Vittoria Colonna Meets Ignatius of Loyola in Philippe de Monte’s ‘Il primo libro de madrigali spirituali a cinque voci’ (1581)

Peer-reviewed

Lothar Peirsman


KU Leuven (Belgium)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2209-1658

Abstract

In 1581, the Imperial Kapellmeister Philippe de Monte published his first book of spiritual madrigals, which he dedicated to the Jesuit superior general Claudio Acquaviva. Laurentius Coteman, a former pupil of Monte’s who had become a Jesuit, supplied the poetry, including many texts by Vittoria Colonna. Although Colonna’s poems are often associated with reformist theology, Coteman may have interpreted them through the lens of Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, a pivotal text for Jesuit spirituality. Through the appropriate interpretative lens, Monte’s musical settings of Colonna’s sacred poems were thus able to convey Jesuit spirituality to their performers and listeners.



Keywords:

Philippe de Monte, Laurentius Coteman, Vittoria Colonna, Ignatius of Loyola, spiritual madrigals, spiritual poetry, Jesuits

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Published
2026-09-29

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Peirsman, L. (2026). Vittoria Colonna Meets Ignatius of Loyola in Philippe de Monte’s ‘Il primo libro de madrigali spirituali a cinque voci’ (1581). Muzyka, 71(3), 23–57. https://doi.org/10.36744/m.5134

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Lothar Peirsman 

KU Leuven Belgium
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2209-1658

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