Reformation

Image a)	Image b)
Image c)	Image d)

Almost nothing is known about the younger years and musical training of Jacobus Gallus (1550 Krain(Slovenia) - 1591 Prague/Bohemia, Picture a).
After leaving his homeland, Gallus went to Melk Abbey/Lower Austria (Bild b), and then became a member of the court chapel in Vienna.
Later he also worked in Olmütz/Moravia (Picture c) und Prague (Picture d). He began to compose works for his six-part Opus musicum , a cycle of motets that would eventually cover the liturgical needs of the entire ecclesiastical year in 1577. The motet O magnum mysteriumcomes from the first volume (printed in 1586) which covers the period from the first sunday of Advent to the Septuagesima. This motet for 8 voices gives evidence of Venetian influence in its use of the coro spezzato technique (= polychorality). (E. Stadler)