Arcadelt, Jacob, approximately 1505-1568

Jacob Arcadelt, also Jacques Arcadelt, was born on August 10, 1507, in Namur, Belgium.

He was a Franco-Flemish singer and composer of the Renaissance, active in both Italy and France and principally known as a composer of secular vocal music. He moved to Italy as a young man and was present in Florence by the late 1520s. In 1539, he most likely became a member of the Julian Chapel. After a few months there, he became a member of the Sistine Chapel, where he was appointed magister puerorum. Although he also wrote sacred vocal music, he was one of the most famous composers of madrigals. In addition to his work as a madrigalist and distinguishing him from the other prominent early composers of madrigals – Philippe Verdelot and Costanzo Festa – he was equally prolific and adept at composing chansons, particularly late in his career when he lived in Paris. Arcadelt was the most influential member of the early phase of madrigal composition, the "classic" phase; it was through Arcadelt's publications that the madrigal became known outside of Italy. Later composers considered Arcadelt's style to represent an ideal. Later reprints of his first madrigal book were often used for teaching, with reprints appearing more than a century after its original publication.

He died on October 14, 1568, in Paris, France.