Adrianus Petit Coclico (1499 inFlanders – after September 1562 inCopenhagen) was aNetherlandish composer of theRenaissance.
Like many Renaissance composers, very little is known about Coclico's early life. He was raisedCatholic but became aProtestant and left Flanders for Germany. The earliest known reference to him in official documents is atWittenberg University in 1545, and though he later claimed to have been a pupil ofJosquin des Prez and to have worked forHenry VIII, the French royal court, and thePope, scholarship has not been able to substantiate any of these claims.
In 1546, Coclico applied for a position as chair of music at Wittenberg, composing a lost piece on a text byPhilipp Melanchthon, and was denied the position. He married around this time, though his wife soon left him, and his attempts to have the union dissolved failed.
He then moved toFrankfurt an der Oder and founded a musicians' society with members of the circle of humanistJodocus Willich. In poor financial straits, Coclico left Frankfurt forStettin in 1547, where he was again denied a position; in September of that year he graduated fromKönigsberg University and entered into the service of theDuke of Prussia. Coclico was involved in religious disputes withLutherans there and claimed to have been imprisoned on account of his religion. Nevertheless, he retained his post until 1550, at which time he was found to have sired a child with his housekeeper.
Coclico then moved to Nuremberg, where he taught students and had a collection of his motets,Consolationes piae, and amusic theory treatise,Compendium musices, published byJohannes Berg in 1552. Nothing is known of his subsequent whereabouts until 1555, when records show he was inSchwerin; he had little luck finding work there and moved on toWismar, where he held a position as a choirmaster for a short time. He lost this position after demanding too high a salary and moved toCopenhagen, where he became a singer and musician at the courts ofChristian III andMarcellus Amersfortius. After the death of his wife, he remarried and disappears from the court record books in September 1562; it is assumed he died soon thereafter.
