decline of musical standards in his native land, which had once been the musical center of Europe: "whether these sweet harmonies have been interrupted by the tempests of Mars, who has too long been master of these provinces, or whether music has ceased to be esteemed by those who, filled with confusion ..., cannot value what is full of agreement and harmony." Most of Verdonck's surviving output consists of secular music, and he wrote both French chansons and Italian madrigals. Some of the chansons are for unusually large groups of voices (for example, his publication Poésies françaises de divers autheurs mises en musique par C. Verdonck of 1599 is for 10 independent voices), and the texture of his music is mostly contrapuntal, with sometimes lively syncopation. One of his madrigals, Donna belle e gentile, fitted with English words (as "Lady your look so gentle"), appeared in the 1588 Musica transalpina collection by Nicholas Yonge which inaugurated the madrigal vogue in England. Verdonck also wrote sacred music; his output includes several motets and a Magnificat, which are scored for four, five, or six voices. The Magnificat (1585, for five voices) survives in the original copper engraving. Notes References and further reading R. B. Lenaerts: Cornelis Verdonck, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. External links 1563 births 1625 deaths Belgian classical composers Belgian male classical composers Flemish composers 16th-century Franco-Flemish composers People from Turnhout Renaissance composers 17th-century Franco-Flemish composers 17th-century male musicians