Lilius, Franciszek (EN)

Lilius, Gigli, Franciszek, †August 1657 Gromnik (near Tarnów), composer of Italian origin, bandmaster, clergyman, poet, son of Vincenzo, perhaps already born in Poland. He grew up in the environment of a royal band in which his father was a singer. In 1624–1625, F. Lilius stayed in the house of G. Frescobaldi in Rome. Then he probably belonged to the royal band in Warsaw (in 1632, he had the privilege of working at the royal court (“serwitor,” function existing only in Poland in the 18^th century)), from where he came to Krakow in January 1630, employed as bandmaster of the Wawel Cathedral. In Krakow and Lesser Poland, he became an undisputed musical authority, he performed with a band at celebrations in Wiśnicz, in Krakow churches, at the Krakow Academy and among wealthier townspeople, and he himself ran a kind of music academy in his home; he trained soprano boys sought by magnate bands. One of Lilius’s pupils was M. Mielczewski. Since the 1930s, F. Lilius regularly sought new prebends (canonry in the collegiate church in Sandomierz, canonry in Tarnów, canonry in the collegiate church of St. Michael in Wawel, parish in Żębocin). It is not certain whether F. Lilius was ordained a priest or only a deacon, which is confirmed in the sources. In 1632, he published an ode he wrote in honour of W.D. Zasławski-Ostrogski, in the Alcean meter, and in 1633 two odes dedicated to Bishop Mikołaj Szyszkowski. He maintained close contact with Kraków’s monastic centres (Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites) and aristocratic courts (Ł. and K. Opaliński, S. Lubomirski, W.D. Zasławski-Ostrogski and others), to whom he provided compositions and honoured the celebrations with band performances. In 1646, like M. Scacchi, K. Förster senior and other composers, as a valued musician, he received a copy of his Canoni musicali from Roman Michele. In the 1950s, he was probably associated with the Brotherhood of Italians in Krakow. The last mention of F. Lilius comes from 9 September 1654, when he participated in the meeting of the general chapter of Sandomierz. On 5 August 1657, he made a will. He died in August 1657 in Gromnik near Tarnów, where he took refuge during the Swedish invasion.

The preserved inventories (of the Carmelites from Krakow, the Franciscans from Przemyśl and Drohiczyn, the Piarists from Podoliniec) and indirect sources show that F. Lilius practiced almost all genres and forms of the time, both prima and seconda pratica, with the exception of dramatic music, for which there aren’t any proofs. F. Lilius excelled especially in vocal small voice and monumental concertato. As indirect sources testify, his small-voice concerts were popular among Polish music lovers. Most likely, it was both secular vocal poetry (not preserved), perhaps of the Roman monody or small-voice type, and religious (preserved) in the form of small-voice church concerts. The latter represent a type of religious concert in a form typical of the Roman repertoire. It is a two- or three-part vocal chord accompanied by basso continuo. The composer uses imitation and concert techniques. Each initial phrase is first shown solo and then repeated (only in Tua Jesu dilectio not literally) by the remaining voices (or voice). These phrases most often become a subject for imitation (usually casual), which becomes more and more intense as the piece progresses, reaching maximum stretto. Melodically, especially the phrases that begin the piece are exemplary for the antithetical baroque phrase: they begin with a slow movement and gradually move to increasingly finer values. In these concerts, a new type of vocal virtuosity closely related to the emotional values and dynamics of the text was fully applied; the virtuoso element intensifies throughout the piece and culminates in the ending (especially in Haec dies and Tua Jesu dilectio). The almost complete absence of parallel imperfect consonances – so commonly used at that time in the area of double voices – indicates the high mastery of compositional craftsmanship by F. Lilius. The advanced stage of development of his concerts of this type is evidenced by the departure from the imitative connections between vocal voices and basso continuo, which were still present in Roman practice in the first decades of the 17^th century. The multi-sectional architectural structure is strictly dependent on the verbal text.

Most of F. Lilius’s works known (mainly from inventories) belong to the monumental concertato. These are pieces for 8–20 voices, typical of the polychoral technique, mainly masses, psalms, magnificats, litanies, as well as instrumental sonatas; the latter intended for solemn services. Of these works, the Missa brevissima and two incomplete masses for two choirs have survived. F. Lilius uses the older type of polychoralism, where full choirs compete with each other; he does not introduce solo passages here, he occasionally differentiates the sound by separating corresponding (concerting) pairs of voices or three voices. Homorhythm definitely predominates, imitation appears in a few passages, especially at the beginning of individual movements. The Venetian principle of differentiating choirs in terms of timbre (lower and upper choir) is clearly implemented by F. Lilius in Missa brevissima. To intensify the contrast, it was also possible to introduce a set of instruments doubling the vocal voices. In turn, two incompletely preserved two-choir masses from Gdańsk sources represent the Roman type of polychorality (both choirs with mixed instruments, chiavi naturali). The great concertato is also represented by the concertos of Jubilate Deo, Dexter Domini and Mutetta super Nicolai Solemnia, intended for 5 or 6 vocal voices, from which soloists or duets are formed, and an instrumental ensemble, including string instruments and trombones and bassoon in a continuo group. The imitation technique is present here only partially, the basis of shaping is the principle of contrast: on the multi-episode structure of the concert, F. Lilius adds richly diversified performance means, concertising short phrases shifting from voice to voice, contrasting solo and tutti, alternating even and odd meters. Jubilate Deo is a religious concert with the most twinkling sound effects that have been preserved in Poland. The introductory sinfonia of this concerto gives an idea of the instrumental work of F. Lilius. It is a typical part of a chamber canzona with the so-called canzon rhythm and imitation that begins the piece.

Of F. Lilius’s instrumental compositions, only the multi-episode Aria for two violins and viola da gamba, with a ritornello structure, with virtuoso sections, and the organ Toccata with melodic material referring to the songs about Saint Dominic from the collection Pious Songs by F. Lilius have survived.

The most numerous of F. Lilius’s preserved works in the stile antico were most likely intended for a purely local purpose, as they are dominated by arrangements for a group of male voices, and therefore serving the Rorantist college. These are masses (including requiem), motets and songs, most often based on the traditional equal-note cantus firmus, or very simple, using the nota contra notam technique, or introducing decorative counterpoint; imitation passages appear less frequently. F. Lilius is also the author of 4-voice religious songs with Polish text, in which the melody of the song is placed in the highest voice as a “voice for the common people.” Both the entire activity of F. Lilius and his work in particular played an outstanding role in the spread of Italian stile moderno in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Literature: A. Chybiński Muzycy włoscy w krakowskich kapelach katedralnych (1619–1657), “Przegląd Muzyczny” 1927; Z.M. Szweykowski F. Lilius i jego twórczość na tle wczesnego baroku w Polsce, “Muzyka” 1960 No. 1, 1962 No. 4; D. Popinignis Dwie niekompletne msze F. Liliusa zachowane w bibliotece gdańskiej Polskiej Akademii Nauk, “Muzyka” 1992 No. 1; M. Bebak Franciszek Lilius. Życie i twórczość na tle epoki, Kraków 2018; introductions to editions.