What is Adrian Willaert?
[[image:Adrian Willaert.jpg|thumb|Adrian Willaert.]] '''Adrian Willaert''' (pronounce: AH-dree-ahn VIL-art), (born [[Flanders]] about 1490; died [[Venice]], 7 December 1562) was a [[Flanders|Flemish]] [[composer]] in the [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]] period. He was one of the most important composers of his time. He went to [[Italy]] when he was young and spent the rest of his life there. He belonged to the group of composers who lived and worked in [[Venice]] at the time, and who were known as the “Venetian School”. == Life == He may have been born in [[Bruges]] which is now in [[Belgium]], although we are not sure. One of his students, [[Gioseffo Zarlino]], who became a well-known [[music theory|music theorist]], said that Willaert went to Paris first to study [[law]], but then decided to study music. In Paris he met Jean Mouton, the main composer of the French royal chapel, and studied with him. Mouton taught him to write music in the style of [[Josquin]], whose music was very [[polyphonic]] with the voices imitating one another a lot. Sometime around 1515 Willaert first went to Rome. There is a story, which is probably true, that Willaert was surprised to find the [[Pope]]’s choir singing something he had composed. The choir thought it had been composed by Josquin, who was very famous by then. When the young Willaert told them that he himself was the composer, the choir did not believe the young man, and refused to sing it again. In July 1515, Willaert worked for the Cardinal Ippolito I d'Este of Ferrara. Ippolito liked to travel, and he often took Willaert and other musicians with him to places such as [[Hungary]], where he probably spent two years, from 1517 to 1519. When Ippolito died in 1520, Willaert worked for Duke Alfonso d'Este of Ferrara. In 1522 Willaert had a job at the court chapel of Duke Alfonso; he stayed there until 1525. Willaert then got the most important musical job in the whole of [[Europe]] at that time: he became [[maestro di cappella]] (director of music) at the c