan Publisher, London 2001, p. 586.
5. ↑ Jan Brueghel the Elder: "The sense of hearing", 65 × 107 cm, Prado, Madrid, no. 1395.
6. ↑ Léonardo García-Alarcon, Un tableau et une table de consonances , Genève, 2008. Text on the CD: Motets et Madrigaux , dir. Leonardo García Alarcón - Cappella Mediterranea (Ambronay AMY015).
7. ↑ The feminine form Saltarella is possibly a typo, more typical would be Saltarello , see: The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (revised Dover Edition, 2 vol.), Ed. by JA Fuller Maitland u. W. Barclay Squire, corrected et al. ed. Blanche Winogron, New York: Dover Publications, 1979/1980, Vol. I, pp. 310-311. However, it occurs in other works as well. See, for example, Siegfried Behrend : Nicolaus Schmal von Lebendorf [Mikuláš Šmal z Lebendorfu]: The best of the lute book 1608. [Dedicated to the owner of the Jaroslav Borsita von Martinic collection ] Collected for guitar, freely edited and edited. Musikverlag Zimmermann, Frankfurt am Main 1981 ( Chorea, Gagliarda, Chorea, Tanz, Curanta, Saltarella, Corrente, Nachtanz, Chorea (dance), Dimmiamore, Chorea, Chorea inharmonica, Intrada, Chorea, Corrente, Tanz, Intrada ).
8. ↑ The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (No. LXXX) incorrectly uses the masculine form "doloros o " - an obvious spelling mistake which, unfortunately, is incomprehensibly repeated over and over again and with absurd stubbornness in literature. It must be made clear here once and for all that the correct title must of course be Pavana dolorosa , just like the associated Galiarda dolorosa .