Adam Jarzębski (c. 1590 in

Warka Warka ( yi, ווארקע) is a town in east-central Poland, located on the left bank of the Pilica river ( south of Warsaw), with 11,035 inhabitants (2004). It has been situated in Grójec County, in the Masovian Voivodeship, since 1999; p ...

– c. 1648 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

) was an early Baroque Polish composer, violinist, poet, and writer. The first documented mention of Jarzębski was in 1612, when he became a member of the chapel of

John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg John Sigismund (german: Johann Sigismund; 8 November 1572 – 23 December 1619) was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from the House of Hohenzollern. He became the Duke of Prussia through his marriage to Duchess Anna, the eld ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. After he had stayed in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

for a year (1615–16), he became a member of the royal musical establishment, first at the court of

Sigismund III Vasa Sigismund III Vasa ( pl, Zygmunt III Waza, lt, Žygimantas Vaza; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland from 1592 to ...

and then of

Władysław IV Władysław is a Polish given male name, cognate with Vladislav. The feminine form is Władysława, archaic forms are Włodzisław (male) and Włodzisława (female), and Wladislaw is a variation. These names may refer to: Famous people Mononym * ...

. He was held in great esteem by the royal court and was very popular among the members of the patriciate of

. In 1635 he managed the construction of the royal palace at Ujazdów. In 1643 he published a literary work ''Gościniec, albo krótkie opisanie Warszawy'' (''The Main Road, or a Short Description of Warsaw'') describing the customs and the musical life of the town. He died in Warsaw in 1649. He was an outstanding figure in the history of the Polish culture of the 17th century. He composed mainly

instrumental music An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

. ''Canzoni é Concerti'' (27 works) is the first major collection of Polish compositions for instrumental ensembles (2-, 3-, 4- part and basso continuo). With regard to form and compositional technique his works did not depart from the most valuable models of his genre in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. Most frequently the composer indicated only registers and various combinations of

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...

s: he mentions particular instruments only occasionally. Some works are based on a vocal original, the remaining ones are original instrumental works ( concertos and

canzona The canzona is an Italian musical form derived from the Franco-Flemish and Parisian chansons, and during Giovanni Gabrieli's lifetime was frequently spelled canzona, though both earlier and later the singular was spelled either canzon or canzone ...

s). Only two vocal works survive: the canon ''More veterum'' and a fragment of the

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

''Missa sub concerto.''

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Short biography
1590s births 1640s deaths Polish Baroque composers Polish classical composers Polish male classical composers 17th-century classical composers 17th-century male musicians {{poland-composer-stub