Dziki Jan, Wilde Hans, Janick, Janeck, Jancko, Janecko, *before 1525, †22 September 1592 Gdańsk, Polish violist, lutenist, and composer (?) active in the Duchy of Prussia and Gdańsk. The Slavic forms of the name appearing in documents indicate that the Polish version of the surname is original in relation to the German translation of the word “dziki” (wild). Dziki learned to play instruments at the court of Prince Albrecht Hohenzollern in Königsberg in 1537–42, probably from the Wittenberg-born lutenist Wolf Schnelinger. In 1546, he became a citizen of Gdańsk and a member of the musicians’ guild. He married no later than 1561, as that year saw the publication in Krakow of the song Wieczna pamiątka (Eternal Memento), in which he and his wife Krystyna are mentioned in the lyrics. He remained active in Gdańsk until the end of his life, among other things as the court violist of the city council. He is traditionally credited with the authorship of the intabulation of the motet Domine, miserere (model unknown), bearing the initials H.W. in a collection by Benedict de Drusina Tabulatura continens insignes (…) fantasias (…) et mutetas…, Frankfurt an der Oder 1556. The work indicates that the intabulator had a good command of his craft.
Andres Wilde, a lutenist at the court in Königsberg in 1584–86, might have been Dziki’s son.
Literature: H.P. Kosack Geschichte der Laute und Lautenmusik in Preussen, Kassel 1935; P. Poźniak Jan Dziki, lutenista gdański, in: Muzykolog wobec dzieła muzycznego. Zbiór prac dedykowanych Elżbiecie Dziębowskiej w siedemdziesiątą rocznicę urodzin, eds. M. Woźna-Stankiewicz and Z. Dobrzańska-Fabiańska, Krakow 1999 (contains the song texts and published intabulations – in both tablature and transcription).
