Jan Belle

Jan Belle (fl. 1545 - 1566) was a composer from the Franco-Flemish School.

Between 1546 and 1547, Belle was a magister duodenorum at the Collégiale Sainte-Croix in Liège. He might also have been a zangmeester at the Church of Our Lady at Sint-Truiden.

In 1552, the publisher and editor Jacob Baethen, who lived in Maastricht, published Belle’s probable first musical work. This was Musices encomion, a book on music theory.

In 1572, the Antwerp printer Pierre Phalèse the Elder published an anthology of Dutch songs titled Duijtsch musijck boeck. This book contained six songs for four voices by Belle. These songs are:

1. Fluer van alle vrouwen soet
2. Ick en can mij niet bedwinghen (In a 1554 edition by Jacob Baethen, this song is credited to Joannes Zacheus)
3. Int groen, int groen, met u alderliefste
4. Laet ons nu al verblijden in desen soeten tijt
5. O amoureusich mondeken root
6. O doloreux herte met druck beladich