Wert, Giaches de (1535–1596)

Flemish composer. He was music director at the ducal court of Mantua from the early 1560s until 1595. He was a prolific composer, and wrote over 150 sacred vocal pieces, but his most celebrated compositions are his madrigals. He published 16 books of madrigals and other secular works, and had a great influence on his successors, especially Monteverdi.

Wert was sent to Italy as a choirboy when a small child, to sing at the court of the Marchese della Padulla at Avellino near Naples. At age nine he entered the service of Count Alfonso Gonzaga as a member of the choir of the Novellara at Reggio. He began to publish madrigals towards the end of the 1550s and about 1560 went into service at the ducal court of Mantua under Guglielmo Gonzaga. He was also attached to the Church of Santa Barbara, where he succeeded Giovanni Contina as maestro di cappella in 1565. In 1566 he accompanied the duke to Augsburg and there declined an offer from the Emperor Maximilian II. In 1567 he visited Venice with the court and later Ferrara under Alfonso (II) d'Este. About that time he suffered much from the intrigues of the Italian musicians, who disliked him as a foreigner, and in 1570 one of them, Agostino Bonvicino, was dismissed for a love affair with Wert's wife. In 1580 he and his family were given the freedom of the city of Mantua in perpetuity.

His madrigals often had high-quality texts, and were declamatory in style and with the three upper voices frequently emphasized; they were written for virtuoso court singers, particularly the concerto delle donne or ‘singing ladies’ of Ferrara.

Works Vocal motets, 11 books of madrigals for five voices (1558–95), one for four voices, canzonets, villanelle.