Jan z Lublina, 16th century, Polish organist, from 1540 at the latest was a member of the order of regular Lateran canons and worked in the monastery in Kraśnik; monastic documents show that he died there on 14 November 1552. Perhaps he is identical to one of the two Johns from Lublin, the first of whom obtained a magisterium in artibus et philosophia in 1499, and the second baccalariatus in artibus in 1508 at the Casimir Academy in Kraków. It cannot be ruled out that he was identical to Jan of Lublin – a vicar and altarist in St. Mary’s Church in Kraków in the late 1520s and 1530s.
Jan from Lublin was probably the first owner of the organ tablature, currently kept in the Scientific Library of the PAAS and the PAS in Krakow under the signature Ms. 1716, with the title TABVLATVRA IOANNIS DE LYUBLYN CANONIC [orum] REGVLARIVM DE CRASNYK 1540 embossed on the binding. The manuscript has 260 leaves, was written in the years 1537–48 by several scribes (including probably Jan), and is the most extensive source of organ music at that time in Europe. Most of the repertoire is preserved anonymously in the tablature but works with established authorship testify both to the reception of the works of French, Dutch, German and Italian composers (20 names), as well as to local works (monogrammers N.C. and N.Ch. – identified with Nicholas of Krakow and Nicholas from Chrzanów, N.Z. and Seweryn Koń). The collection includes invocations of vocal religious and secular music and independent religious organ pieces, as well as preludes and dances; an important part of the tablature is the treatise and exercises of a didactic nature in the field of organ composition and improvisation, as well as tips on organ tuning. It can be assumed that Jan collected these materials for the needs of his activities as an organist and teacher; he was probably the author of the opening part of the book (the treatise Ad faciendum cantum choralem and Fundamentum) and the final text (Ad faciendam correcturam).
Literature: Statuta nec non Liber promotionum philosophorum ordinis in uniwersitate studiorum Jagellonica ab anno 1402 ad annum 1849, published by J. Muczkowski, Kraków 1849; A. Chybiński Tabulatura organowa Jana z Lublina (1540), “Kwartalnik muzyczny” I, 1911; K. Wilkowska-Chomińska, introduction to: Tabulatura organowa Jana z Lublina, vol. 1 Indeks tematyczny, indeks alfabetyczny, facsimile, «Monumenta Musicae in Polonia» B/I, Kraków 1964; B. Brzezińska Repertuar polskich tabulatur organowych z pierwszej połowy XVI wieku, Kraków 1987; E. Zielińska Kultura intelektualna kanoników regularnych z klasztoru w Kraśniku w latach 1469–1563, Lublin 2002; E. Witkowska-Zaremba, introduction to: Tabulatura Joannis de Lublin. Ad faciendum cantum choralem. Fundamentum. Ad faciendam correcturam, «Monumenta Musicae in Polonia» C, Warsaw 2015; E. Zwolińska Pytania o muzykę w kościele Mariackim w Krakowie w pierwszej połowie XVI stulecia i o postać Jana z Lublina, “Muzyka” 63 (3), 2018; Z. Dobrzańska-Fabiańska, introduction to: Tabulatura Joannis de Lublin. Repertuar, vol. 1., «Monumenta Musicae in Polonia» B, Warsaw 2021.
