Johann Wanning

Johann Wanning (also known as Johannes Wanningus, Wannigk, Wannicke or Wangnick) (1537 – 23 October 1603) was a Dutch composer, kapellmeister and singer who worked for most of his career in the Polish city of Danzig (Gdańsk). He wrote a number of cycles of motets to be performed through the church year, as well as being the composer of the first known musical epithalamium. Life Little is known about his early years or education. He was born in Kampen in the then Habsburg Netherlands and went to the university at Königsberg in the Duchy of Prussia in 1560. He sang as an alto in the ducal choir and gained a reputation as a composer. A few years later he moved to the port city of Danzig, where he was appointed to the role of kapellmeister at St. Mary’s Church. He held the position until his death in 1603, though his health had progressively deteriorated since 1593; in 1599 the composer Nikolaus Zangius took over Wanning’s duties, while Wanning himself was given what amounted to a pension of 50 marks paid quarterly. Musical works Wanning is today most noted for being “the first Protestant composer to write cycles of de tempore motets for the whole church year,” and his work inspired a