Mogens Pedersøn was born in the mid-1580s and probably attended a Latin school in a Danish town. From here, young, talented boy singers were recruited to Christian IV's court chapel, where they would receive a musical education. It is as an apprentice at court that Pedersøn appears in the court documents for the first time in 1601, but it is clear today that already in 1599 he was one of those who travelled with the court organist Melchior Borchgrevinck (ca. 1570-1632) to Venice to receive lessons from the organist Giovanni Gabrieli (born between 1554 and 1557, died 1612).
Shortly after returning home, Pedersøn was employed as a musician (or rather instrumentalist) at court and thus had passed his apprenticeship. Pedersøn left for Venice again in 1605, where he stayed until 1609. This time, too, he received lessons from Gabrieli. Back home he became a part of the chapel's musical daily life, which was largely characterized by performances of church music in the court chapel.
There is no doubt that Pedersøn was a valued musician at court because after a stay in England 1611-14, he was appointed in 1618 to the newly created position of deputy kapellmeister. In addition to the duties of teaching six apprentices, it was the deputy kapellmeister's responsibility to lead the music in the castle chapel in the kapellmeister's absence. Pedersøn remained in the position until he disappears from the court documents in January 1623. He is presumably dead at this point.
