Adam Jarzębski (c. 1590 in Warka – 1648/49 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

) was an early

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

Polish composer, violinist, poet, and writer. His main extant work ''Canzoni e concerti'' (copied in 1627) is not only one of the most important collections of early baroque instrumental ensemble music in Europe but also stands as a unique historical landmark as containing the first purely instrumental compositions to bear the designation

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...

. The first documented mention of Jarzębski was in 1612, when he became a member of the chapel of John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. After he had stayed in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

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 (, ; 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 from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Re ...

and then of Władysław IV. 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. ''Canzoni é Concerti'' (27 works) is the first major collection of Polish compositions for instrumental ensembles (2-, 3-, 4- part and

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

). 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 continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. 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 produ ...

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

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

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

''Missa sub concerto.''

External links

Short biographye concerti'' 1627 manuscript in facsimile
from the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
Urtext edition of the complete works of Jarzębski
free download from the Art Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences 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