A boy chorister at the Cathedral of St Rombout in Mechelen, Philippe de Monte made his early career in Italy. He served in the household of Philip II of Spain, at the latter’s marriage to Queen Mary of England, and was later in the service of the Emperor Maximilian II in Vienna and in Prague.
Sacred and Secular Music
De Monte wrote some 40 Mass settings and a quantity of motets and liturgical compositions. These are outnumbered by over 1,100 secular madrigals, which were issued in a series of 34 books (the first in Rome in 1554 and the last in 1603).