Mattheus Le Maistre (* about 1505 perhaps in Roclenge-sur-Geer in the Principality of Liège; † March 1577 in Dresden) was a Franco-Flemish composer and Kapellmeister of the Renaissance.

There is no information available about the youth and education of Mattheus Le Maistre. The few available sources indicate that he was born in the prince-bishopric of Liège and probably received his first musical education as a choirboy. In the preface to the 'German and Latin sacred songs' of early 1577 he writes that he had been involved with music since his early childhood. His first creative period which then followed has been extensively unknown. Based on the fact that a large number of compositions (masses, responsories and Latin motets) are to be found in the surviving manuscript choir books of the Munich court orchestra of the time, the German music researcher Adolf Sandberger (Leipzig 1894/95) concluded that Le Maistre worked at the Bavarian court in Munich before 1554 whose orchestra was conducted by Ludwig Daser. This is also indicated by an entry in the books of account of the Court Pay Office from 1552 in which a "Mathesz Nidlender" is mentioned. He can thus be considered the first foreign musician at the Bavarian court. From the mention of his name in two Leipzig registers from 1551 and 1564 it can be concluded that the composer had connections with the city of Leipzig even earlier, perhaps even before his Munich period.

In 1554, Mattheus Le Maistre took up the post of Saxon Court Kapellmeister as Johann Walter's successor and converted to Protestantism; from this time on, his compositions have almost exclusively been handed down in print. At that time the court orchestra consisted of 40 musicians. Here he also adopted the traditions of Johann Walter and Georg Rhau, set parts of Luther's Small Catechism to music and created chorale motets to Luther's songs. For health reasons, he asked to be relieved from his duties as early as 1565 but initially he only received an annual pension. His assistant Antonio Scandello succeeded him on 14 June 1568. Le Maistre remained associated with the court in Dresden throughout his life and held the title of court Kapellmeister until his death in the spring of 1577. He had a son, Valerian who worked as a musician in the imperial chapel. (Source: Wikipedia)

Note: Translated from the German version of Wikipedia into English.