Benedictus Appenzeller

• Illustration — Appenzeller's last appointment was at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels, as choirmaster from 1555 to 1558 Appenzeller was probably born in Oudenaarde in East Flanders, and his approximate birthdate is inferred from a document late in his life, dated July 1558, in which he gave his age as "over 70". Appenzeller is first mentioned in cathedral records in 1518, when he is a singer, and in 1519, when he became choirmaster at the cathedral of St. Jacob in Bruges. His several publications during the following years show that he was active then as a composer, but nothing is known of his actual whereabouts or employment until 1536, when Dowager Queen Mary of Hungary (daughter of Philip I and Joanna the Mad of Castile) brought him into her Brussels chapel as a singer. By the next year he had become the master of the choirboys – the one responsible for teaching them music, and caring for them – and he was to hold this position, or its equivalent, until either 1551 or 1555. While he spent most of this time in Brussels, he also occasionally travelled with Mary through the Habsburg lands, as it was common for the singers of the musical chapels to accompany monarchs and members of royal families. Some of the places he is known to have visited include 's-Hertogenbosch, Augsburg, and Munich. Mary moved to Spain in 1556, and at that time Appenzeller became the choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels, a post he held until the end of 1558. No records survive of his life from after that year, and he may have died shortly thereafter. Appenzeller has sometimes been confused with two other musicians named "Benedictus", since many of his works are attributed in their sources simply to "Benedictus". Benedictus Ducis was a German composer and Protestant cleric (1492–1544), and Benedictus de Opitiis was an organist from the same region as Appenzeller. All of the works simply attributed "Benedictus" are now considered to be the work of Appenzeller.