Willaert's collection Musica Nova (1559) was a bestseller that was enthusiastically discussed, quoted from and performed throughout Europe
Musica Nova contains motets and madrigals, mainly to texts by Petrarch; both genres are textbook examples of expressive polyphony
composer Willaert was probably from Rumbek; he studied law in Paris for a time, but then switched to studying music under Jean Mouton, a purported pupil of Josquin
in Italy Willaert rose to become maestro di cappella of St Mark’s Basilica, in Venice; there he experimented with double choirs and laid the foundation for the Baroque music of Monteverdi and the Gabrielis