Paligon Marcin, 2nd half 16th and early (?) 17th c., Polish composer. Biographical data is lacking. Paligon’s only surviving work was entered at the beginning of the 17th century, with the note “ad aequales 5 vocum” (Quinta vox missing), into the Capella Rorantistarum active at the Wawel Cathedral, and later copied with the addition of a ripieno voice (Kraków, Cathedral Chapter Archive, MS. 1.1 and 1.360). It is the introit Rorate caeli, comprising both the antiphon, the verse and the doxology, though the third part repeats the material of the second. In the tenor, Paligon introduced the chant melody as an equal-note cantus firmus, while in the remaining voices he used ornamental counterpoint; traces of imitation appear only in parts 2 (and 3).
Literature: A. Chybiński Martinus Paligonius, “Hosanna” 1928 nos. 4 and 5, and print Tarnów 1928; 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; M. Wysocki Modalności dzieł motetowych kompozytorów polskich XVI wieku, thesis, A. Mickiewicz University in Poznań, 2021.
Rorate caeli, ed. E. Głuszcz-Zwolińska in: Muzyka staropolska, ed. H. Feicht, Krakow 1966, also in: «Musica Antiqua Polonica» – Renesans, ed. P. Poźniak, iss. 1, Kraków 1993
