Jan Trojan Turnovský

Jan Trojan Turnovský (before 1550 – 1606) was a Czech Renaissance composer. He became known in the second half of the 1570s. His compositions are included in the most important sources of Utraquist polyphony. Biography In the oldest sources, his name was Latinized to Traianus Turnovinus or Traianus Gregorides Turnovinus. Later he began to use the name Jan. The sources from Benešov call him “kněz Jan Traian” (priest Jan Traian). Very little is known about his early life. He was born in Turnov, and his father was a baker. The oldest known mention of his life dates from 1564 when he was matriculated at the Charles University in Prague. He was matriculated together with several other composers, Jiří Rychnovský and Pavel Spongopaeus Jistebnický among others. However, it is not entirely clear whether they really studied there. As an Utraquist priest he served in Davle (1579), and the same year he was possibly active also in Mladá Boleslav. Later he moved to Netvořice (1581), Benešov (1587), and Sepekov (1595, probably before 1590). Turnovský was married two times. He married his first wife Kateřina on 11 November 1579 in Mladá Boleslav. In 1604, he — together with his second wife Zuzana