The Lost Voices Project

Companion resource to Les livres de Chansons Nouvelles de Nicolas Du Chemin (1549–1568), hosted by the Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance in Tours, France

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Arcadelt, Jacques (Harcadelt, Arcadet)

c. 1507–1568

Jacques Arcadelt (c. 1507-1568) was a Franco-Flemish composer active in Florence, Rome, and Paris. He returned to France in 1551, and by 1552 was in the service of Cardinal Chalres de Lorraine, an important figure at the French court. A book of Masses by Arcadelt issued in 1557 calls him ‘regius musicus’. The appearance in Du Chemin’s chansons nouvelles of many pieces by Arcadelt (various called “Arcadet”, “Harcadelt”) anticipate the growing prominence of his music. Arcadelt’s chansons dominate the early secular imprints of Le Roy et Ballard. James Haar, “Arcadelt, Jacques,” New Grove 2, I, 843-48