Pevernage was born in Harelbeke, a small town near to Kortrijk, and probably spent his boyhood years as a singer in the church in Kortrijk. He became the choirmaster at the church of St Salvator in Brugge on 21 January 1563, and later that same year became choirmaster at the Onze Lieve Vrouwkerk in Kortrijk. In 1564 he became chaplain there, and rose to the position of permanent vicar in 1569. Also in Kortrijk, he joined the guild of St. Cecilia, for which he wrote some of his music. , c. 1590 The religious wars of the 16th century ravaged the Netherlands as they had adjacent regions, and war came to Kortrijk. He fled the city in 1577 or 1578 with his family when the Calvinists took over; they had little use for music, and as a Roman Catholic he was unsafe during this period of persecution; his family went to Antwerp, where they stayed until the next year, during which Pevernage was appointed to the post of choirmaster in Bruges. However, Calvinists captured this town as well, and Pevernage was out of a job until 1584, at which time he regained his former employment in Kortrijk. On 29 October 1585 he was appointed choirmaster at the cathedral in Antwerp; this was shortly after the Spanish capture of the town. One of Pevernage's activities there was to rebuild the extensive music library, which had been ransacked and burned by Calvinists. He remained at this post until his death in 1591, and was buried in the cathedral.
Music
Pevernage was a fairly prolific composer of both sacred and secular vocal music; of his output, about 235 pieces remain. No specifically instrumental music has survived. His output of sacred includes six masses, published in Antwerp after his death, for from five to seven voices; a collection of motets entitled Cantiones sacrae, which also includes some secular works, many of which are occasional pieces written in honor of local nobility, including Margaret of Parma; and a group of 14 Marian antiphons, like the masses published posthumously. Stylistically they are typical of late-16th-century practice, alternating homophonic and polyphonic textures, and using groups of voices in alternation in a cori spezzati style; the influence of the Venetian school was felt even as far away as the Netherlands. Pevernage also wrote Italian madrigals, in Italian; it was a wildly popular form even in northern Europe, and also wrote many French chansons, published in four separate books. They make use of syncopation, melismas, and complex rhythms.
