Lodewijk de Bisschop, latinised as Ludovicus Episcopius (c. 1520 in

Mechelen Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...

– 29 April 1595 in

Straubing Straubing () is an independent city in Lower Bavaria, southern Germany. It is seat of the district of Straubing-Bogen. Annually in August the Gäubodenvolksfest, the second largest fair in Bavaria, is held. The city is located on the Danube f ...

) was a Flemish Roman Catholic priest and composer of the late Renaissance and one of the first to compose secular songs in the

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. '' Afrikaan ...

.Ludovicus Episcopius
at Stichting Maastrichtse Componisten Episcopius on the web site of Muziekcentrum Vlaanderen VZW

Life

Episcopius was born in Mechelen around 1520 as the son of Antonius de Bisschop. His father was the sexton and singer of the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-over-de-Dijle church in Mechelen. His received his musical training at the St. Rumbolds Cathedral in Mechelen. The

choirmaster A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...

of the Cathedral was Theo Verelst, who was also the teacher of Philippus de Monte and

Cypriano de Rore Cipriano de Rore (occasionally Cypriano) (1515 or 1516 – between 11 and 20 September 1565) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance, active in Italy. Not only was he a central representative of the generation of Franco-Flemish composer ...

. Episcopius studied from 1538 to 1541 at the University of Leuven and became a priest. From 1545 to 1565 and from 1577 to 1585, he was choirmaster at the Basilica of

Saint Servatius Saint Servatius ( nl, Sint Servaas; french: Saint Servais; li, Sintervaos; hy, Սուրբ Սերվատիոս ''Surb Servatios'') (born in Armenia, died in Maastricht, traditionally on 13 May 384) was bishop of Tongeren —Latin: ''Atuatuca ...

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

. He was replaced by Jean de Chaynée. When his successor de Chaynée was assassinated, Episcopius was reinstated in his former position. Around 1582, he moved from the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

where in 1584 he became a singer in the choir that was led by

Orlando di Lasso Orlande de Lassus ( 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 Giovanni Pierluigi da Palest ...

. He retired in 1591 and became a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

in Straubing.

Work

Only a few of Episcopius' works survive. These include the ''Missa super 'si mon service a merite' '', four

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Marga ...

s, a

Salve regina The "Salve Regina" (, ; meaning 'Hail Queen'), also known as the "Hail Holy Queen", is a Marian hymn and one of four Marian antiphons sung at different seasons within the Christian liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church. The Salve Regina ...

and 12

songs. The Dutch language songs are mainly contained in two

anthologies In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically catego ...

published in the 16th century: , published in 1554 in Maastricht by Jacob Bathen and , jointly published in 1572 by

Petrus Phalesius the Elder Peeter van der Phaliesen, Latinised as Petrus Phalesius, French versions of name Pierre Phalèse and Pierre de PhaleysSusan Bain and Henri Vanhulst, "Phalèse Family", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by S ...

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. Th ...

and

Johannes Bellerus Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, '' Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Ye ...

in Antwerp. Some songs have been preserved in

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced ...

. Of the 8 songs from Bathen's edition, of which no complete copy has survived, some were reedited by Phalesius and Bellerus in their anthology (of which a complete copy survives), which contains, among works by other composers, 7 songs by Episcopius, the highest number of his works in any publication. The Dutch language songs are: # (A beer, a pap of beer) # (I feel hurt inside) # (I say farewell, the two of us, we must part) # (I would study in a corner) # (I would study in a corner, published by Phalesius, a revised version of the previous composition) # (Abandon all imagination) # (Princess, whom I like to watch) # (Princess, whom I like to watch, a version of the previous composition likely revised by Ludovicus Episcopius himself for the #)Jan Willem Bonda, #, Uitgeverij Verloren, 1996, p. 145-146 # (Susanna bathed in a fountain, after ''Susanne un jour'' from composer

Didier Lupi Second Didier Lupi Second (c.1520-after 1559) was a French composer, likely of Italian origin, based in Lyons. In 1548 he published ''Chansons Spirituelles'' with the poet Guéroult, the first such important publication of its kind by a Protestant. It incl ...

) # (my heart enjoys in pleasure and virtue)Florimond van Duyse, #
F. Müller, 1903. A modern version of using contemporary annotation

Discography

Some of Episcopius' songs have been recorded a few times. An incomplete discography is to be found o
medieval.org

Life

Work

Discography

References

Further reading