Mancinus (real name, Mencken), Thomas

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Mancinus (real name, Mencken), Thomas

Mancinus (real name, Mencken), Thomas, German composer; b. Schwerin, 1550; d. there, 1611 or 1612. He was educated at the Univ. of Rostock. In 1572 he became Kantor in Schwerin. After serving as Kapellmeister in Guströw in 1576, he resumed his post in Schwerin. From 1579 to 1581 he was a tenor at the Berlin court. About 1583 he entered the service of the Bishop of Halberstadt in Groningen, becoming Kapellmeister in 1584. In 1587 he founded the Hofkantorei in Wolfenbüttel, directing it until 1604. In addition to his well known Passions according to St. Matthew and St. John (publ. in Wolfenbüttel, 1620), he publ. secular songs (1588), bicinia (1597), madrigals (1605), and motets (1608).

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire