Jacquet de Berchem

Jacquet de Berchem (also known as Giachet(to) Berchem or Jakob van Berchem; c. 1505 – before 2 March 1567) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance, active in Italy. He was famous in mid-16th-century Italy for his madrigals, approximately 200 of which were printed in Venice, some in multiple printings due to their considerable popularity. As evidence of his widespread fame, he is listed by Rabelais in Gargantua and Pantagruel as one of the most famous musicians of the time, and the printed music for one of his madrigals appears in a painting by Caravaggio (The Lute Player).

Berchem was born around 1505 in Berchem (now part of Antwerp), in the southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). No archival records have yet been found covering his early life; the first mention of him dates from 1539, by which time he had come to Venice, as did so many of his musical compatriots from the Low Countries. By 1538 or 1539 his madrigals were being published in Venice, largely by Antonio Gardano. Between then and 1546 he lived in Venice, steadily increasing in reputation, and in 1546 he published his first book of madrigals; previously his works had been in collections consisting mostly of music by others (for example, Jacques Arcadelt, whose first book of madrigals for four voices, published in 1539, included some music by Berchem). He most likely was a student of fellow Netherlander Adrian Willaert, the founder of the Venetian School and one of the most famous musicians of the time, and through Willaert met other musicians and nobility; to some of these aristocrats, including a future Doge of Venice (Marcantonio Trevisan, Doge in 1553–54, and also a patron of the arts), he dedicated some of his music.

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