Born in Arras, Philippe Rogier was recruited as a boy to serve as a chorister in the capilla flamenca (Flemish Chapel) of Philip II of Spain. Ordained priest, in 1586 he was appointed maestro di capilla.
Sacred Music
Much of Rogier’s work is lost. There survive only a few Mass settings and motets from an extensive list of works in the library of John IV of Portugal, which was destroyed in the Lisbon earthquake, while works had earlier been lost in the Madrid Alcazar fire of 1734. His compositions, highly esteemed in his own time, belong to the Franco-Flemish tradition of Gombert.