“Sequamini o socii” or the Merry Musical Company from Carniola and Styria: The First Book of Five-and Six-Part Madrigals by Filippo de Duc (1586)

Abstract

The dedication of Filippo de Duc’s madrigal collection of 1586 contains a number of names of Carniolan and Styrian nobles. The collection is dedicated to Giovanni Giacomo and Carlo Khisl, but De Duc’s dedicatory text praises also their father Hans and two brothers, Georg and Veit, as well as their “illustrious company” comprising Friedrich and Georg Hartman Stubenberg, Volcard Egk and Hungerspach, Kaspar Gleispach (all at the time students of law in Padua) and, finally, their tutor Hieronimus Megiser. The first piece has a dedicatory text that praises the two main dedicatees; one madrigal is dedicated to Leonard Mercheritsch, and a further one is possibly a compliment to Ana Khisl. The collection also contains a “goliardic” song in a mixture of Latin and German vividly illustrating the merry life of university students of the time.