Antonius Gosswin

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Antonius Gosswin (* around 1546 possibly in Liège ; † between June 2, 1597 and October 28, 1598) was a Franco-Flemish composer , singer , organist and conductor of the Renaissance .

Live and act

In the 16th century, the name Gosswin was not uncommon in the Netherlands, especially in the Liege region. The then Elector of Saxony confirmed Gosswin's Dutch ancestry in a letter to the bass singer Bartholomeus van den Feldt. There is evidence of the composer's marriage in 1566/67. A connection to Orlando di Lasso must have arisen in his early years because he called him “dear praeceptor” in his “Newe teutsche Lieder”, published in Nuremberg in 1581. Lasso worked in the Bavarian court orchestra since 1556; Music historians reckon that Gosswin may have entered there as a choirboy. In 1558 he appears in the ducal court reports as an alto singer. Even if the account books there for 1560 to 1567 are incomplete, it is certain that in 1562 an alto singer Anthoine made a trip to Frankfurt with Emperor Maximilian II and his band . The Munich tax books show that an Anthonius Jusswein lived here in 1564, who married a certain Maria Praum in late 1566 or early 1567; in the following year 1568 he got the citizenship of Munich and in 1569 became a member of the orchestra of Prince Wilhelm of Bavaria . He was soon dismissed due to financial problems at the Munich court, but in 1570 he was again an employee of the band. In the following year he received a separate cash donation so that he could travel to his home country.

From 1574 he was back in Bavaria and on November 1st of that year he received a letter from the emperor, who also gave him a coat of arms. In the same year the composer dedicated two masses to the emperor and received 30 florins for them . He traveled to Vienna to also perform these masses; he stayed there until the beginning of 1575. Gosswin also received 30 florins in 1576 and 1582 for the composition of a mass, and 70 florins for various other services in 1594. Orlando di Lasso asked Prince Wilhelm for a letter of recommendation for the composer ; equipped with this (from July 17, 1576) Gosswin traveled to the Reichstag in Regensburg . When he returned to Munich, he was appointed organist at St. Peter's Church. There is also a receipt from 1577 for the repayment of the maintenance costs for the choirboys under him. When Duke Albrecht died on October 24, 1579, the court was reduced in size and Antonius Gosswin was dismissed. Shortly afterwards he became a member of the chapel of Prince Ernst, Bishop of Freising , a son of Duke Albrecht. Orlando di Lasso confirmed in a letter dated February 13, 1580 to Prince Wilhelm that this position should be valid for Gosswin's lifetime.

At the beginning of 1580 the composer moved to Freising with his wife. A little later, towards the end of 1580, his employer was appointed Bishop of Liège and solemnly took office on January 30, 1581. It is not known whether Antonius Gosswin followed him to Liege. After a few years in Liège, the bishop relocated to Bonn on January 29, 1584 after receiving a benefice in the diocese of Cologne . There is evidence that half of Gosswin's salary was paid to his wife, who was still living in Freising. Gosswin was again at the Reichstag in Regensburg on July 14, 1594, where he directed Prince Ernst's chapel. The composer is mentioned in the Journal der Fugger of June 10, 1595; The Liège accounting books also show that he was still alive on June 2, 1597. According to these books, Gosswin died between the latter date and October 28, 1598; There is no statement about his place of death, so Freising, Liège or Bonn come into question.

meaning

In the opinion of his contemporaries, Gosswin was not only an excellent musician, whose masses were often performed in the Munich court orchestra, but he was also famous for his art of singing, in which he adorned the melodies with ornaments . In addition, he was known for his special erudition. His compositions are profoundly influenced by the works of Orlando di Lasso. Almost all mass compositions are parody masses on pieces by Lasso. Gosswin's collection “Newe teutsche Lieder” was at times even viewed as a simplified adaptation of the “Newe teutsche Liedlein mit five voices” (1567) Lassos, but the German music researcher Helmut Osthoff explained in 1938 that there is a special application of the parody process that has enough space for your own edits. With small ensembles, Gosswin shows his ability to compose elegant miniatures; but he also mastered larger forms, as his six-part motet "Ad te levavi" proves. Here he used a rhythmic-chordal style with syllabic declamation .

Works

  • Spiritual works
    • “Cantiones” with four votes, Nuremberg 1581, lost
    • “Cantiones sacrae 5” to six votes, Nuremberg 1583, lost
    • “Ad te levavi oculos meos” for six parts, also as an arrangement for organ and for other instruments
    • Missa a cappella for four voices
    • Missa super “Cognovi Domine” with four voices
    • Missa ferialis to five voices
    • Missa super “Le mois de mai” with four voices
    • Missa super "Missus est angelus" with five voices
    • Missa super “Vrai Dieu, disait” with four voices
    • another fair
    • “In te Domine speravi” with three votes
    • "Iste est Johannes" to five votes, lost
  • Secular works
    • "Newe teutsche Lieder [...] which are really lovely to sing, to be used on all sorts of instruments" with three voices, Nuremberg 1581; Edition: Das Choralwerk No. 75, 1960
    • "Madrigali 5.", Nuremberg 1615, lost
    • “Eolo crudel como turbasti l'onde” with five voices
    • “Qual meraviglia” to five votes
    • “Non trovo cosa alcuna s'io non pago” with five voices

Literature (selection)

  • JJ Maier: The musical manuscripts of the royal court and state library in Munich , Munich 1879
  • Moritz Fürstenau:  Goßwin, Anton . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, p. 411 f.
  • A. Sandberger: Contributions to the history of the Bavarian court orchestra under Orlando di Lasso , Volume 3, Leipzig 1895
  • B. Hirzel: Anton Gosswin, approx. 1540–1594: his life and works , Munich 1909
  • A. Auda: La Musique et les musiciens de l'ancien pays de Liège: essai bio-bibliographique sur la musique liégeoise depuis ses origines jusqu'à la fin de la principauté, 1800 , Brussels / Paris 1930
  • Helmut Osthoff: The Dutch and the German Song, 1400–1640 , Berlin 1938
  • J. Quitin: A propos de Antonius Goswin. In: Revue belge de musicologie No. 6, 1952, page 285
  • Horst Leuchtmann:  Gosswin, Anton. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 653 ( digitized version ).
  • P. Rockl: The musical life at the court of Wilhelm V at Trausnitz Castle from 1568–1579. In: Negotiations of the historical association for Lower Bavaria No. 99, 1973, pages 88–127

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ The Music in Past and Present (MGG), Person Part Volume 7, Bärenreiter and Metzler, Kassel and Basel 2002, ISBN 3-7618-1117-9
  2. ↑ Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (ed.): The great lexicon of music. Volume 3: Elsbeth - Haitink. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1980, ISBN 3-451-18053-7 .
  3. ^ The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , edited by Stanley Sadie, 2nd Edition, Volume 10, McMillan Publishers, London 2001, ISBN 0-333-60800-3
personal data
SURNAME Gosswin, Antonius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jusswein, Anton; Jussonius, Anthoine; Josquinus, Antonius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Franco-Flemish composer, singer and bandmaster of the Renaissance
DATE OF BIRTH around 1546
PLACE OF BIRTH uncertain: Liège
DATE OF DEATH around 1597