Slovene

Though born a Slovene, Jacobus Gallus centered his entire work around Vienna, Prague and the diocesan city of Olomouc (Olmütz). The surprising mobility of Gallus's truly Renaissance career shows him as a model of the sixteenth-century composer. Gallus was active at both abbey and court, though at times for only a brief period before moving on: Melk, Brno (Brünn), Wroclaw (Breslau), Legnica (Liegflitz), Görlitz, Zwettl, and elsewhere. His cosmopolitan spirit is reflected, moreover, in the numerous variations of his name: Handl, Petelin, Haehn, Handelius, Coq, Kohoutek.

The style in which Gallus composed cannot be described in a few words. The fascination of his work derives from the harmonious association of different streams: on the one hand, a tendency which, despite the variety of stylistic means used, is basically conservative (the Northern influence) and, on the other, ideas which - sparse at times, but richly applied at others - range from the liberal to the progressive.