Handl (also Händl, Handelius, Hähnel), Jacob

Handl (also Händl, Handelius, Hähnel), Jacob, important Slovenian composer, also known as Jacobus Gallus; b. probably in Ribniča, between April 15 and July 31, 1550; d. Prague, July 18, 1591. He went to Austria about 1565. After a stay at the Benedictine abbey in Melk, he went to Vienna about 1568, where he was a singer in the imperial chapel of Maximilian II in 1574-75. Following extensive travels, he served as choirmaster to Stanislaus Pavlovský, Bishop of Olmütz (1579?-85). By 1586 he was Kantor at St. Jan na Brzehu in Prague, a post he retained until his death. His large output included 445 motets, about 20 masses, 3 Passions, and many secular songs. Handl was particularly influenced by the Netherlands and Italian schools. His polychoral writing is outstanding.

Works

vocal: sacredr: masses: (16) Selectiores quaedam missae for 4 to 8 Voices (4 vols., Prague, 1580; ed. by P. Pisk in Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, LXXVIII, Jg.XLII/1, 1935, and ibid., XCIV-XCV, 1959, CXVII, 1967, and CXIX, 1969). motets:Opus musicum for 4 to 6 and 8 Voices (4 vols., Prague, 1586-91; ed. by E. Bezecny and J. Mantuani in Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, XII, Jg.VI/l[1899], XXIV Jg.XII/1 [1905], XXX, Jg.XV/1 [1908], XL, Jg.XX/1 [1913], XLVIII, Jg.XXIV [1917], and LI-LII, Jg.XXVI [1919]); Undiaue flammatis Olomucum sedibus arsit for 7 Voices (Prague, 1579); Epicedion…Caspari Abbatis Zabrdovicensis ac Syloensis (Prague, 1589). secular:Harmoniae morales for 4 Voices (3 vols., Prague, 1589-90; ed. by D. Cvetko, Ljubljana, 1966); Moralia for 5, 6, and 8 Voices (Prague, 1596; ed. by D. Cvetko, Ljubljana, 1968, and by A. Skei in Recent Researches in the Music of the Renaissance, VII-VIII, 1970).

Bibliography

D. Cvetko, jacobus Gallus: Sein Leben und Werk (Munich, 1972); S. Pontz, Die Motetten von J. G.: Untersuchungen zu den Tonarten der klassischen Vokalpolyphonie (Munich, 1996).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire