Mikołaj Gomółka (c. 1535 – after 30 April 1591, most probably 5 March 1609) was a Polish Renaissance

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and a member of the

royal court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word ''court'' may also be app ...

of Sigismund II Augustus. At the court, he served as a singer, flutist, and trumpeter.

Life

Gomółka was born in

Sandomierz Sandomierz (pronounced: ; , ) is a historic town in south-eastern Poland with 23,863 inhabitants (), situated on the Vistula River near its confluence with the San, in the Sandomierz Basin. It has been part of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (Holy ...

. Between 1545 and 1563, he resided at the royal court, where he acquired proficiency in playing the

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, the 'sztort' (an old Polish

wind instrument A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitch ...

, a prototype of the

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

), the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

, and the

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...

. He eventually became a full-fledged musician of the royal chapel. After leaving the court, he took on various social and legal roles in Sandomierz. He spent some time at the court of

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

bishop Piotr Myszkowski, Gomółka also conducted mining research near Muszyna and resided at the court of Jan Zamoyski in

. As of 30 April 1591, he was still living there, which marks the last known date of his life. The only preserved work by Gomółka is a collection of 150 independent compositions to the text of David's Psalter by

Jan Kochanowski Jan Kochanowski (; 1530 – 22 August 1584) was a Polish Renaissance poet who wrote in Latin and Polish and established poetic patterns that would become integral to Polish literary language. He has been called the greatest Polish poet before ...

, for four-part unaccompanied mixed choir. The music is fully subordinated to the contents and the expressive layer of the text; he illustrates the mood or particular words by means of musical devices. In some works the composer applies dance rhythms characteristic of canzonetta. Th
"Melodies for the Polish Psalter"
are a valuable monument of Old Polish culture showing the lay achievements of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

adapted to the Polish conditions.

Music

*"Melodies for the Polish Psalter" ("Melodiae na Psałterz polski"") of Mikołaj Gomółka was recorded in 1996 on CD by

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750) or Ancient music (before 500 AD). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad Dates of classical ...

Warsaw Music Society's medieval instruments ensemble -Ars Nova and vocal ensemble Il Canto. CD got award of the Polish music industry Fryderyk in category of

in 1996.List of Ars Nova LP`s.
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References

External links

Works by Mikołaj Gomółka in National Digital Library of Poland (Polona)
Renaissance composers 1530s births 1609 deaths Polish composers People from Sandomierz People from Yazlovets Polish male classical composers Musicians from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth {{Poland-composer-stub