Lietuvos istorijos studijos ISSN 1392-0448 eISSN 1648-9101

2022, vol. 49, pp. 8–29 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15388/LIS.2022.49.1

Printed Music as a Medium of International Representation for the Magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: A Case Study of Music Prints Dedicated to Jan Karol Chodkiewicz and Aleksander Chodkiewicz^*

Aleksandra Pister
Research fellow, PhD
Vilnius University
Faculty of History
E-mail: aleksandrapister@yahoo.de

Summary. The article deals with the collections of printed music dedicated to the distinguished nobles, statesmen and military commanders of the Grand Dutchy of Lithuania, brothers Jan Karol and Aleksander Chodkiewicz. These collections were printed in Venice in the beginning of the 17th century and dedicated to the Lithuanian magnates by Italian composers Giovanni Valentini and Giulio Osculati. However, it was not in their home country where composers became acquainted with the above-mentioned noblemen who had studied and travelled extensively in Italy but in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In fact, both composers had served for certain periods of time as musicians in the Polish court chapel under Sigismund III Vasa. The said collections of motets are being examined here with an emphasis on publicity and international representation. The author notes that besides the reasonable expectations of both Italian composers to raise their public profiles, to publish and disseminate their work in Europe, these personal aspirations also resonated with the interests of other public figures. They both represent Sigismund III Vasa, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, as a generous patron and a leading social figure. The dedications were intended to glorify the Chodkiewicz and raise their profile within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and beyond. They account for the magnates’ victories in major military campaigns of the time, such as those achieved during the Polish–Swedish war of 1600–1611, as well as Chodkiewicz’s merits in defence of the state. Within the context of shifting confessional identities at the turn of the 16^th and 17^th centuries (i.e. the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation movements) these notated sources should be considered as a reflection of the magnates’ confessional identity. The very genre of printed works – motets for Catholic church service – reflects Chodkiewicz’s firm self-determination as Roman Catholics.
Keywords: Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, Aleksander Chodkiewicz, printed music, international representation, publicity, confessional identity, Giovanni Valentini, Giulio Osculati, Sigismund III Vasa.

Muzikos leidiniai – Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės magnatų tarptautinės reprezentacijos medija: Jonui Karoliui Chodkevičiui ir Aleksandrui Chodkevičiui dedikuoti leidiniai

Santrauka. Straipsnyje tiriami žymiems Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės didikams, valstybės veikėjams ir karvedžiams, Jonui Karoliui Chodkevičiui ir Aleksandrui Chodkevičiui, dedikuoti muzikos leidiniai. XVII a. pradžioje Venecijoje publikuotus leidinius didikams dedikavo italų kompozitoriai Giovanni Valentini ir Giulio Osculati. Ryšys su jais užsimezgė ne Italijoje, kur didikai studijavo ir keliavo, bet Abiejų Tautų Respublikoje. Kompozitoriai kurį laiką tarnavo jungtinės Lietuvos ir Lenkijos Valstybės valdovo Zigmanto Vazos muzikų kapeloje.
Motetų rinkiniai tiriami iš viešosios tarptautinės reprezentacijos perspektyvos. Matyti, kad greta suprantamo G. Valentini ir G. Osculati viešumo siekio, noro įamžinti, skleisti savo kūrybą Europoje, šie muzikos leidiniai atliepė kitų asmenų viešumo interesus. Leidiniai reprezentuoja Zigmantą Vazą, dosnų meno mecenatą, parodomas jo pirmaujantis socialinis statusas. Dedikacijos laiškai skirti Chodkevičiams pagerbti, didinti jų žinomumą Abiejų Tautų Respublikoje ir už jos ribų. Jie aukština didikų nuopelnus karo kampanijose, mini svarbias ano meto politines aktualijas – pergales Livonijos kare, Chodkevičių nuopelnus ginant valstybę. Ano meto konfesinių pokyčių – reformacijos ir kontrreformacijos – kontekste šie notografiniai šaltiniai vertintini kaip didikų konfesinės tapatybės atspindys. Publikuojamų kūrinių žanras – katalikiški sakraliniai motetai – atliepia nuoseklų Chodkevičių konfesinį pasirinkimą.
eikšminiai žodžiai: Jonas Karolis Chodkevičius, Aleksandras Chodkevičius, muzikos leidiniai, tarptautinė reprezentacija, viešumas, konfesinė tapatybė, Giovanni Valentini, Giulio Osculati, Zigmantas Vaza.

________

* This research project is funded by the European Social Fund (project No 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-19-0066) under the grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT).

Received: 11/04/2022. Accepted: 12/05/2022
Copyright © 2022 Aleksandra Pister. Published by Vilnius University Press
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Introduction

In the early modern era music was not only an indispensable part of education and privileged life of the Lithuanian nobility. It was also a medium used shrewdly for the purposes of public relations and political communication. Diverse formats of music – both live performances and printed music – served to communicate high social status of the sovereign and the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as GDL), demonstrate their great piety and power, reflect their religious and social identity.

Music constituted an essential component of all formal occasions and courtly rituals in the life of the nobility, including official visits and receptions, receptions for the diplomatic corps, weddings, birthday celebrations, funerals, coronation or enthronement ceremonies, solemn processions of various kinds (e.g., triumphal and religious processions), public religious services, etc. Almost every major musical event in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – for example, opera production – was connected to some formal occasion. The production of Italian opera Circe delusa (Circe Deceived) in 1648 may be taken as an example. The premiere was intended in honour of the arrival of French ambassador Louis d’Arpajon whose diplomatic mission was to decorate Ladislaus IV Vasa (1595–1648) with the French Order of the Holy Spirit from King Louis XIV.¹ The visit was cancelled and the production was postponed to be finally put on at the royal palace in Vilnius in honour of the arrival of Marie Louise Gonzaga de Nevers, a ward of King Louis XIII of France, and Ladislaus Vasa’s second wife.² For the second time this opera was shown at the wedding of Prince Janusz Radziwiłł (1612–1655), a nephew of Albrycht Stanisław Radziwiłł, on 25 April that same year.³

Most of the previously published studies on the political and communicative aspects of music or musical diplomacy focused on musical events, such as productions of operas and performances of secular and sacred works.⁴ Live music events served as a means of representation in various mediums – including the means of musical, visual (i.e., stage designs), and verbal (libretto and plot) expression – but at the same time they had certain limitations. Firstly, they were limited in time. Secondly, the audience attending these events was confined to the social elite of the time – a relatively small group of the nobility gathered at such occasions.⁵ The solemn arrivals of the royal family and the noblemen were visible to somewhat larger and more varied population including the nobility itself, the szlachta, the townspeople and the underclass, people of various religious communities.

Obviously taking into account the limitations of publicity related to live music events, the libretti of operas and oratorios were usually printed and handed out as gifts to the gathered audience, as well as sent out to other courts.⁶ This way the libretti of two operas – Il ratto di Helena (The Abduction of Helen) by Virgilio Puccitelli (1599–1654), published by the printing house of the Jesuit Academy in Vilnius, in 1636, and La regina Sant’Orsola (The Queen Saint Ursula) by Andrea Salvadori (1591–1634), published by Ceconcelli in Florence, in 1625, occurred in the library of Aleksander Ludwig Radziwiłł (1594–1654).⁷ The first libretto might have been acquired as a gift at the premiere, which Aleksander Ludwig attended as a guest.⁸ The second libretto was written for Marco da Gagliano’s opera, which was shown to Prince Ladislaus Vasa in Florence, in 1624.⁹ The entourage of the prince’s journey in Italy in 1624–1625 included Aleksander Ludwig’s cousin, Albrycht Stanisław mentioned above, who could have been given one or two printed copies of the libretto. It is plausible that the said libretto occurred in Aleksander Ludwig’s library thanks to Albrycht Stanisław.¹⁰

In terms of public communication, printed music enjoyed much wider accessibility in early modern Europe than live music performances. Music prints had an advantage over the specially prepared manuscripts and copies thereof, which have been compiled and delivered with a specific person in mind, often intended as a diplomatic gift because of easier distribution and wider access to the music-buying public in many countries. Certainly, this was made possible through the introduction of mechanical movable type printing, which significantly expanded the circulation of printed information. Printed music could reach people, with whom a composer or a patron had no previous contact, including the opponents. For example, a Lutheran could purchase sacred or secular sheet music by Catholic composers, which has been printed in Italy.¹¹

During the said period music prints were usually complemented by ornately designed frontispieces, very detailed title pages with long titles, dedications, prefaces, letters to the readers, elaborate frames and illustrations. The latter could range from the coat of arms and portraits of a person thus being promoted or other images and paratexts specifically related to a communicated message. Visual and verbal information contained in such prints could not be possibly communicated during live performances. But certain messages could be communicated through the choice of works, genre and style contained in such collections, or – in case of vocal music – through the medium of verbal text. This kind of information could reach the audience both in the form of printed music and during public performances.¹²

The novelty of this research is mainly related to the object and adopted perspective. The political and communicative aspects of music in the early modern era have been hitherto examined mostly based on the repertoire dedicated to and/or initiated by the central European monarchs and the nobility. The musical heritage of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania reveals essentially similar tendencies as in other Central European countries of the time. Most of the prior studies concentrated on the musical repertory related to the royal court of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (hereinafter referred to as PLC). This article deals with the notated sources dedicated to the Chodkiewicz brothers, noblemen of the GDL, which had not yet attracted any attention. The inquiry into how these collections of music came into being relies on the wider European context and other similar precedents found therein. It draws attention to the potential of these printed collections to communicate political messages and represent events and public figures.

The object of this research is the inquiry into the printed collections of music entitled Giovanni Valentini’s Motecta IIII. V & VI vocum Ioannis Valentini Organistae <...> Venetiis <...> 1611 and Giulio Osculati’s Liber primus motectorum, Quinque, Sex, Septem, Octo, Novem, Decem, & Duodecim Vocum. Autore Iulio Osculato Laudensi. <...> In Venetia <...> 1609 dedicated to Jan Karol Chodkiewicz (ca.1570–1621) and Aleksander Chodkiewicz (ca.1569–1605) respectively. Some related notated sources – collections of music written by the same Italian composers but dedicated to King Sigismund III Vasa (1566–1632) – also fall within the scope of this research. The aim of this research is to delineate the scope of public relations and political communication in the said collections of music. The objectives of this research are the following: to identify and contextualise a message communicated in the texts and paratexts; to identify the represented individuals and to define what public and private benefits they had from such representation; to examine the works printed in these collections from the viewpoint of public communication. This research does not attempt to present any conclusive results of musicological analysis of the works in question because the extant musical material is far too insufficient for the reconstruction of complete compositions and, consequently, for the detailed analysis thereof. The methods of research include analytical and comparative approaches.

1. Motets dedicated to Jan Karol Chodkiewicz

Motecta IIII, V & VI vocum,¹³ printed by Angelo Gardano & Fratres in Venice, in 1611, was the first collection of motets by the then emerging Italian composer, Giovanni Valentini, which he dedicated to the influential magnate and successful military commander of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz (ca.1570–1621). At the time of publication of the motets, in 1611, Chodkiewicz was already a top commander of military campaigns and battles. Both at home and abroad he is mainly remembered for the impressive victory in the Battle of Kircholm (now Salaspils) in 1605. Historical sources mention that the Polish-Lithuanian forces led by the Great Hetman of Lithuania Jan Karol Chodkiewicz dealt a decisive defeat to a Swedish army three or four times the size of his own.¹⁴ This victory was glorified in quite a few literary works, all published in Vilnius, such as the poem Pieśn nowa Caliopy Sarmackiey o szczęśliwym porażeniu książąt Karola Sudermańskiego y Friderika Lunenburskiego... prezez... Pana Jana Karola Chodkiewicza... of 1605 [The New Song of Sarmatian Calliope…] by Chryzostom Wołodkiewicz (Golniewski), Symon Ślaski’s poem Pamiątka albo Kolumny nieśmiertelności... [Memento, or the Columns of Immortality] of 1606, Piotr Skarga’s sermon Pokłon Panu Bogu zastępow za zwyciestwo Inflantskie Carolusem Sudemańskim Ksiżeciem, dane w dzien S. Stanisława 27 dnia Septembra, Roku p. 1605 nad Rygą w Kircholmu, za szcześliwa sprawa hetmana nawyszego W. K. Litewskiego... Jana Carolusa Chodkiewicza... of 1605 [The Worship of Our Lord…], and Laurentius Boyer’s poem Carolomachia, qua felix victoria ope Divina... [The Battle of Charleses…] of 1606.

Valentini’s collection of motets is likewise a laudatory contribution to Chodkiewicz’s merits in the so-called Livonian War, which are also mentioned in the dedication of the print (see below). It was printed in 1611 – that same year the Polish–Swedish War of 1600–1611, in which Sweden and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth fought over control of Livonia, ended in truce signed in Riga. One can only hypothesize that the publication of this collection might well have been provoked by this particular event.

1.1. Paths in the life and work of Giovanni Valentini

Before reaching the peak of his career at the Habsburg court in Graz and Vienna, Venetian composer Giovanni Valentini (ca. 1582–1649) had served in the Polish court chapel under Sigismund III Vasa for about a decade (1604/05–1614). This position was his first known employment as a musician.¹⁵ Little known is about the early years of Valentini’s life, his education and the start of his career.¹⁶ Jan Karol and his elder brother Aleksander Chodkiewicz visited several Italian cities in 1589–90, including Padua, Rome and Venice. They could not possibly meet the composer in Italy because he was only around eight years of age at that time. Jan Karol Chodkiewicz met Valentini at the royal court of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Valentini was employed there as court organist, but among his other professional responsibilities were also teaching and composing. His collection of motets dedicated to Chodkiewicz is the single testimony of the composer’s collaboration with the magnate and the only surviving source testifying to the period when the composer lived and served in Vilnius (see below). Based on the data available today, this was a one-off collaboration, since there is no evidence about the existence of any other works dedicated to Chodkiewicz or any other requests to perform, teach or compose music made by the magnate.

It was during his service in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that Valentini married Barbara (her family name is not known), with whom he had around six children. The register of the Collegiate Church of St. John the Baptist in Warsaw includes the records of the couple’s firstborn son Francesco Domenico Valentini who was christened on 15 December 1613 and daughter Katarzyna who was born on 16 November 1614 and did not survive infancy.¹⁷

In 1614, Valentini began his service at the court of Archduke of Austria (the future Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II) in Graz.¹⁸ It is very likely that such a giant leap in Valentini’s career was propelled by the benevolence of his patroness in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Constance of Austria – the second wife of Sigismund III Vasa and younger sister of Emperor Ferdinand II. At the Habsburg court Valentini was first of all congratulated as an organist from Poland; the archduke ordered to pay “the newly arrived organist from Poland” the sum of 150 gulden.¹⁹ Federhofer noted that he was employed at the Habsburg court primarily as a virtuoso musician, while composition was not his main responsibility.²⁰ The court chapel used enharmonic instruments and Valentini had an opportunity to experiment with the enharmonic harpsichord (clavicymbalum universale, seu perfectum), which had a keyboard of 77 keys spanning four octaves from C to c‴ according to the prototype introduced and described by Michael Praetorius.²¹ In 1619, Ferdinand II was elected the Holy Roman Emperor and moved to Vienna with the court and the musicians of the Graz chapel. Valentini served as imperial court organist in Vienna for several years, then became maestro di cappella in 1626, and accepted the post of choral director at the Michaelerkirche in Vienna in 1627/8 – the posts he held until death in 1649. His relationship with the royal family, which has been known for fostering the arts and generous patronage of the artists, was close and cordial. In 1627, he was ennobled together with some other court musicians.²²

Among Valentini’s works composed for the Habsburg court on various occasions and subsequently published in collections of his music polychoral compositions stand out as a distinctive genre. This compositional technique or style was introduced in the European royal courts, which favoured Italian culture in particular and Catholicism in general, by Italian musicians and composers, mostly coming from Venice and Rome. Performances of such compositions involved spatially separate choirs singing in alternation within large architectural spaces (e.g., in churches), which created the ‘surround’ sound effect that made an enormous impression on the listeners and fulfilled the patrons’ expectations of monarchical representation because the majestic, overpowering, intense acoustic experience was very effective in boosting their public image. Valentini’s Messa, Magnificat et Jubilate Deo for seven choirs can be mentioned as one of the most extreme examples of this style. All three choral compositions were published in Vienna (Mattheo Formica, 1621) but, according to Weaver, despite its uniqueness, it was “a print that would have never sold enough copies to make a profit and that served instead as a strong assertion of Ferdinands II’s power.”²³

At this point, it is worth reminding that during the period in question the royal houses of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Habsburgs were closely related through marriages, Roman Catholic faith, and Counter-Reformation policy. Two wives of Sigismund II Augustus (1520–1572) – Elisabeth of Austria (first) and Catherine of Austria (third) – were daughters of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I and Anna Jagiellonica (of Bohemia and Hungary). Both wives of Sigismund III Vasa were also from the house of Habsburg: Anne of Austria and Constance of Austria, sisters of Emperor Ferdinand II.

The musical practice in the courts of Vasa and Habsburg was related not only through the fact that both employed Italian musicians. The existence of certain musical ties and instances of exchange is evidenced by the inclusion of certain works in the printed collections of the time. For example, the collection of madrigals Musica Austriaca (Venice: Ricardo Amandino, 1605) by the court organist of Emperor Ferdinand I, Francesco Stivori (1550–1605), features two polychoral madrigals dedicated to Anne and Constance of Austria. Per te Donna Regale a 8 was dedicated to the late wife of Sigismund III Vasa, Queen consort of Poland and Grand Duchess consort Anne of Austria (1573–1598). King Sigismund’s second wife Constance of Austria (1588–1631) was honoured with the madrigal Il magnanimo cor a 8 published in this collection.²⁴ Another court musician of Emperor Ferdinand I, composer and maestro di cappella Arnold von Bruck (1500–1554), dedicated his motet Fortitudo Dei Regnantes a 6²⁵ to the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund III Vasa. The court musician of the latter, Franciscus Lilius (died between 1636 and 1641²⁶), dedicated a collection of works, Melodiae sacrae (Krakow: Officina Lazari Bazylius Skalski, 1604), at the king’s request, to prince Ferdinand Habsburg, a brother-in-law of Sigismund III Vasa. Some decades later, the composer and maestro di cappella in the court of Polish King Ladislaus Vasa, Marco Scacchi (1605–1662), dedicated his collection of madrigals Madrigali a cinque (Venice: Bartolomeo Magni, 1634) to the same Ferdinand of Austria who has now become Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and father-in-law of Ladislaus who married his youngest daughter Cecilia Renata of Austria (1611–1644). These are only a few examples of similarity in musical tastes and cultural solidarity between the two royal courts, which they sought to demonstrate and publicize via the music prints.

During the decade of his service at the court of Sigismund III Vasa, Valentini published at least four collections of his works including three collections of instrumental canzonas (Libro primo, secondo and terzo) and the first collection of motets.²⁷ The first book of canzonas, Canzoni a IIII, V, VI, VII et VIII voci was dedicated to Sigismund III Vasa and printed in Venice by Ricciardo Amadino in 1609.²⁸ The time and place of publication of the second and the third collection of his instrumental canzonas, as well as their dedicatees remain unknown because these collections did not survive to this day. The collection of motets Motecta IIII, V & VI vocum, as mentioned above, was dedicated to Jan Karol Chodkiewicz.

1.2. One publication – four-fold benefit

In the beginning of the 17th century music could be printed in Poland too. The printing house of Lazari Bazylius Skalski (also known as Drukarnia Łazarzowa in Polish, or Officina Lazari in Latin) in Cracow was among the major enterprises, which had all necessary equipment for the printing of notated music. However, most of the music written by Italian composers in the service at the royal court of the PLC was published in Italian printing houses. The printing houses of Venice were considered as leading companies in the printing market of the time. They were preferred to the local enterprises not only because of the good quality of printing but also because of wider distribution.²⁹ Texts accompanying music prints were written very thoughtfully and significant attention was paid to the design of title pages, trying to accentuate the most important information.

Although the collection discussed here was dedicated to a nobleman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, it aims to represent King Sigismund III Vasa as well, in whose court the composer served while composing his motets. His name and titles are printed in the most visible place – at the centre of the title page and in upper case. The sovereign is described here as the King of Poland and Sweden, without mentioning him as the Grand Duke of Lithuania:³⁰

MOTECTA IIII. V. & VI. VOCUM

IOANNIS VALENTINI

Organistae.

SERENISSIMI ET POTENTISSIMI

REGIS POLONIAE, SUECIAE &c.

SIGISMUNDI III.

LIBER PRIMUS.

VENETIIS.

Apud Angelum Gardanum, & Fratres.

M D C X I.³¹

The message of the title page alone was beneficial at least for three persons: 1) for Sigismund III Vasa who is represented here as a generous patron and employer of musicians and an enthusiastic supporter of their creativity; 2) for the composer by spreading the news about his most recent works and high position at the royal court; 3) for the printer Angelo Gardano because such information should impress the buying public and boost sales.

The fourth person – Jan Karol Chodkiewicz – is introduced and promoted on page two. His name is likewise printed in upper case. He is also honoured by listing all his titles:

ILLUS.MO AC MAGNIFICO

DOMINO D. IOANNI CAROLO

CHODKIEVVICZ, CAPITANEO SAMOGITIAE,

Comiti in Szkovy [sic], Bychovv, & Mysz, supremo Duci exercituum

magni Ducatus Lithuaniae, Generali Commissario

Livoniae &c.

Salutem & felicitatem perennem.³²

Valentini wrote an informative single-page dedication, in which Chodkiewicz is credited with all his merits and introduced in the respectable company of military commanders. It also briefly describes the political (military) issues of the time and the composer’s personal aspirations.

First of all it is important to turn attention to the place where this dedication was written and signed. Based on this evidence, one can infer that at that time the composer stayed and worked in Vilnius, which adds to the knowledge of his life in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The dedication to his first collection of motets was signed on March 10, 1611, in Vilnius, capital city of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania:

Datum Vilnae die 10. Mensis Martii Anno Domini. M D C X I. Illustrissimae Magnificentiae tuae Famulus obsequentissimus Ioannes Valentini.

Given in Vilnius, on March 10 in the year of our Lord 1611. The most obedient servant of your most illustrious Highness, Giovanni Valentini.³³

The royal court, including prince Ladislaus and Queen consort Anne of Austria, resided in Vilnius between 1609 and 1611, until King Sigismund III returned after the siege of Smolensk and a decisive victory in the Battle of Klushino.³⁴ Judging from the date of dedication, it becomes clear that Giovanni Valentini, together with other member of the court chapel as part of the King’s escort, arrived in the GDL on June 11, 1609 and stayed for some time in the GDL’s capital Vilnius, serving as an organist and a composer. Among the members of the King’s escort mentioned in the arrival list there is also a chapel master, Italian musician Asprilio Pacelli.³⁵ Certainly, a major part of the chapel travelled with him too.

In his collection of motets, Valentini mentions and praises Chodkiewicz’s merits in the Polish–Swedish war campaigns in Livonia, as well as glorifies him as a great army leader:

Since it is You, the most serene count, who has not yet been surpassed in military glory (there are but a few who compare to You in these tempestuous times) and who has redeemed our safety by standing in the face of danger and remedied the affairs of our state at the cost of your life. From the land of Livonia, which has been so often soaked in purple [blood], you have driven away the Swedish legions, as well as those composed of various nations…³⁶

By introducing the noble and the military commander as a public figure, the dedication inevitably refers to the state he represents, which defeated the Swedish army in the decade-long war campaign in Livonia. Chodkiewicz’s merits are presented here in the respectable company of Roman military commanders and ancient war deities including Mars, ancient Roman god of war, Gaius Duilius, a Roman statesman and admiral who stood at the helm of the Roman navy during the First Punic War, and Apollo, who was invoked here as a god of music and poetry.

What would be a reward [worthy] of such merit? For we all are indebted to You for so many things we have received from You; who would hesitate to acknowledge that? <...> For if Mars is delighted by the sound of trumpets, would you be surprised to find him sometimes joining the dancers of the Apollo? <...> For when [Gaius] Duilius, member of the highest Senate, has defeated, in an extraordinary way, the most hostile of Carthaginians in a battle at sea³⁷ he could not find a reward matching his prowess – that is, that the harmonious voices would be heard singing from afar when he returned from supper – and sanctioned such a reward by a permanent decree.³⁸

In a humble bow to the magnate, the composer explains his own interest quite plainly. A possibility to dedicate a collection of music might help achieve wider popularity and boost the music’s glory:

Since I see myself as the one who needs the light of a distant star, The most serene Count, let the beam of Your name and radiant virtue fall on me, the inglorious. Since it [the beam] is not unworthy of Your human glory, which shines ever so brighter as it spreads wider; [it is] a very special benefit for me in [achieving] notoriety and an incredible boost for the music’s glory.³⁹

The latter expression is a rather frequent trope found in dedications. The composer draws upon the nobleman’s glory to magnify the value of his work and protect it from potential criticism. It is worth noting though that he does not name Chodkiewicz his patron (Latin: patronus) and does not mention any benevolence or generosity of the dedicatee towards him. This leads to some further questions: could Chodkiewicz himself commission and/or finance the print of this collection? There is no contractual evidence about that in surviving letters of the magnate. Or, was it the composer’s gift to Chodkiewicz, with which Valentini sought personal benefit – firstly, self-promotion in the prospect of the future career?⁴⁰ It is known that the printing houses of Venice, such as Angelo Gardano and Alessandro Raveri, used to publish the works of lesser-known composers at their own expense.⁴¹ Valentini’s reputation as a composer was that of a budding artist at the time.

One more curious detail is related to the motets dedicated to Chodkiewicz: the Venetian printer and engraver Angelo Gardano who published Valentini’s motets in 1611, died on August 6 or 7 that same year.⁴² Similar fate had struck his cousin Alessandro Raveri a couple of years ago: a collection of motets dedicated to Aleksander Chodkiewicz, which has gone to print on April 23, 1609, appeared to be the printer’s swan song. He died on June 16, 1609.⁴³

2. Motets dedicated to Aleksander Chodkiewicz

As mentioned above, the collection of motets Liber primus motectorum printed in Venice by Alessandro Raveri (1609) was dedicated to the elder brother of Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, Aleksander Chodkiewicz (ca. 1569–1626) by Italian composer Giulio Osculati (?–1620).⁴⁴ Aleksander also came to know Osculati through the royal court of the PLC but it seems that this music print reflected a different model of interaction between a composer and a dedicatee.

Giulio Osculati served in the court chapel of Sigismund III Vasa as a singer (most likely he was a tenor). His service lasted around twelve years from 1601/1602 to 1614. In October 1614 he returned to Italy and took up the position of maestro di cappella in the church of S. Maria dell’Incoronata (Tempio Civico della Beata Vergine Incoronata) in his hometown of Lodi where he lived until his death in 1620.⁴⁵

Only two collections of his works remain extant. Both were published during the period of his service at the court of King Sigismund III Vasa. Some other compositions were published in anthologies: Melodiae sacrae (Cracow, 1604), Parnassus musicus Ferdinandeus (Venice, 1615), Florilegii Musici (Leipzig, 1621), Promptuarii musici, sacras harmonias sive motetas V. VI. VII. et VIII. vocum e diversis <...> (Strasbourg, 1611, 1612, 1613, 1617). Several of his motets were included in the Pelplin tablature and in this form survived to posterity.

The first and earliest known print of Osculati’s works is the small collection of masses Missae quinque vocum <...> liber primus, printed in Venice by Angelo Gardano in 1604. This collection was dedicated to Sigismund III Vasa. It is interesting to note that instead of the printer’s mark on the title page, which was used as his trademark (it showed a bear and a lion holding up a rose with a motto “Concorde Virtute et Naturae Miraculis” [Latin: Concord between virtues and nature’s miracles]) this publication bears the coat of arms of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – an escutcheon divided into four parts, with the eagle and the knight on horseback (Lithuanian: vytis). Obviously, a collection of music was considered not only as a means for preservation of notated music, or dissemination thereof but as a medium of international representation of the monarch and, consequently, the state. Moreover, such collections could be also used as diplomatic gifts (Fig. 1):

Figure 1: Giulio Osculati, Missae quinque vocum, Venice, 1604; shelf nr Bibl. Cath. D. q. 10, title page (cantus). From the collections of the Polish Academy of Sciences the Gdańsk Library.

The title page of Liber primus motectorum, dedicated to Aleksander Chodkiewicz, bears Alessandro Raveri printer’s mark and a motto: the swan holding a ribbon in its beak and on the ribbon is written “Eternitati” (Latin: for eternity). The mark is rather small and the swan looks very similar to the Gryf, which appears on Chodkiewicz’s coat of arms, but the two should not be confused (Fig. 2):

Figure 2: Giulio Osculati, Liber primus motectorum, Venice, 1609; sign BB.64, unita 5, title page (altus). From the collections of the Museo Internationale e biblioteca della musica di Bologna.

Three persons are mentioned on the title page: the composer, the king and the printer. The king’s name is not placed at the centre of attention – it is written in lower case. Visual emphasis is on the composer’s name and his works.

The next two pages display a dedication, in which Chodkiewicz is addressed by listing all his titles (Fig. 3):

ILLUSTRISSIMO DOMINO

SUO COLENDISSIMO, DOMINO

ALEXANDRO CHODLVEVICZ [sic]

Comiti in Scholu [sic], & Mijsz, &c.

Palatino Erocensis [sic].⁴⁶

Figure 3: Giulio Osculati, Liber primus motectorum, Venice, 1609; sign BB.64, unita 5, two-page view of the dedication and alto part of the motet Nolite iudicare. From the collections of the Museo Internationale e biblioteca della musica di Bologna.

Aleksander Chodkiewicz accompanied his younger brother Jan Karol in the Battle of Kircholm and took part in various other campaigns of the Polish–Swedish War of 1600–1611.⁴⁷ However, there are no references to any particular historic events in this dedication because it aimed to represent the dedicatee rather than inform about his merits. It tells about his long and respectable pedigree, good reputation, his merits in the defence of his country, and his contribution to the Republic’s welfare. The state is inevitably implied whenever it comes to praising a public figure.

The composer asserts that one’s accomplishments in the service of one’s homeland are eternally remembered, while human existence is transient:

If that had not been known to your grandparents and great grandparents, those remarkably industrious and noble men, they would not have embarked (primarily, by applying their art of war) on a task both hard and calamitous to contend with the perils that threaten the Republic, which made them often risk no less than their own lives. Thus, they are indefatigably remembered and celebrated not only in Poland but also in Germany and other foreign countries, with the monuments that are by no means subject to mortality. Even if they now exchanged their lives with death, the immortality of their names and the memory of their merits to their homeland achieved through various kinds of labour are all stored up in you alone.⁴⁸

Osculati admits that he has dedicated his works to a nobleman because this way he expected to protect them from harsh criticism:

For the less I feel there is a talent in them, so much the more I hope they [melodies] will be free (if I will allow them to come to light under the protection of your most honourable name) from the judgment of the rigid censors <...>.⁴⁹

The composer concludes his dedication by referring to the exceptional generosity (Latin: munificentia eximia), with which he was treated by the magnate. His dedication, finished on the eighth day before May calends – that is, on April 23, 1609 – in Cracow, was signed by the “most humble servant” (Latin: Humillimus Servus). The wording of these expressions reflects a relationship between the contractor and the employee. It is clear that Aleksander Chodkiewicz contributed to the publication of this collection of music, he commissioned and/or financed it.

Although Osculati hints at the possibility of dedicating his future works to the magnate, no instances of any other works dedicated to Chodkiewicz, besides this single book of motets, have ever been recorded:

<...> Your unparalleled humanity, and especially your extraordinary generosity toward me, encouraged me to add Your dignified name to this rather trifling work of mine. I beg you, in the greatest humility of my soul, to endeavour looking upon [it] with a serene countenance, and accept it with a kindly disposition, so that I might soon be able to celebrate your name by some more dignified work. Cracow, [signed] on the eighth day before May calends of [the year] 1609. Your most humble servant, Giulio Osculati.⁵⁰

This collection of motets demonstrates a one-time collaboration between Italian composer Giulio Osculati and Lithuanian noble Aleksander Chodkiewicz, which, despite the composer’s intentions and the magnate’s kindly disposition, appeared to be short lived. It is also important to remind of a special event in Chodkiewicz’s life, which took place in 1609: that year a 50-year-old widower married Katarzyna Korniakt (Korniaktówna), daughter of a wealthy ennobled merchant from Lviv.⁵¹ The collection of motets might have been printed in relation to this private occasion, or any other public celebration.⁵²

3. Music prints reflecting confessional identity

Collections of music dedicated to the Chodkiewicz brothers were printed in the turbulent times of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation movements. Confessional choices among the nobility of the GDL were quite varied at the time. The lives of certain nobles reflected how quickly and for rather pragmatic reasons they could change their confessional identities. Multiple religious conversions of Lew Sapieha (1557–1633), Grand Chancellor of the GDL, may serve as a good example. He was christened and raised as Eastern Orthodox, attended the school in Nesvizh at the initiative of his parents where he converted to Calvinism and contributed to the spread of the Reformation by founding a number of Calvinist churches. He later studied at the Lutheran University of Leipzig. But in 1586 he finally converted to Roman Catholicism of which he became a zealous defender.⁵³

Within the changing reality of the time the perseverance of the Chodkiewicz brothers looks quite uncommon: they were christened as Roman Catholics and educated by Jesuits at the Vilnius Academy and later at the universities of Ingolstadt (Germany) and Padua (Italy). They remained firm Catholics all their lives. Jan Karol Chodkiewicz was an active promoter of Catholicism, often acting as a founder of churches and other ecclesiastic or educational establishments. He funded the building of a church and a monastery for the Bernardine (Franciscan “Observant”) Monks in Kretinga, the Jesuit college in Kražiai, and a monastery for the Canons Regular of the Lateran in Bykhaw.

The collections of music by Valentini and Osculati discussed here do not veer away from the consistent confessional identity of the Chodkiewicz brothers. Both composers were Catholics coming from Italy – a country with strong Catholic identity. Certainly, their works offered an appropriate representation of the Chodkiewicz brothers and matched their religious beliefs. In 1632, Valentini beseeched Emperor Ferdinand II to mediate in his application concerning the enrolment of his son Domenico in the Collegium Germanicum, a Jesuit college in Rome.⁵⁴ It seems that the Valentini family was favourable to the Jesuits.

The very genre of works included in these collections – church motets written for the Catholic liturgy (mostly for Lauds and Vespers of the Divine Office) and based on Christian religious texts (mostly written to the texts from the Holy Bible) – served to signal the noblemen’s confessional denomination. The collection dedicated to Jan Karol Chodkiewicz contains 32 compositions written to the texts from the Old Testament (The Book of Psalms and The Song of Songs) and the Stabat Mater sequence. The collection dedicated to Aleksander Chodkiewicz contains 23 motets written to the texts from the scriptures (predominantly from the Old Testament). These motets were scored for varying performing forces ranging from five to twelve voices, divided into two or three choirs.

The Venetian polychoral style was the progressive musical trend of the time, which found root in the public cultural life of the Habsburg court and was introduced in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the turn of the 16th^–17th centuries. The surviving evidence about performances of such polychoral works in the PLC points almost exclusively to the entourage of the royal court. Polychoral sacred works have been composed for Sigismund III Vasa and performed by musicians from his chapel. Later known examples of this style are mostly comprised of massive ceremonial sacred pieces that used to be performed on formal occasions or during courtly rituals: for example, at the funeral of Sigismund III Vasa (1632), at the coronation of Ladislaus IV Vasa (1633), at the wedding of Ladislaus IV Vasa and Cecilia Renata of Austria (1637), and at the coronation of Marie Louise Gonzaga, Queen consort to brothers Ladislaus IV Vasa and later John II Casimir (1649). The coronation of John II Casimir in 1648 featured Missa omnium tonorum for three choirs, involving the total number of 19 singers and instrumentalists.⁵⁵ The above-mentioned collection of Valentini’s Canzoni (1609), which he dedicated to King Sigismund III Vasa, included instrumental canzonas for two instrumental groups.

The fact that some polychoral pieces were dedicated to the noble of the GDL, Aleksander Chodkiewicz, is an important discovery in the context of Lithuanian music history. In the course of this research, no other references to the existence of polychoral music in the courts of the nobility or other notated sources with the dedications to the nobles of the GDL and printed polychoral compositions were ever found. The following polychoral motets were included in the collection dedicated to Aleksander Chodkiewicz: O Rex gloriae a 7, Ad Dominum a 7, O Domine Jesu Christe a 7, Sancta Maria, succurre miseris a 7, In omnibus requiem (I pars) a 8, Et sic in Sion firmata sum (II pars) a 8, Quasi Cedrus exaltata sum in Libano (III pars) a 8, O altitudo divitiarum sapientiae a 8, Ecce sacerdos magnus a 8, Tu gloria Ierusalem a 8, Quem vidistis, pastores, dicite a 8, Ecce quam bonum a 8, Puer qui natus est nobis a 9, Cum sublevasset oculos Iesus a 9, O sacrum convivium a 10, Hodie Simon Petrus a 10, Hodie completi sunt dies Pentecostes a 12, and Introduxit me Rex a 12. The majority of these motets were written for the Liturgy of the Hours during the main ecumenical church festivals and liturgical seasons, such as Christmas, Lent, Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, Pentecost, Feast of the Holy Trinity, Feast of Corpus Christi, and other festive offices. For example, Tu gloria Ierusalem could be sung during the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Puer qui natus est nobis during the feast of John the Baptist, O sacrum convivium during the vespers of the Feast of Corpus Christi, Hodie Simon Petrus during the vespers of the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Conclusions

The research into the printed collections of motets dedicated to Jan Karol Chodkiewicz and Aleksander Chodkiewicz has helped bring out the manifold potential of these printed editions within the historical and musical context of the early modern era. Besides the reasonable aims of Italian composers Valentini and Osculati to increase their visibility, to publish and promote their work in Europe, to achieve certain notoriety and acknowledgment, these printed collections of music also served other pragmatic purposes for the benefit of other persons.

These music prints primarily represented the sovereign of the PLC, King Sigismund III Vasa, as a generous patron of the arts to the audiences in Italy and other foreign countries. Dedications to the Chodkiewicz brothers praise to their merits in the military campaigns and inform the readership about the significant political events of the time, such as the victories in the Polish–Swedish War. In case of Aleksander Chodkiewicz, the merits of his family in the defence of the state are acknowledged. These texts were intended to honour the Lithuanian magnates, to present them in the most favourable light and increase their fame in the PLC and beyond. Last but not least, the Venetian publishers Angelo Gardano and Alessandro Raveri gained commercial profit from the finest quality printed music of the time and wide dissemination thereof.

In the changing confessional climate of the time, these music prints should be also considered as statements of adopted confessional policy. The very genre of the printed works – motets for Catholic church service – demonstrate Chodkiewicz’s consistent choice of religious identity. A dozen of polychoral motets featured in the collection dedicated to Aleksander Chodkiewicz echo modern styles and practices in the European music of the time, employed almost exclusively in the sacred music for the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. These are hitherto the only known polychoral pieces that have been dedicated to a noble rather than the sovereign of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Translated by Veronika Janatjeva and Aleksandra Pister

Notated sources:

Canzoni, 1609 – Canzoni a IIII, V, VI, VII et VIII voci. Di Giovanni Valentini organista del Sereniss. & Potentiss. Re di Polonia, Svecia. &c. Sigismondo III. Libro primo. Novamente poste in luce. In Venetia, Appresso Ricciardo Amadino. 1609. Preserved in The Oloumouc Museum of Art Library, Sign. 26381/adl.3

Liber, 1609 – Liber primus motectorum, Qunique, Sex, Septem, Octo, Novem, Decem, & Duodecim Vocum. Autore Iulio Osculato Laudensi. Sacrae Regiae Maiestatis Poloniae, & Sueciae Musico. In Venetia, Appresso Alessandro Raverii 1609. Preserved in Museo Internationale e biblioteca della musica di Bologna, sign BB.64, Unita 5.

Missae, 1604 – Missae quinque vocum autore Iulio Osculto Laudensi. Liber Primus. Nunc Primum in lucem edite. Venetiis Apud Angelum Gardanum, 1604. Preserved in PAN Biblioteka Gdańska, sign. Bibl. Cath. D. q. 10.

Motecta, 1611 – Motecta III. V & VI vocum Ioannis Valentini Organistae. Serenissimi et Potentissimi Regis Poloniae, Suaeciae &c. Sigismundi III. Liber primus. Venetiis. Apud Angelum Gardanum & Fratres 1611. Preserved in San Francisco State University, Col. Frank V. de Bellis Collection [no indication].

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