"In the Homes, the Chambers, and the Honorable Assemblies": Tielman Susato's Dedications as a Reflection of the Rise of Bourgeois Music Patronage in the 16th Century Antwerp

In 1993, evoking the emergence of the bourgeois class in the Low Countries and its progressive role in musical patronage, American musicologist Kristine K. Forney stated that ‘Nowhere is this transfer of artistic influence to the newly-rising strata of society more apparent than in Antwerp, the largest and wealthiest trade center of northern Europe’. Indeed, in this market-oriented city, merchants and tradesmen gradually gained influence and power, overshadowing the traditional patrons of music, namely the clergy and the
nobility. This shift in musical patronage becomes strikingly apparent when reading the dedications of the Antwerp-based printer Tielman Susato, one of the first music publisher in the Low Countries. During his activity in Antwerp between 1543 and 1560, Susato almost systematically dedicated his music books (mostly “chansons” anthologies) to native and foreign merchants and businessmen. These dedications not only highlight Susato’s networks of patrons but also celebrate them as central figures in the musical flourishing in urban environments. Thus, through the analysis of these dedicatory epistles, the aim of this communication is to define the contours of a new profile of dedicatees, characterized by their membership to the middle classes and their active role in financing and promoting musical activities, thereby contributing to the establishment of new practices of musical patronage.