Alexander Utendal -Uttendal, Uetendal- (ca.1540 - 07/05/1581), a Franco-Flemish composer.

Alexander Utendal (c.1540 - 07/05/1581), a Flemish composer who probably came from Ghent. It is supposed he was born between 1530-1545. Most of his live he spent in serving the house of Habsburg. From 1553 to 1558 he was a choirboy of the chorus at the court of Mary of Hungary. Thereafter from 1564 to 1567 he was alt-singer (alto) at the court of Archduke Ferdinand II, initially in Prague and from 1567 to 1572 in Innsbruck. From 1566 Archduke Ferdinand II becoming governor of Tyrol. Utendal followed his master to Innsbruck. In the Innsbruck court chapel Utendal already instructed the choristers. Alexander Utendal came from the Flemish region, as did many members of the famous ensemble of singers and instrumentalists at the court of Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol. From 1572 he was appointed deputy Chapel Master ”Vice Kapellmeister” in succeeding Jacques/Jakob Regnart (1540-1599). He still instructed the choristers in the court chapel and he held this position until his death among others rejecting an offer in 1580 to succeed Antonio Scandello (1517-1580) as Kapellmeister of the Dresden court chapel. Due to his position Alexander Utendal wrote mainly church music, which was published in several collections in Nuremberg, some of them of course dedicated to his master/patron Archduke Ferdinand. He published two books of songs, one in 1573 a collection of German songs and the other in 1574 a collection of French songs. His song compositions are in general characterized by the dominance of the upper voice, the text being dramatically treated in madrigal fashion. Utendal derived most of his German songs from traditional and popular sources. As though by a miracle, Utendal’s total oeuvre of sacred music, documented in its entirety in old part-book editions, has been preserved, not in Innsbruck but was scattered amongst many libraries and archives in whole Europe. In 1573 Utendal published in Nuremberg three Masses for 5 and 6 voices and eight Magnificat for 4 voices. In 1570 (by Dieter Gerlach) were published Septem psalmus poenitentialis a 4 vocibus and three volumes Sacrae cantiones for 5, 6 and more voices, were published in 1571, 1573 and 1577. Utendal wrote about eighty-four motets. Furthermore in 1586 years after his death was published a volume with Responsoria. In general in that time (16th century) it was a standard practice at courts where Utendal and De Monte worked to perform the vocal music a capella, with instruments only and thereafter with voices and instruments. Utendal was one of the composers in using first the music cancel-sign to contradict an earlier sharp or flat.