often require virtuoso singing skill; likely some of these pieces were intended for performance by the concerto di donne, the three virtuoso female singers at the ducal Este court at Ferrara, which had a strong musical connection with Naples throughout the 1590s. After 1599, his music shifted in style again; Macque began experimenting with chromaticism of the kind found in Gesualdo's madrigals. Most likely the nobleman influenced Macque, but it is possible that some of the influence went the other way, since dating of Gesualdo's individual compositions is difficult, due to his publication of his work in large blocks, many years apart. Some of the madrigals Macque wrote after 1599 include "forbidden" melodic intervals (such as sevenths), chords entirely outside of the Renaissance modal universe (such as F# major) and melodic passages in consecutive chromatic semitones. In addition to his madrigals, he was a prolific composer of instrumental music, writing canzonas, ricercars, capriccios and numerous pieces for organ. Some of his music is extraordinarily progressive harmonically, and can be compared with the vocal music of Gesualdo: the Consonanze stravaganti (exact date unknown, probably early 17th century) is a particularly good example. See Grout (1) for an extended example from this composition. (Complete score is available on IMSLP.) Macque also wrote sacred music, including a book of motets for five to eight voices, litanies, laudi spirituali, and contrafactum motets (motets originally in another language, fitted with new texts known as contrafacta). References and further reading W. Richard Shindle, "Giovanni de Macque", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. Note: this article contains some new information not included in the 1980 New Grove article by the same author. Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. (1) Donald Jay Grout, A History of Western Music. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1980. Catherine Deutsch, Ariosità et artificiosità dans les madrigaux de Giovanni de Macque (1581-1597), Ph.D. Univ. Paris-Sorbonne, 2007. External links French Baroque composers 16th-century births 1614 deaths People from Valenciennes Italian Baroque composers Renaissance composers Roman school composers French male classical composers 17th-century Italian composers 17th-century French people 16th-century classical composers 17th-century male musicians