Philippe de MonteArticle Free Pass Philippe de Monte, also known
as Philippus de Monte and Filippo di Monte (born 1521, Mechelen,
Flanders [now in Belgium]—died July 4, 1603, Prague, Bohemia
[now in Czech Republic]), one of the most active composers of
the Netherlandish, or Flemish, school that dominated Renaissance
music; he is especially known for his sacred music and for his
madrigals. Like many Netherlandish composers at the time, Monte
journeyed to Italy to pursue his career. He spent his early
adulthood as a music instructor in the employ of a wealthy
family in Naples. By 1554, the year his first book of madrigals
saw publication, he had returned to the Low Countries. Monte
then visited England in 1554–55 as a singer in the chapel of
Philip II of Spain (the consort of Queen Mary I), and while
there he befriended the adolescent William Byrd. He eventually
moved back to Italy, where he lived in peripatetic fashion as a
teacher and composer. Monte was in Rome in 1568 when he became
musical director to the