Hakenberger, Hackenberger, Andrzej, Andreas, Andrysz, *circa 1574 in Pomerania, funeral 5 June 1627 Gdańsk, musician (singer? lutenist?), composer. There is no information about his youth. Eitner assumes that Hakenberger studied with J. Wanning in Gdańsk. From 1599 (?), from 1602 at the latest to 1607/08, he was a musician in the royal band of Sigismund III Vasa. In the list of sums paid in 1602 to “Polish Gentlemen Musicians for work on the way,” his name appears among a group of singers and instrumentalists. He was certainly already composing at that time because his motet In die magna is included in Melodiae sacrae by W. Lilius from 1604. In July 1607, Hakenberger began applying for the position of bandmaster of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Gdańsk, who also directed the band of the City Council. He submitted two applications for this purpose and finally, in 1608, he was selected from among several candidates: Ph. Dulchius, G. Schnitzling and K. Förster (senior); the condition for taking up this function was to abandon his position at the Polish royal court. Hakenberger’s faith, as a Catholic, was to hold a position in the Lutheran church, which aroused objections from the City Council and church authorities. According to H. Rauschning, his nomination was determined by his work in the representative Venetian style, which suited the Gdańsk townspeople. In 1620, he left Gdańsk for a short time to settle financial matters at the royal court. He was married three times (he married for the last time in 1627 with Dorota Bochińska). Towards the end of his life, he had serious financial difficulties and constant conflicts with the organist of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary – P. Siefert. In early 1627, probably due to illness, he was forced to resign from his position. He was replaced by K. Förster (senior). He was buried in the Catholic cemetery at the church of St. Nicholas, where earlier – on 22 March 1612 and 3 April 1625, respectively – his two wives, about whom no further information is available, were buried.
Hakenberger’s compositions are stylistically closer to the Italian and South German music of the time than to the works of North German composers. Apart from seven secular songs in German (Newe Deutsche Gesänge, Gdańsk 1610) stylistically referring to similar songs by O. di Lassa, J. Regnart, H.L. Hassler or J. Eccard and were probably intended to be performed at the Artus Court, he created exclusively religious music to Latin texts. The influence of J. Gallus is visible in the compositions, usually with a polychoral texture. The short, 3-voice compositions without basso continuo from the collection Odaria suavissima (Leipzig 1612, preserved only in the 2nd edition: Odaria suavissima ex mellifluo D. Bernardi…Frankfurt am Main 1628) with a tricini character are decidedly different. Hakenberger’s work was probably very popular. This is evidenced by, among others, the fact that numerous of his religious works, published in the collections Sacri modulorum contentus (Szczecin 1615), dedicated to Bishop Wawrzyniec Gembicki, and Harmonia sacra (Frankfurt 1617), with a dedication to King Sigismund III, were copied in manuscripts prepared in Royal Prussia (especially in Pelplin and Braniewo-Oliwa tablature) and Silesia.
Literature: M. Seiffert P. Siefert (1586–1666). Biographische Skizze, “Vierteljahrsschrift für Musikwissenschaft” VII, 1891; H. Rauschning Geschichte der Musik und Musikpflege in Danzig, Gdańsk 1931; A. Szweykowska Przeobrażenia w kapeli królewskiej na przełomie XVI i XVII wieku, “Muzyka” Warsaw 1968 No. 2; A.D. Sparger The Sacred Music of Andrzej Hakenberger, doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois 1981; D. Popinigis Muzyka Andrzeja Hakenbergera, Gdańsk 1997; B. Przybyszewska-Jarmińska Muzyczne dwory polskich Wazów, Warsaw 2007; P. Kociumbas Wstęp in: A. Hakenberger Neue Deutsche Gesänge mit fünff Stimmen und eins mit achten nach Art der Welschen Madrigalen componiret 1610 = Nowe pieśni niemieckie na pięć głosów i jedna na osiem skomponowane na sposób włoskich madrygałów 1610, published by P. Kociumbas, Lublin 2010; M. Szelest The Repertoire of the Braunsberg/Oliva Organ Tablatures and Ist Sources, in: Universalia et Particularia. Ars et praxis Societatis Jesu in Polonia, ed. B. Bohdanowicz, T. Jeż, «Fontes Musicae in Polonia», B/II, Warsaw 2018.
Compositions:
Newe Deutsche Gesänge for 5 and 8 voices, published in Gdańsk 1610 A. Hünefeldt (2nd ed. Leipzig 1612 J. Apel, lost)
Sacri modulorum concentus for 8 voices, published in Szczecin 1615 J. Duber, 2nd ed. Frankfurt 1616, 3rd ed. Wittenberga 1619 – 21 pieces
Harmonia sacra in qua motectae for 6–12 voices and basso continuo, published in Frankfurt 1617 G. Tampach – 41 pieces
Odae sacrae Christo infantulo bethlemitico for 3 voices, published in Leipzig 1612 J. Apel (lost, 2nd ed. preserved: Odaria suavissima ex mellifluo D. Bernardi… for 3 voices, Frankfurt 1628 M. Kempffer – 21 pieces)
In die magnae festivitatis for 5 voices and basso continuo, in: W. Lilius Melodiae sacrae, published in Kraków 1604 B. Skalski (preserved but uncomplete)
55 religious compositions from Sacri modulorum concetus and Harmonia sacra written in the Pelplin tablature (copy in the Library of the Theological Seminary in Pelplin), 19 in the Braniewo-Oliwa tablature (copy in the Lietuvos mokslų akademijos library in Vilnius) and 12 in the manuscript. Wrocław – tablature Bohn Mus. Ms. 21 and voice book Bohn Mus. Ms. 29 (currently manuscript in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preussischer Kulturbesitz)
Motets and masses of uncertain authorship are also incompletely preserved in the manuscript. Gdańsk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Editions:
55 pieces in The Pelplin Tabulature Choral Compositions. Transcriptions of A. Hakenberger’s Works, edition by J. Węcowski, «Antiquitates Musicae in Polonia» IX, Graz-Warsaw 1970
Dulcis Jesu pie Deus w Danziger Kirchen-Musik. Vokalwerke des 16. bis 18. Jahrhunderts, published by F. Kessler, Stuttgart 1973
Neue Deutsche Gesänge mit fünff Stimmen und eins mit achten nach Art der Welschen Madrigalen componiret 1610 = Nowe pieśni niemieckie na pięć głosów i jedna na osiem skomponowane na sposób włoskich madrygałów 1610, published by Piotr Kociumbas, Lublin 2010
19 pieces in Tabulaturae Braunsbergenses-Olivenses, part 2 and 3, published by M. Szelest, «Fontes Musicae in Polonia» C/XXV, Warsaw 2021
