Peeter van der Phaliesen, Latinised as Petrus Phalesius, French versions of name Pierre Phalèse and Pierre de Phaleys[1][2] (c. – c. ) was a Flemish bookseller, printer and publisher. Aside from a number of literary and scientific works, his printing press is mainly known for its publications of music. Phalesius was the principal publisher of music active in the sixteenth-century Low Countries.[3]
Life
Petrus Phalesius was born in Leuven about His original name was Peeter (or Pieter) van der Phaliesen.[4][5] Phalesius started a bookseller business in and soon set up a publishing house.[3]
Phalesius at first outsourced the printing of his books to other printers such as Jacob Bathen, Servaas van Sassen and Reynier Velpen.[1] After obtaining a printing patent in , he established himself as an independent printer in Leuven.[3] By his press was printing his own high-quality output from movable type. In he entered into a partnership with Johannes Bellerus, a printer based in Antwerp, enabling him to reach a wider clientele.[1]
Phalesius died in Leuven in His sons Cornelis (Cornelius) and Petrus Phalesius the Younger continued the family firm. The latter moved the business in to premises in Antwerp. In Antwerp the publishing house flourished into the seventeenth century under the direction of Petrus the Younger's daughters Maria and Magdalena.[4]
Publications
While the Phalesius press published a number of literary and scientific works such as Gemma Frisius' De radio Astronomico & Geometrico liber, it is mainly known for its publications of music. By the Phalesius press had published about music books.[3]
The majority of Phalesius's output is dedicated to sacred music—masses, motets and magnificats—the rest being a mix of French chansons, Italian madrigals, Flemish songs and instrumental works. Vocal and instrumental works are both represented.[3] Because Phalesius put out a number of lute publications during the early years of his activity, some music historians believe that he may himself have played the lute.[8]
Phalesius borrowed from many composers and did not hesitate to include works from collections of other publishers. For instance Phalesius' Een Duytsch musyck boeck (A Dutch music book) of copies no less than half of the songs from Niewe Duytsche Liedekens, met III. IIII. V. VI. ende VIII. partyen (New Dutch songs in 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 parts) published by Jacob Bathen in Maastricht in [9]
Many pieces are by Clemens non Papa and other Flemish composers such as Lassus and Rore, while some of his instrumental pieces are obviously borrowed from the Parisian publishers Le Roy and Ballard. Notable among these is Selectissima in guiterna ludenda carmina (Leuven, ), a collection containing instructions (in Latin) for amateurs wishing to play the guitar, together with pieces for that instrument. In the same year Phalesius published a collection of music for cittern under the title Hortulus cytherae.[4]
Other publications include:
Des chansons reduictz en tabulature de lut a deux, trois et quatre parties … (French and Dutch language songs transcribed for lute), Leuven, [2]
Recueil des fleurs produictes de la divine musique, Leuven,
Canticvm beatæ Mariæ qvod magnificat nvncvpatur, per octo musice modos variatum, Leuven, [5]
Liber Primus Leviorum Carminum (Premier Livre de Danseries), Leuven, [10]
Liber leviorum Carminum, Antwerp,
Een Duytsch musyck boeck (Dutch language songs of various composers including Servaes van der Meulen, Jan van Wintelroy, Clemens non Papa, Jean de Latre, Geert van Turnhout, Adrianus Stockaert, Ludovicus Episcopius, Jan Belle, Lupus Hellinck, Noë Faignient, Theodor Evertz and possibly Joannes Zacheus), Leuven and Antwerp, [11]
Selectissima carmina ludenda in Quinterna, Leuven,
La Fleur des chansons a trois parties, Leuven,
Notes
^ abcSusan Bain and Henri Vanhulst, "Phalèse Family", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell [London: Macmillan Publishers, ]
^ abDes cha(n}sons Reduictz en Tabulature de / LVT A DEVX, TROIS, ET QVATRE PARTIES. / Auec une briefue & familiaire Introduction pour entendre & apprendre par / soy mesmes à iouer dudict Lut, / Liure premier, Phaleys, Louvain,
^ abcdeLeuvense drukken van Petrus Phalesius at Erfgoedcel Leuven (in Dutch)
^ abcAlfons Goovaerts, De muziekdrukkers Phalesius en Bellerus te Leuven en te Antwerpen –, E van Bergen, (in Dutch)
^ abCanticvm beatæ Mariæ qvod magnificat nvncvpatur, per octo musice modos variatum at Flandrica (in Dutch)
^KU Leuven Libraries Special Collections, RC81 (). "Canticvm beatæ Mariæ qvod magnificat nvncvpatur, per octo musice modos variatum., Francisco Guerrero musices apud Hispalensem ecclesiam præfecto authore".: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^"Topstukkendecreet | Departement Cultuur, Jeugd & Media". (in Dutch).
^Robert Lee Weaver, Waelrant and Laet: Music Publishers in Antwerp's Golden Age, Harmonie Park Press,
^Ben J.P. Salemans, Jacob Bathen, printer, publisher and bookseller in Louvain, Maastricht and Düsseldorf c. to c. , in: Quaerendo, Volume Issue
^Premier Livre de Danseries, contenant plusieurs Pavanes, Passomezo, Almandes, Gailliardes, Bransles &c. le tout convenable sur tous instrumens musicalz, nouvellement amasse hors de plusieurs livres, Petrus Phalesius, Leuven,
^Copy of the Duijtsch musijck boeck, co-published in by Petrus Phalesius the Elder in (Leuven) and Johannes Bellerus in Antwerp in the Bavarian State Library
Further reading
Henri Vanhulst, Catalogue des éditions de musique publiées à Louvain par Pierre de Phalèse et ses fils –, Brussels: Académie royale, ISBN&#;
Henri Vanhulst, "Édition comparative des instructions pour le luth, le cistre et la guitare publiées à Louvain par Pierre Phalèse (–)", Revue belge de Musicologie / Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Muziekwetenschap 34–35 (–): 81–