Gallinius, Marcin (EN)

Gallinius, Martinus, Marcin, Martinus Gallinius Prossoviensis, Marcin Kurek from Proszowice, †1562, Polish musician and preacher. He initially studied at the school attached to the Franciscan monastery in Krakow. He learned music from the Franciscan Z. Zaleski. In 1529, he began his studies at the Krakow Academy, where he met Jakub of Iłża, a precursor of the Polish Reformation. In 1530, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts. Between 1530 and 1535, he was probably involved in teaching, possibly at the school attached to the Franciscan monastery in Krakow. Encouraged by Benedykt of Koźmin, he began studying theology at the same monastery. In 1535, supported by the provincial of the Krakow Franciscan convent, the Venetian Marco della Torre, he left for Padua, where he joined the Franciscan order and continued his studies in philosophy and theology. In 1540, he obtained a doctorate in theology and then left for Rome. After returning to Krakow, he renounced his monastic vows and established contact with the court of Sigismund I. In 1544, he became the court preacher of Sigismund Augustus and moved to Vilnius. In 1546–49, he stayed in Padua again, where he probably studied medicine and obtained a doctorate in medicine. It was there that he established contact with J. Mączyński. A supporter of the Reformation, after returning to Poland, he returned to the Catholic faith and worked as a preacher. He took over the parish in Bieżanów near Krakow, granted to him in 1547 by the Krakow chapter, and in 1550 he was appointed preacher of the Krakow cathedral; he was also a cathedral canon in Płock.

The only known writing by Gallinius is an extensive letter to his teacher and guardian, Benedict of Koźmin, professor at the Krakow Academy: Ad Venerabilem Virum M. Benedictum Cosminium epistola (Krakow 1535). In this letter, mistakenly considered by Jachimecki to be a “lampoon on music,” but in fact a critique of contemporary polyphonic music and a display of the author’s erudition, Gallinius justifies his apparent departure from his musical passions by referring to the views of Henry Cornelius Agrippa (De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum, Cologne 1531). In music, Gallinius valued above all its ethical dimension. His model was ancient music, whose vision he presented based on the treatise De musica by Pseudo-Plutarch, translated by C. Valgulius (1440–1498). Gallinius’ work proclaims the need for musical renewal and is the only known polemical writing in 16th-century Polish-Latin musicography.

Literature: A. Chybiński Stosunek muzyki polskiej do zachodniej w XV i XVI w., “Przewodnik Naukowy i Literacki” 1908, copy Krakow 1909; Z. Jachimecki Muzykologia i piśmiennictwo muzyczne w Polsce, Krakow 1948; H. Barycz Historia Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego w epoce humanizmu, Krakow 1935; H. Barycz Pionier reformacji polskiej i grono jego uczniów, in: Z epoki renesansu, reformacji i baroku, Warsaw 1971; Historia nauki polskiej, ed. B. Suchodolski, vol. 6, complied by L. Hajdukiewicz, Wrocław 1974; E. Witkowska-Zaremba Marcina Galliniusa „Epistola ad Benedictum Cosminium” – autobiografia czy fikcja?, “Odrodzenie i Reformacja w Polsce” XXXVIII, 1994, expanded edition: „Epistola ad Benedictum Cosminium” by Martinus Gallinius (Cracow 1535) – the views on music of a little-known humanist, in: Musicologie sans frontières / Muzikologija bez granice / Musicology without frontiers, celebratory publication for S. Tuksar, eds. I. Cavallini and H. White, «Muzikološki Zbornici» 13, Zagreb 2010.