Johannes de Cleve (c. 1529 – 14 July 1582) was a composer active at the court of Ferdinand I and Charles II. He was presumably born in the

Duchy of Cleves The Duchy of Cleves (; ) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire which emerged from the medieval . It was situated in the northern Rhineland on both sides of the Lower Rhine, around its capital Cleves and the towns of Wesel, Kalkar, Xanten, Emme ...

, and recruited into the court as a choirboy in the same way as

Lassus Orlando di Lasso ( various other names; probably – 14 June 1594) was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with William Byrd, Giovanni Pierlu ...

and many others.New Oxford history of music: Vol4 The Age of Humanism, 1540-1630 ed. Jack Allan Westrup - 1990 JOHANNES DE CLEVE "Of the same age as Vaet was Johannes de Cleve..." He was originally a singer in Ferdinand's chapel in Vienna, but when Charles II organized a new chapel in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

in 1564, he appointed de Cleve as the first

Kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

in Graz.

Works

* Laudatory and occasional Latin motets for the Habsburg court. * 'Missa rex Babylonis venit ad lacum.'

References

1520s births 1582 deaths Renaissance composers Male classical composers Musicians from the Holy Roman Empire {{Netherlands-composer-stub