Biography
Macque, a composer of Flemish origin, settled in Italy where his activities centered on the organ and on instruction. In his youth he performed as a singer in Vienna’s royal chapel before pursuing studies under Phillipe de Monte. By 1574 he had already relocated to Rome, where he composed and issued his earliest madrigals. After establishing himself in Naples around 1585, he joined the academy sponsored by Don Fabrizio Gesualdo alongside Scipione, Dentice, Rodio, Stella, and Montella. There he served first as Stella’s assistant organist, later as organist to the Spanish Viceroy’s chapel, and finally, in 1599, as chapel master. His output encompassed madrigals, motets, chansons, ricercares, canzones, and assorted keyboard pieces. The ricercares in particular display his command of contrapuntal technique. Many madrigals follow the formal pattern AA'BCC', while their melodic fabric ranges from bold expressive experiments to passages that juxtapose imitation with homophony. In one of his final collections of motets, Macque explored daring chromaticism, incisive dissonances, and chordal combinations then regarded as unconventional.