Klabon, Christopherus (EN)

Klabon, Clabon, Clabonius, Christopherus, Krzysztof, *ca. 1550, †after October 1616, Polish composer, instrumentalist, and singer from Königsberg [now Kaliningrad] or its vicinity (in Latin Regiomontanus). Before 1565, he was a boy singer at the court of Sigismund Augustus, and on 6 January of that year, he was accepted into a group of instrumentalists, with whom he operated until the king’s death (1572). Perhaps already during the interregnum and the reign of Henry of Valois, Klabon was in charge of the entire court music ensemble (the previous kapellmeister also died in 1572), but official confirmation of this function came with the reorganisation of the court immediately after the coronation of Stephen Báthory (May 1576). His duties also included looking after the choristers (descantists) and teaching them. Some of the notes in the royal financial records after 1594 concerning musicians indicate that Klabon directed the band until 1601. The last surviving records seem to indicate that in 1602 he was solely responsible for the boys’ choir, while G.C. Gabussi briefly took the position of a bandmaster. In March 1604, the composer is mentioned in a notarial deed drawn up in Krakow and referred to as “chori musices praefectus.” During his approximately 40 years of service, Klabon travelled extensively throughout the country and accompanied Sigismund III Vasa on two trips to Stockholm (1593–94 and 1598). In addition to leading the royal musicians, participating in their productions, and providing them with sheet music, he also performed as a soloist. He sang accompanied by an instrument at the grand wedding of J. Zamoyski and G. Batorówna in Krakow (1583). According to F. Siarczyński, Klabon also sang at the weddings of Sigismund III to Anne of Austria (1592) and Constance of Austria (1605) and – in Vilnius and Warsaw – during the celebrations marking the capture of Smolensk (1611). The latest document mentioning the composer is a notarial deed dated 31 October 1616, preserved in the record books of the proceedings of the wójt’s s court in Krakow.

The degree of kinship between Krzysztof and Antonius Clabon (†1587 or 1588), who was accepted into Sigismund II Augustus’s group of trumpeters on 21 June 1569 in Lublin, is unknown. His is listed without interruption in the financial records related to this group until the beginning of 1587 (after Stephen Báthory’s death), and in 1588 he is noted as deceased. 

The Klabon’s Officium is a complete cycle of the ordinarium missae. The inscriptions “Quatuor [vocum]” before the sections “Crucifixus” and “Benedictus” indicate that the whole work was intended for more (probably five) voices. The number of voices was also reduced in the Credo section to the words “Et iterum venturus est,” where the remained voice rests. However, there are no metric (there is no triple metre) or tonal contrasts (the whole work is in transposed Dorian mode). An analysis of the melodic line of the preserved voice does not indicate any connection with the chorale, but in all parts, there are repetitions (sometimes unchanged, but most often transformed) of quite characteristic phrases presented in the Kyrie. Such uniformity of melodic material is characteristic of the missa parodia or of masses based on songs for one voice. The way the phrases are constructed, their metric shifts and the number of rests between phrases suggest a significant amount of imitation in the piece. This also applies to the longer movements (Gloria, Credo), although here some transformations of the phrases give them a more recitative character, which may also be related to homorhythm. The opinion is often repeated in the literature that the preserved voice-part of Klabon’s mass is the highest voice, in which case the work would have been intended for a male ensemble; however, the cadential shapes suggest that it is an alto (the score is in alto clef, the ambitus almost coincides with the alto in Kyrie paschale), and therefore the work could have been written for the royal band.

In Klabon’s Kyrie paschale, sections of pervading imitations are juxtaposed with phrases based on a choral cantus firmus in equal, longer values. The work’s ingenious structure appears intact in the preserved organ score, demonstrating a high level of command of polyphonic technique. The close correspondence between the rhythm of the imitated phrases and counterpoints and the prosody of the text is particularly noticeable. This facilitates the reconstruction of the vocal version.

Occassional songs Pieśni Kalliopy [Songs of the Calliope], celebrating the victory over the armies of Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria, are short, verse-structured pieces written to texts by S. Grochowski. In the first four, the music of the verse consists of only two short, repeated phrases; in the last two, it is slightly more varied. The identical rhythm of the phrases in the verse strongly emphasises the metrical character of the poem. The highest voice clearly dominates in all the songs. Pieśń V [Song No. 5] is particularly recitative in character, due to the multiple repetition of sounds. The specific texture of the Pieśni Kalliopy, which are suitable for performance by a solo voice accompanied by a chordal accompaniment, suggests that Klabon’s lost music to J. Kochanowski’s poetry was of a similar character. All three old prints state that the composer sang these poems (“Ad lyram cecinit Christoph. Clabonus…”). In 16th-century Poland, the term “lyra” usually referred to the violin, but in this case, it probably refers to one of the types of lute.

Literature: F. Siarczyński Obraz wieku panowania Zygmunta III, Lviv 1828; Pamiętniki do historyi Stefana, króla polskiego, pub. E. Raczyński, Warsaw 1830, further editions included in: J. Albertrandy Panowanie Henryka Walezyusza i Stefana Batorego, Krakow 2nd edition 1849, 3rd edition 1860, 4th edition 1861; A. Grabowski Skarbniczka naszej archeologii, Lipsk 1854; S. Tomkowicz Do historyi muzyki w Krakowie, “Rocznik Krakowski” IX, 1907 and print; Z. Jachimecki Wpływy włoskie w muzyce polskiej, Krakow 1911 (includes 4 Pieśni Kalliopy); S. Tomkowicz Materyały do historii stosunków kulturalnych w XVI w. na dworze królewskim polskim, Krakow 1915; A. Szweykowska Przeobrażenia w kapeli królewskiej na przełomie XVI i XVII w., “Muzyka” XIII, 1968 no. 2; E. Głuszcz-Zwolińska Muzyka nadworna ostatnich Jagiellonów, Krakow 1988; K. Morawska Renesans. 1500–1600, Warsaw 1994; T.M. Czepiel Music at the Royal Court and Chapel in Poland, c. 1543-1600, New York 1996; Polska pieśń wielogłosowa XVI i początku XVII wieku: nuty i komentarze, pub. P. Poźniak and W. Walecki, Krakow 2004; J. Trilupaitienė Kristupas Klabonas: gyvenimo ir kūrybos bruožai, “Menotyra” XIV, 2007 no. 1; B. Przybyszewska-Jarmińska and L. Jarmiński Hymn “Omni die dic Mariae” w kontekście zabiegów z początków XVII wieku o kanonizację Kazimierza Jagiellończyka, “Muzyka” LXVII, 2022 no. 3.