Gallus – der Humanist amat Venerem, cur?

Abstract

The Slovenian Renaissance composer Jacobus Handl, Gallus dictus, Carniol(an)us was a refined humanist with an exquisite command of Latin. A mythological and theological semantic conception of Gallus, research into the composer’s strong self-identification with a cock (the rooster being an ares among animals), the madrigal Gallus amat Venerem, cur? etc. clarify and demonstrate the way in which the composer as a humanist, artist and human being found his identification precisely in his name Gallus. As artist and humanist he is therefore Jacobus Gallus.