Martinus Leopolitanus (?-1589?)
Musica liturgica
Wrocław Baroque Ensemble/Andrzej Kosendiak
Marcin Zselest (organ)
rec. 2022, Basilica of St Andrew the Apostle, Olkusz, Poland
Texts and translations included
CD Accord ACD314 [60]

Poland has a lively early music scene. In the last decades quite a number of ensembles have entered the scene, some of which have gained an international reputation. Fortunately, Polish performers don’t forget to pay attention to their own musical heritage. The recordings that have been released in recent years attest to that. The Wrocław Baroque Ensemble and its conductor Andrzej Kosendiak are among the most prominent interpreters of Polish music of the renaissance and baroque periods. The disc under review includes the complete oeuvre of a hardly-known composer from the 16th century.

Very little is known about Marcin Leopolita, or Martinus Leopolitanus, as his name goes in Latin. His last name refers to Lviv, and this indicates that he was born there, but we don’t know when. Nothing is known about his musical education either, and there is only fragmentary information about his career. There is documentary evidence that in the years 1560/61 he was employed at the court of King Sigismund Augustus as compositor cantus. It is assumed that he died in 1589, but that information is taken from a book which contains a number of inaccuracies.

The entire extant oeuvre of Leopolita comprises one mass and four motets. The mass is only available complete in a printed edition of 1889. This is based on a manuscript of which today only a few parts are available. It seems that two other masses by Leopolita have existed, but these have not been preserved. The Missa Paschalis is one of the first complete mass cycles in Polish history. It is based on material taken from the ‘pseudo-Gregorian’ Easter Credo, which in fact is a compilation of five hymns on Polish texts. The melody of one of them, Chrystus Pan zmartwychwstał, is quoted at the start of each mass section, except the Benedictus. The mass is scored for five voices; in the Agnus Dei a sixth is added. It is notable that the whole mass is strictly through-composed in imitative polyphony; there are no sections for reduced forces or homophonic passages.

The four motets have not survived with their original texts, but only in the form of organ intabulations. That is how they are performed here. The opening words are not enough to attempt any form of reconstruction of the vocal versions. Three of these pieces, which are performed before the mass (tracks 02 – 04), are from a collection which in sources are described as Introitus totius anni. According to Szymon Starowolski, who wrote the composer’s biographical entry in Scriptorum Polonicorum Hekatontas (Frankfurt am Main, 1625), Leopolita composed liturgical pieces based on plainchant for the entire ecclesiastical year. It seems to have been commissioned by King Sigismund Augustus, which leads to the years 1560/61 as the time of composition. This collection has been lost, and the three pieces included here may have been part of it. They are followed here by Nunc scio vere by Wacław of Szamotuł, who for some time also worked at the court of Sigismund Augustus, but converted to Protestantism and from 1555 until his death worked at the Calvinist court of Duke Mikołaj Radziwiłł in Lithuania. This piece has also been preserved only as an organ tablature.

The mass is introduced by an anonymous piece as introitus; another anonymous work precedes the Credo. There are also two pieces by Giovanni Francesco Maffon, one of several composers from the 16th and 17th centuries that worked in Poland. From 1577 to 1593 he was organist at the court. The Fantasia in d minor has been known only in a lute version; the other fantasia was discovered in Oxford. As Maffon was an organist, one can be sure that both pieces were originally intended as organ works.

Before the mass we get two further pieces by Leopolita. Resurgente Christo Domino, a motet not based on plainchant, is again only available as organ tablature. It is followed by a paduana and gagliarda, which were discovered in a tablature from Wroclaw. It was not known that Leopolita had written any instrumental works. This piece was originally conceived as a work for five instruments. Here it is performed again as an organ work.

The mass is performed here with one voice per part, by six male singers in the alto, tenor and bass range. They deliver excellent performances, in fluent legato; the blending is immaculate. The mass takes 22 minutes, which means that the largest part of this disc is devoted to organ music. Marcin Szelest is the outstanding interpreter, who has a very fine instrument at his disposal. The organ dates from the first half of the 17th century (1611/33), which makes it pretty much the ideal instrument for this repertoire.

To sum up, this is another interesting and musically compelling document which sheds light on Poland’s musical past. It cannot be appreciated enough that such treasures are brought to light in our time, and receive such fine performances as is the case here.

Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen

Contents
anon (c1570)
Phanthasia secundi toni*
Marcin Leopolita (?-1589?)
[Introitus] de Commune Apostolorum: Mihi autem nimis honorati sunt amici tui Deus – Gloria Patri*
[Introitus in festo Pentecostes]: Spiritus Domini replevit orbem terrarum – Gloria Patri*
[Introitus in feria secunda infra Octavam Pentecostes]: Cibavit eos ex adipe frumenti Alleluia*
Wacław o Szamotuły (c1524-c1560)
[Introitus] in die Apostolorum Petri et Pauli: Nunc scio vere – Gloria Patri*
Marcin Leopolita
Paduana [ – Galliarda]*
Resurgente Christo Domino*
anon (c1580)
[Introitus in festo Paschae]: Resurrexi et adhuc tecum sum*
Marcin Leopolita
Missa Paschalis:
Kyrie
Gloria
Francesco Maffon (c1539-c1594)
Fantasia [in d]*
anon (c1580)
Prosa de Resurrectione D[omini] N[ostri] J[esu] C[hristi]: Victimae Paschali – Agnus redemit oves – Dic nobis Maria – Tropus ad placitum – Credendum est magis*
Marcin Leopolita
Missa Paschalis:
Credo
Francesco Maffon
Fantasia [in g]*
Marcin Leopolita
Missa Paschalis:
Sanctus – Benedictus
Agnus Dei
(* organ)