Tielman Susato

Tielman (or Tylman) Susato (c. 1510/15 – after 1570) was a Renaissance composer, instrumentalist and publisher of music in Antwerp. Biography While Susato’s exact place of birth is unknown, some scholars believe that because of his name—Susato meaning de Soest, of the town of Soest — he may be from the town of that name in Westphalia, or the town of Soest in The Netherlands. Not much is known about his early life, but he begins appearing in various Antwerp archives of around 1530 working as a calligrapher as well as an instrumentalist: trumpet, flute and tenor pipe are listed as instruments that he owned. In 1543, he founded the first music publishing house using movable music type in the Low Countries. He could be found in Antwerp, “At the Sign of the Crumhorn.” Until Susato set up his press in Antwerp, music printing had been done mainly in Italy, France and Germany. Soon afterwards, Susato was joined by Petrus Phalesius the Elder in Leuven and Christopher Plantin, also in Antwerp, and the Low Countries became a regional center of music publishing. It is possible that Susato also ran a musical instrument business, and he attempted several times to form partnerships with other pub