George de La Hèle

Among the Flemish composers who worked at the courts of the Habsburg Empire in Spain, George de La Hèle was one of the most talented. Many of his works were lost in a fire in 1734, but those that survive attest to the high quality of his output. La Hèle was born in Antwerp in 1547. In the 1570s, he served as a choirmaster at the cathedrals of Mechelen and Tournai, and eight of his masses, comprising the majority of his works that survive (just ten in all), were published in a volume in Antwerp. In 1581, La Hèle moved to Madrid and was appointed maestro di capilla at the Capilla Flamenca (the "Flemish Chapel"), where he imported the music of many of his northern compatriots as well as composing his own. He died on August 27, 1586, in Madrid, not yet 40 years old.