he returned to Mantua and for many years passed some of his time at
that court and some at Ferrara. For example, we learn that in 1497 the
Cardinal d'Este promised the Marchioness of Mantua that she should have
some new compositions by Tromboncino. Yet in 1499 he was sent with other
musicians of the suite of the Gonzagas to Vincenza to sing a vesper
service in some church. It appears that Tromboncino was not only a
composer, but an instrumental musician and a singer.

These fragmentary references to the activities of Tromboncino at the
court of Mantua are indeed unsatisfactory, but they are about all that
are within our reach. That he was born at Verona and that he was one of
the most popular composers of the latter end of the fifteenth and the
beginning of the sixteenth century and that his special field of art was
the frottola are almost the sum total of the story of his career. We
know that he wrote two sacred songs in the frottola style, nine
"Lamentations" and one "Benedictus" for three voices. Petrucci's nine
books of frottole (Venice, 1509) contain all of Tromboncino's.

Carlo Delaunasy, a singer in the service of Isabella, Marchioness of
Mantua in 1499, and Marco Carra, director of music to the Marquis in
1503, 1514 and 1525, are among the names unearthed from the archives of
Mantua by their keeper at the request of Mr. Vander Straeten. These
papers contained the names of a few other singers, players and
directors, but their inadequacy was demonstrated by the fact that they
contained no mention of Jacques de Wert, a composer of great activity
and talent, to whom Vander Straeten devotes some fifteen pages of his
exhaustive work.

De Wert was born in Flanders near the end of the first half of the
sixteenth century. While yet a child he was a choir boy in the service
of Maria de Cardona, Marchesa della Padulla. Subsequently he entered the
service of Count Alfonso of Novellara and in 1558 he published a book of
madrigals which attracted widespread attention. Ten years later we find
him at the court of Mantua, where his happiness was destroyed by the
conduct of his wife. He appealed for aid to the Duke of Ferrara and the
result appears to have been a dual service, for while he remained at
Mantua he wrote much for the other court. His distinguished "Concerto
Maggiore" for fifty-seven singers was written for some state festival.

His service at Ferrara, whither he often went, enticed him into a
relationship with Tar