Giovanni de Macque e i musici della Real Cappella napoletana. Nuovi documenti, precisazioni biografiche e una fonte musicale ritrovata

This study aims to investigate the Neapolitan years of the French-Flemish composer Jean (Giovanni) de Macque, one of Gesualdo’s “Maestri”, who moved from Rome to the capital of the Spanish Vicereign near the end of 1585, remaining in Naples until his death, on the 22^nd August 1614. The author outlines a more precise ‘Neapolitan’ biography of de Macque, verifying documents well-known, which were published incomplete back in 1957, and studying new ones: starting from the composer’s marriage, D’Alessandro reconstructs de Macque’s family and its main events, like births, marriages and deaths, up to the dictation of the will and his death. At the same time, the examination of the unpublished work by the famous poet, writer and scholar Salvatore Di Gia­como, and the documents of the ancient Neapolitan banks, have allowed a complete reconstruction of the staff of the Cappella Reale – actually viceroyal – during de Macque’s stay there, at first as organist (1594-1599), and then as maestro di cappella (1599-1614). Moreover, the essay put in evidence the relationships between the ‘Palace musicians’ and the cappella musicale of the Annunziata church, the other important coeval musical institution in Naples: de Macque worked there, as organist, from 1590 to 1594. The author makes ample use of the documents of the Annunziata, which are contained in the volumes Appuntamenti and Notamenti (Archivio Storico Municipale di Napoli, Fondo ex real Casa Santa dell’Annunziata). Finally, the study communicates to the scholars the recovery of the Primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci (1586) by de Macque; kept in the Preussische Staatsbibliothek in Berlin until the Second World War, it is presently conserved in the Biblioteka Jagiellońska of Krakow.