Classical music

• Carlo Gesualdo
  Carlo Gesualdo
  Carlo Gesualdo, known as Gesualdo di Venosa or Gesualdo da Venosa , Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, was an Italian nobleman, lutenist, composer, and murderer....
  
   – Fourth book of madrigals
  Madrigal (music)
  A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....
  
   a5
• Hans Leo Hassler
  Hans Leo Hassler
  Hans Leo Hassler was a German composer and organist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras, elder brother of the less-famous Jakob Hassler...
  
   – Neüe teüsche Gesäng nach Art der welschen Madrigalien und Canzonetten (published in Augsburg
  Augsburg
  Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
  
  )

Deaths

• February 29 - Philippe Rogier
  Philippe Rogier
  Philippe Rogier was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance, active at the Habsburg court of Philip II in Spain...
  
  , composer (born 1561)
• May 6 – Giaches de Wert
  Giaches de Wert
  Giaches de Wert was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance, active in Italy. Intimately connected with the progressive musical center of Ferrara, he was one of the leaders in developing the style of the late Renaissance madrigal...
  
  , Flemish composer (born 1535)
• December 27 - Pietro Pontio
  Pietro Pontio
  Pietro Pontio was an Italian theorist and composer.Pontio was born and died in Parma. He is best known for his 1588 treatise Ragionamento di Musica, which is thought to have influenced Claudio Monteverdi....
  
  , composer (born 1532)