Leopolita, Martinus (EN)

Leopolita, Leopolitanus, Leopoliensis, Martinus Marcin, Martinus Lwow, Marcin ze Lwowa, Lwowczyk, †1589 (?), Polish composer. S. Starowolski mentions that Leopolita studied medicine and poetics only in the country: in the 1^st ed. of his work, he says it was under Sebastian z Felsztyna and in the 2^nd, he specifies it was from Sebastian’s texts. It is believed that a note in the accounts of the court of Sigismund Augustus mentions Leopolita – “Martinus compositor cantus” was accepted into the king’s service on 1 May 1560. It seems even more probable because “Martinus Lwow” was listed among royal chaplain-musicians (1561). The composer stayed at the royal court probably only in 1560–61. Sz. Starowolski’s belief that Leopolita was an organist of Sigismund Augustus cannot be confirmed; however, the “Leopholita” mentioned in 1584, 1586 and 1587 on some lists of the ensemble of Stefan Batory as a singer and musician may be identical to Martinus. J.B. Zimorowicz gave a year of Leopolita’s death, but it is an unreliable source.

Leopolita’s work has been preserved partially, and information on lost pieces, similarly to information concerning the composer’s biography, has been interpreted in various ways. In 1885, J. Surzyński informed about a separate Missa de Resurrectione; however, that is a title of one of the Missa paschalis copies preserved in fragments. Sz. Starowolski mentioned Leopolita’s year-round cycle; it is known that such a manuscript was preserved in Puławy until 1831. The mention in the inventory of the Franciscan Order in Kraków (1595): “Introitus totius anni Martini Leopoliensis amonis et aliorum manuscripta,” indicates that there was a cycle of introits by Leopolita himself, or composed of introits by Leopolita, B. Amon and other composers. Attributing to Leopolita (Z. Jachimecki, M. Grafczyńska) the authorship of anonymous works from the so-called Łowicz tablature is not justified.

Leopolita’s mass is based on four Easter songs alive in the Polish tradition, or rather on a pseudo-Chorale Credo constructed from these melodies. Leopolita used individual sections of the songs as thematic phrases in an imitated structure (Kyrie, Sanctus), as a rhythmic cantus firmus, usually in the highest voice (Gloria, Credo) or as a cantus firmus in longer, equal values ​​(Agnus Dei). Leopolita also wove sections from the melody into the lines of counterpoint voices and sometimes juxtaposed two melodies as equal (fragments of Gloria or two parallel cantus firmus in Agnus Dei). In the mass, the songs are sometimes quoted without changes or transformed melodically, as well as introduced in inversion.

The characterisation of Leopolita’s motets is difficult by the fact that the intavolation process could have involved mixing the lines of different voices and ornamenting them (an example of transformations are the differences between the two known versions of Mihi autem). The most perfect of the transcribed works is considered to be Resurgente, a work of considerable size, clear and proportionate form, with consistently applied imitation. Its text remains unknown, and only the verbal incipit indicates that the motet is intended for the Easter period. The three remaining ones preserved in tablatures are introits. In two of them, the main role is played by imitations of phrases referring to the appropriate chorale melodies, while the construction of Spiritus Domini is quite free. The second part, in particular, the four-voice doxology, differs from the rest of Leopolita’s output; it gives the impression that it was intended for the organ from the beginning as part of the alternatim technique. A similar suggestion is sometimes made concerning the second part of the Mihi autem motet. Three 5-voice motets preserved in the form of organ intavolations in the Łowicz tablature and the so-called “castle” tablature (Poliński) are perhaps relics of a collection of polyphonic liturgical pieces based on Gregorian chant and intended for the entire church year, created on the orders of King Sigismund Augustus (probably in 1560–61, when Leopolita was employed at the court as compositor cantus), which was kept in the Załuski Library until its confiscation in 1794.

The organ tablature from the St. Elizabeth’s Church in Wrocław, made by Georg Gotthart, an organist of the church in 1568–85, includes an instrumental composition by Marcin Leopolita, Paduana Leopolithanowa (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Slg Bohn Ms. mus. 357, k. 66v–67r). It is a transcription of a piece originally intended for a group of five melodic instruments.

Leopolita is one of the most eminent Polish composers of the 16^th century, as his work is characterised by the use of five voices (Agnus Dei from the mass adds a sixth voice), the predominance of imitation and imitative technique over the cantus firmus technique, and a good sense of form and contrapuntal proficiency. The composer was also familiar with the idea of ​​expressing the content of the text with music, highly valued in the 16^th century. In addition to the banal, short illustrations of individual words (altissimus, descendit, finis), one can find, for example, a particularly ingenious musical structure expressing “creativepower” in the text “Deus Pater omnipotens” (Gloria) or a jokingly introduced, in a longer section, metro-rhythmic confusion in the call “et inebriamini” (“get elated” but also “get drunk”) in Veni in hortum meum.

Literature: S. Starowolski Scriptorum polonicorum hekatontas…, Frankfurt am Main 1625, 2^nd ed. Venice 1627, entitled Setnik pisarzów polskich, transl. J. Starnawski, Kraków 1970; J.B. Zimorowicz Viri illustres civitatis Leopoliensis…, Lviv 1671, ed. K. Heck, in: Iosephi B. Zimorowicz opera…, Lviv 1899; A. Chybiński Ze studiów nad polską muzyką wokalną wielogłosową w XVI w., “Przegląd Muzyczny” no. 17, 20, 22, 1910; Z. Jachimecki Tabulatura organowa z drugiej połowy XVI wieku, polskiego pochodzenia, “Sprawozdania z Czynności i Posiedzeń PAU w Krakowie” no. 2, 1914; S. Tomkowicz Materyały do historii stosunków kulturalnych w XVI w. na dworze królewskim polskim, Kraków 1915; M. Grafczyńska Über Orgeltabulatur Martinus Leopolitas, dissertation, Vienna 1919; H. Feicht O mszy wielkanocnej Marcina Leopolity, “Kwartalnik Muzyczny” II, 1930 no. 6–7, extended ed. in: H. Feicht Studia nad muzyką polskiego renesansu i baroku, Kraków 1980; J. Gołos Tabulatura Warszawskiego Towarzystwa Muzycznego jako zabytek muzyki organowej, “Muzyka” VI, 1961 no. 1; M. Perz Motety Marcina Leopolity, in: Studia Hieronymo Feicht septuagenario dedicata, ed. Z. Lissa, Kraków 1967; M. Perz Rękopiśmienne partesy olkuskie, “Muzyka” XIV, 1969 no. 2; Z.M. Szweykowski Nieznana wersja motetu „Mihi autem” Marcina Leopolity, “Muzyka” XXIX, 1984 no. 4; T. Maciejewski Obraz kultury muzycznej franciszkanów polskich u schyłku XVI w. i na początku XVII, “Zeszyty Naukowe Akademii Muzycznej w Gdańsku” no. 25, 1986; E. Głuszcz-Zwolińska Muzyka nadworna ostatnich Jagiellonów, Kraków 1988; T. Jasiński Próba eksplikacji imponderabiliów techniki kompozytorskiej na przykładzie polifonii sakralnej kompozytorów polskich drugiej połowy XVI wieku, “Muzyka” XXXV, 1990 no. 2; K. Morawska Renesans. 1500–1600, Warsaw 1994; T.M. Czepiel The Missa Paschalis of Marcin Leopolita: The Re-discovery of the Bassus Part, in: Affetti musicologici. Księga pamiątkowa z afektem ofiarowana profesorowi Zygmuntowi Marianowi Szweykowskiemu w 70. rocznicę urodzin, ed. P. Poźniak, Kraków 1999; P. Poźniak Repertuar polskiej muzyki wokalnej w epoce Renesansu. Studium kontekstualno-analityczne, Kraków 1999; M. Szelest Przyczynki do działalności i twórczości muzyków związanych z dworem królewskim Rzeczpospolitej w drugiej połowie XVI wieku, “Muzyka” LXVII, 2022 nr 4.