Background
Mel was born in Mechelen to an aristocratic family closely connected to the Duchy of Lorraine. His father was in charge of the financial management of the Duke"s estate.
Mel was born in Mechelen to an aristocratic family closely connected to the Duchy of Lorraine. His father was in charge of the financial management of the Duke"s estate.
He likely studied with Palestrina, and was a skilled and prolific composer, especially of cyclic madrigals of the type popular in Rome.
In 1562, at the probable age of eight, he began study at the Cathedral of Saint Rombaut, with Séverin Cornet being his principal teacher. In 1572, after finishing his schooling, he was sent to Lisbon by his family, where he may have served as maestro di cappella at the court (according to Giuseppe Baini, the 19th century writer on music, who was not always a reliable source). By 1580 he was in Rome, possibly studying with Palestrina.
Records indicate he was at Chieti in 1583, and in January 1584 in Venice.
In July of that year he accepted a position as maestro di cappella at Rieti Cathedral, but was dismissed shortly thereafter for being too often absent from his duties. Between 1585 and 1591 Mel traveled widely, returning to Flanders, including Liège and Antwerp.
He served briefly as maestro di cappella for the Duke of Bavaria, then in Liège, for at least a few months beginning in July 1587. He visited Venice, Rome, Magliano Capo di Sabina, and Aquila during the years 1585 to 1591 as well.
Between 1591 and 1597 he was music director at the cathedral and seminary in Magliano Capo di Sabina.
He disappears from the record after 1597, but a book of newly composed chansons by him, published in Antwerp that year, has suggested that he may have again returned to the land of his birth.