Gomólka, Mikolaj

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Gomólka, Mikolaj

Gomólka, Mikolaj, Polish composer; b. probably in Sandomierz, c. 1535; d. c. 1591. He was a chorister at the Polish court by 1545. After studies with Hans Klaus, he was a wind player at the court (1555-63). He then went to Sandomierz, where he was town councillor and head of the law court (1572-73). In 1578 he went to Krakow and was a musician in the service of various patrons. His major work was a collection of 150 melo-dies to words from the Psalms as tr. by the poet Jan Kochanowski and publ. as Melodie na Psalterz polski (Krakow, 1580; ed. in Wydawnictwo dawnej muzyke polskiej, XLVII-XLIX, 1963-66). His son, Michal Gomolka (b. Sandomierz, 1564; d. Jazlowiec, March 9, 1609), was also a musician.

Bibliography

J. Reiss, Melodye psalmowe M. Gomolka (Krakow, 1912); M. Perz, M. G., monografia (Krakow, 1969).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire