John Galliculus

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Johannes Galliculus (* around 1490 probably in Dresden ; † after 1520 possibly in Leipzig ) was a German composer and music theorist of the Renaissance .

Live and act

In 1505 a Johannes Hennel from Dreßden enrolled at the University of Leipzig to study. Since the name Galliculus represents the Latinized form of Hennel or Hähnel, this student is very likely identical with the composer; In addition, this also shows his year of birth around 1490. Otherwise almost nothing is known about his life. The Leipzig humanist Christoph Hegendorf notes in his publications that Johannes Galliculus worked as a musician in Leipzig around 1520 and after. In his work Encomium sobrietatis (published Leipzig 1521) he has Galliculus next to the Wittenberg publisherGeorg Rhau called his friend; In the Encomium somni , published in the same year, Hegendorf praised him with the words "homo in componendis cantilenis ingenio foecundissimo" ("a man of the most fertile spirit in the composition of singing voices"). The small textbook Isagoge de compositione cantus by Johannes Gallicus was also published in Leipzig in 1520 . There is no information about his further life, not even about the time and place of his death. In the absence of other information, music historians temporarily assume Leipzig as his place of death.

meaning

Several works by Galliculus have appeared in Rhaus collective prints. Some compositions are handwritten, others can be found in other collective prints, such as the Novum et insigne opus musicum ( Hans Ott , 1537), the Tomus primus psalmorum selectorum ( Johannes Petreius , 1538) and the Vetera nova carmina sacra ( Wolfgang Figulus , 1575) . Through the collaboration with Georg Rhau, Galliculus occupies an important position in Latin church music of the early Reformation period. In particular, the first of the two Easter masses , in which the song “Christ is erupt” is processed, can be described as a definite innovation in this form. Equally significant is his “Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Marcum”, which is actually not a Mark Passion , but a synopsis of the Passion story according to all four evangelists. His compositional style is rather conservative and is in the tradition of the successor to Heinrich Isaac , but the variety of his musical forms is typical of the German compositional practice of his time: the traditional cantus firmus technique and a new imitation are also represented in his movements like longer melismatic sections and homophonic - declamatory parts. In some places there are already spellings of the so-called treble-tenor technique, which later flourished . The popularity of the compositions by Johannes Galliculus is also reflected in the large number of copies made in the 16th century.

The Compendium Isagoge von Galliculus contains an introduction to the theory of composition and deals with consonances and dissonances , formal clauses , three-, four- and polyphonic melodies and the use of pauses. This content essentially corresponds to the composition theory in the 4th book of the work Musicae activae micrologus by Andreas Ornitoparchus (around 1490 - after 1530), which was published in Leipzig in 1517; the ideas of both works ultimately go back to the Italian music theorist Franchinus Gaffurius . In the case of Galliculus, however, the material is represented much better; By 1553, his textbook had six editions, two of which had the title Libellus de compositione cantus .

Works

Complete edition: Johannes Galliculus. Complete edition of the works , published by AA Moorefield, Brooklyn / New York 1975

  • passion
    • “Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Marcum” with four voices, Wittenberg 1538
  • measure up
    • "Christ is risen", Easter mass for four votes, Wittenberg 1539
    • “Aliud officium Paschale”, Easter mass for four voices, Wittenberg 1539
    • Proprium fair for Christmas with four votes, Wittenberg 1545
  • Magnificat scoring
    • Magnificat quarti toni for four voices, Wittenberg 1540
    • Magnificat quinti toni to four voices
    • Magnificat septimi toni for four votes, Wittenberg 1544
  • Motets (all four parts)
    • "Ave vivens hostia", Wittenberg 1539
    • "Cavete a scribis"
    • "Christ resurgens", Wittenberg 1539
    • "Duo homines ascenderunt"
    • "Immune semper"
    • "In cathedra Moysi"
    • “In natali”, Frankfurt / Oder 1575
    • "Non ex operibus" ("Apparuit benignitas"), Frankfurt / Oder 1575
    • "Enlieve psallant" (Galliculus authorship not certain)
    • "Joseph, dear Joseph my" (Galliculus authorship not certain)
  • psalm
    • “Quare Fremduerunt gentes” with four votes, Nuremberg 1537 and 1538
  • font

Literature (selection)

  • Arrey von Dommer :  Alectorius, Johannes . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 332.
  • R. Wustmann: Leipzig's Music History, Volume 1: Up to the middle of the 17th century , Leipzig / Berlin 1909
  • W. Schulze: The polyphonic mass in early Protestant worship , Wolfenbüttel / Berlin 1940 (= Kiel Contributions to Musicology No. 8)
  • W. Lipphardt: The history of the polyphonic proprium missae , Heidelberg 1950
  • Friedrich Blume : History of Protestant Church Music , Kassel and others 1965, English New York 1974
  • AA Moorefield: The Music of Johannes Galliculus and Its Function in the Early Lutheran Liturgy , 2 volumes (1st text, 2nd translation), dissertation at the University of California, Los Angeles 1965
  • Victor H. Mattfeld: Georg Rhaw's Publications for Vespers , Brooklyn / New York 1966
  • AA Moorefield: An Introduction to Johannes Galliculus , Brooklyn / New York 1969 (= Musicological Studies No. 18)
  • L. Youens: Foreword to measuring cycles of the early Protestant church in Leipzig , Tutzing 1984
  • Günther Massenkeil : Oratorio and Passion , Laaber 1998 (= handbook of musical genres No. 10)

Web links

Individual evidence

  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. ^ The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , edited by Stanley Sadie, 2nd Edition, Volume 9, McMillan, London 2001, ISBN 0-333-60800-3
personal data
SURNAME Galliculus, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hahnel, Johannes; Hennel, Johannes; Alectorius, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer and music theorist of the Renaissance
DATE OF BIRTH around 1490
PLACE OF BIRTH uncertain: Dresden
DATE OF DEATH after 1520
Place of death uncertain: Leipzig