- Source: Guilielmus Messaus
Guilielmus Messaus (or Messaulx, Missau) (bapt. 2 July 1589 – 8 March 1640) was a Flemish composer who lived in the city of Antwerp.
Life and career
Guilielmus Messaus was born in Antwerp in 1589, and was baptised there on 2 July 1589. Between 1609 and 1610 he was a sacristan of the Church of Sint-Joris and in 1613 he became a schoolmaster and sacristan at St Willibrordus, Antwerp. In 1613 or 1614 he married Magdalena de Masereth with whom he had five children. His son Guilielmus was later a tenor for several years at Sint-Joris beginning in the year 1649.
From 1614 to 1618 Messaus was also a teacher at St Walburgis and St Andries, but was dismissed for bad behaviour. From before 1620 he was a singer and a choir-master at St Walburgis, a post he held until his death. In 1620 he was temporarily suspended due to refusing to perform a plainchant mass instead of a polyphonic one for the burial of a child. After the death of his first wife he married Clara Loycx in 1639. He died not long after on 8 March 1640 in Antwerp.
Messaus composed at least 14 masses, 57 motets, Dutch hymns, a canon and 3 secular songs in Dutch. He is now remembered mostly as a very productive musical arranger of cantiones natalitiae (Christmas songs), which were very popular in the Low Countries. He was also an active copyist of motets and harpsichord music.
References
External links
Free scores by Guillielmus Messaus at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
Free scores by Guilielmus Messaus in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
Biography on Grove Music Online