Cornelius Canis (Canis is a Latinisation of the Flemish
name d'Hondt) was born between 1500 and 1510 and died
in 1562). He was a Franco-Flemish composer, singer, and
choir director of the Renaissance, active for much of
his life in the Grande Chapelle, the imperial Habsburg
music establishment during the reign of Emperor Charles
V. He brought the compositional style of the mid-16th
century Franco-Flemish school, with its elaborate
imitative polyphony, together with the lightness and
clarity of t...(+)
Cornelius Canis (Canis is a Latinisation of the Flemish
name d'Hondt) was born between 1500 and 1510 and died
in 1562). He was a Franco-Flemish composer, singer, and
choir director of the Renaissance, active for much of
his life in the Grande Chapelle, the imperial Habsburg
music establishment during the reign of Emperor Charles
V. He brought the compositional style of the mid-16th
century Franco-Flemish school, with its elaborate
imitative polyphony, together with the lightness and
clarity of the Parisian chanson, and he was one of the
few composers of the time to write chansons in both the
French and Franco-Flemish idioms.
No specific records have survived documenting his early
life. He was most likely from Ghent, since a surviving
letter indicates that his parents lived there, and the
earliest records of his career show that he was the
singing-master and teacher of the choirboys at the
Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-op-de-rade confraternity, part of the
Church of St. John in Ghent. He may have been part of a
large musical family, since other musicians named
d'Hondt, de Hondt, and Canis were active in Ghent,
Kortrijk, and other places with connections to the
imperial chapel during the 16th century.
Although originally written for Chorus, I created this
arrangement for Woodwind Quartet (Flute, English Horn,
Bb Clarinet & Bassoon).
PARTITION