Biographical note

Andreas Pevernage

[source: Grove's - Kirstin Forney]

(b Harelbeke, nr Kortrijk, 1542/3; d Antwerp, 30 July 1591). Flemish composer. 
"On 21 January 1563 he was appointed choirmaster of St Salvator, Bruges, and on 22 September of the same year he was named to a similar post at Onze Lieve Vrouwkerk, Kortrijk. He remained in Kortrijk until 1577 although he held a prebend at St Willibrordus in Hulst in 1564. In 1578 Kortrijk fell briefly to Calvinist rule. By the following year Pevernage had secured the position of choirmaster at St Jacob, Bruges. This city too fell to the Calvinists and Catholic services were suppressed there from May 1581 until 1584. On 1 October 1584 he was reappointed to his former position at Kortrijk and less than a year later became choirmaster at Antwerp Cathedral where he remained until his death. He was buried by the cathedral’s altar of St Anne. Antwerp archives confirm that Pevernage rebuilt the music library destroyed by the Calvinist rebellion and that he was active in humanist circles surrounding the Plantin press. One of his most curious contributions to art are his 'motets' of wich music and text is  painted (and later engraved) on counter-reformation paintings.

[Dick Wursten: We cannot suspect Pevernage to have had much sympathy for the calvinists  (at least this is what I infer from this biographical data). Therefore even more telling: He published the Psalm compositions, using the Genevan tune, and included them in collections after the Fall of Antwerp (1585).  Culture transcends confessional borders. The psalms, both texts and tunes were considered 'good' and were cherished by lovers of good music (and 'all christians') even during the 'Wars of Religion'.
The psalms are included in Pevernage's  First book of chansons (containing 'chansons spirituelles') of 1589. His contribrution: Psalm 33, Psalm 51, and the two prandial prayers. Published by Christoph Plantin... 

Below the the title page of the Tenor partbook and the Tenor part of the first 'Grace', entitled: Consecration de la table.


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