Peeter Cornet

Peeter Cornet (Pierre, Pietro, Peter, Pieter) (ca. 1570-80 – 27 March 1633) was a Flemish composer and organist of the early Baroque period. Although few of his compositions survive, he is widely considered one of the best keyboard composers of the early 17th century.

Life Very little is known about Cornet's life. Much of the information comes from a letter by his widow. Cornet was born in the 1570s in the Brussels, then the capital of the Southern Netherlands. The family included numerous musicians, among them a violinist, singers and organists. ) and John Bull, as well as fellow Flemish composers Géry Ghersem and Matthijs Langhedul. Apparently Cornet was also active as an organ consultant and builder. In 1615 he provided advice concerning the organ of St. Rumbolds Cathedral (Sint-Romboutskathedraal) in Mechelen, and in 1624 he signed a contract to build a choir division for the same organ.

The settings of Salve Regina and Tantum Ergo exhibit similar characteristics. The former comprises five sections (Salve, Ad te clamamus, Eia ergo, O clemens, Pro fine). The first three are fugues on the initial motifs of the corresponding lines, the fourth is a cantus firmus setting with the melody first stated in the soprano and then in the tenor, and the fifth combines the subject and its inversion. As in the fantasias, figural elements are seamlessly woven into the polyphonic fabric.

Cornet's courantes are both modelled on English examples. One is followed by three variations of the entire piece. The only surviving toccata by Cornet consists entirely of various figurations, including among them the then fashionable echo effect, frequently used by Sweelinck but only encountered in this single instance in Cornet's oeuvre.

Editions Pieter Cornet: Collected Keyboard Works, in Corpus of Early Keyboard Music XXVI, ed. W. Apel (1969). Peeter Cornet: Complete Keyboard Music. Monumenta Musica Neerlandica vol. XVII, Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis, ed. Pieter Dirksen & Jean Ferrard (Utrecht 2001, 2/2016).

References and further reading Mary Armstrong Ferrard. Peeter Cornet (?–1633), organiste à la cour d'Albert et Isabelle à Bruxelles (Brussels, 1973) Willi Apel. The History of Keyboard Music to 1700, pp. 338–344. Translated by Hans Tischler. Indiana University Press, 1972. . Originally published as Geschichte der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700 by Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel.