Mikolaj Zielenski (1550 - 1615) was a Polish composer.
Zieleński's only known surviving works are two
1611 liturgical cycles of polychoral works, the
Offertoria/Communes totius anni. These were dedicated
to the Archbishop of Gniezno, Wojciech Baranowski. The
sets consist of large-scale double- and triple-choir
antiphons, as well as some monodic works typical of the
Seconda pratica style of early Monteverdi.
Zieleński's music is the first known Polish music
set in the style of the Baroq...(+)
Mikolaj Zielenski (1550 - 1615) was a Polish composer.
Zieleński's only known surviving works are two
1611 liturgical cycles of polychoral works, the
Offertoria/Communes totius anni. These were dedicated
to the Archbishop of Gniezno, Wojciech Baranowski. The
sets consist of large-scale double- and triple-choir
antiphons, as well as some monodic works typical of the
Seconda pratica style of early Monteverdi.
Zieleński's music is the first known Polish music
set in the style of the Baroque.
Little is known today about the life and work of
Mikołaj Zieleński who lived at the turn of
the 17th century, indeed too little considering the
volume of his work and its historical significance. The
fragmentary information we have about him today allows
us to reconstruct solely a very fragmentary
biographical sketch about this composer. The
circumstances in which his exceptional talent was born
are a matter of many hypotheses and conjectures. The
music created thanks to his exceptional gift allowed
Zieleński to take a place in the history of music
by which he is even regarded as the best Polish
composer before Chopin. Szymon Skorowolski, a historian
contemporary to Zieleński, classified him as a
member of a group of Polish composers who had been
educated in Rome, "in media Roma exercitati". This is a
reference of great significance as it locates the main
source of his musical knowledge as a professional
composer.
Although the time of his musical education is
determined by this remark it makes it possible to come
up with a hypothesis as to the range of the Italian
music masters under whom he may have studied or whose
music became familiar to him and indicates his possible
connections within Italian musical circles. It is quite
certain that Zieleński studied the work of
Palestrina whose compositions were recognized by the
Council of Trent as the stylistic paragon and pattern
of church polyphony. He also became familiar with the
compositions of the Gabrielis (Andrea and his nephew
Giovanni), the two most eminent representatives of the
Venetian polychoral school. Likewise it cannot be
excluded that the Polish composer acquainted himself
with the ideas of Florentine camerata contained in
Dialogo della musica antica et della moderna of V.
Galilea (1581). Even the first attempts at accompanied
monody made by Caccini and Galilea in their Le nuove
musiche (1601) may have been familiar to him.
All the above-made suppositions and conclusions seem to
find corroboration in the two volumes of works by
Mikołaj Zieleński, Offertoria and Communiones
(published in Venice in 1611) at the press of Jacob
Vincentius. Both the frontispiece and the short preface
published in these books state that Zieleński was
a composer, organist and Kapelmeister at the court of
the Polish primate Wojciech Baranowski. The status of
the patron as well as the seat of his court, ?owicz,
the capital of the Archbishops and Primates of Poland,
and a well-known centre of musical life back in these
days, were fitting with the composer's rank as a
musician.
Unfortunately, these are the only known facts
concerning the life and work of Mikołaj
Zieleński. We know much more about his mastery as
a composer from his works that were published.
Offertoria totius anni which make up the first volume,
contain 56 seven- and eight-voiced compositions
enriched with the accompaniment of instruments. Next to
the Offertoria known surely after Gabrielli's Sacrae
Simphoniae we find here a twelve voice Magnificat. The
pieces in this collection are rendered in the concerto
style of the polychoral Venetian school. Let us
emphasize that the eight-voiced texture became the most
typical form of this type of composition in the
beginning of the 17th century. By taking up this trend,
Zieleński became one of the precursors of the
innovational approach to composing offertories.
Source:
IMSLP(https://imslp.org/wiki/In_monte_oliveti_(Martini%
2C_Giovanni_Battista) ).
Although originally created for three unaccompanied
mixed choirs (SATB), I created this Interpretation of
"In Monte Oliveti" for Woodwind Quintet (Flute, Oboe,
Bb Clarinet, French Horn & Bassoon).
