Vaet, Jacobus

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Vaet, Jacobus

Vaet, Jacobus, Flemish composer; b. Courtrai or Harelbeke, c. 1529; d. Vienna, Jan. 8, 1567. He was a choirboy in the Church of Notre Dame at Courtrai (1543-46). After his voice changed, he received a scholarship from the church, and entered the Univ. of Lou-vain in 1547. In 1550 he was a tenor in the Flemish Chapel of Charles V, and by Jan. 1,1554, he was listed as Kapellmeister of the chapel of Maximilian, then the nominal King of Bohemia. His position was enhanced when his patron became Emperor Maximilian II. Vaet’s music exhibits a great variety of techniques, ranging in style from those of Josquin des Prez to those of Lassus. The formative influence, however, is mainly that of Nicolas Gombert, with a characteristic florid imitation in contrapuntal parts. See M. Steinhardt, ed., Jacobus Vaet: Sämtliche Werke,Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, XCVIII (1961), C (1962), CIII-CIV (1963), CVIII-CIX (1964), CXIII-CXIV (1965), CXVI (1967), and CXVIII (1968).

Works

9 masses; 8 Magnificats; motets: Modulationes, liber Ifor 5 Voices (Venice, 1562); Modulationes, liber IIfor 5 to 6 Voices (Venice, 1562); Qui operatus est Petrofor 6 Voices (Venice, 1560); other motets publ. in contemporary collections; 8 Salve Reginas; 8 hymns; several other pieces, including 3 chansons.

Bibliography

M. Steinhardt, J. V. and His Motets (East Lansing, Mich., 1951).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire