1520s in music

Events

• 7–24 June 1520: Field of the Cloth of Gold held at Balinghem. The court musical establishments of Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England were led by Jean Mouton and William Cornysh, respectively.
• 1521: Diet of Worms. The composer Ludwig Senfl is present.
• 1526: Kungliga Hovkapellet is first recorded from this year.

  Publications

• 1520:
• *The manuscript Capirola Lutebook is compiled from the works of Vincenzo Capirola
• *Bernardo Pisano, Musica di messer Bernardo Pisano sopra le canzone del Petrarcha, the first printed collection of secular music by a single composer, published by Ottaviano Petrucci in Fossombrone.
• 1523: Pietro Aron – Thoscanello de la musica, including the first description of quarter-comma meantone, published in Venice.
• 1528: Pierre Attaingnant – Chansons nouvelles en musique à quatre parties, the first French music publication made using single-impression movable type, published in Paris.
• 1529: Martin Agricola – Musica instrumentalis deudsch, a description of the musical instruments common in Germany at the time.

  Classical music

• 1524: Gasparo Alberti – Missa de Sancto Roccho, for six voices
• 1525: My Lady Carey's Dompe is written for harpsichord by an unknown composer.

  Births

1520

• Andrea Amati, Italian violin maker, who stands as the first of the Cremona school
• Christoph Fischer or Vischer, hymnist
• Vincenzo Galilei, lutenist who also composed other music

  1521

• Philippe de Monte, Flemish composer of Italian madrigals

  1525

• March 4 – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Roman composer, primarily of sacred music
• March 25 – Richard Edwardes, English choral musician, playwright and poet

  1528

• October 4 – Francisco Guerrero, Spanish composer
• date unknown – Thomas Whythorne, English composer

  1529

• probable – Jacobus Vaet, Franco-Flemish composer

  Deaths

• 1521:
• *August 27 – Josquin des Prez, Franco-Flemish composer
• *October 24 – Robert Fayrfax, English Renaissance composer
• 1522: October 30 – Jean Mouton, French composer
• 1523: October – William Cornysh, English composer
• 1524: July 31 – Sebastiano Festa, Italian composer
• 1525: probable – Arnolt Schlick, German organist and composer
• 1526: date unknown – Thomas Stoltzer, German composer
• 1527: June 9 – Heinrich Finck, German composer
• 1528: April 1 – Francisco de Peñalosa, Spanish composer