GJ
The basics
Quick facts
Intro
Frisian poet and author
Gender:
Male
Places:
Work field:
Birth:
(Bolsward)
Death:
(Bolsward)
The details
Biography
Introduction
Gysbert Japiks or Japicx (1603–1666) was a Frisian writer, poet, schoolmaster, and cantor.
Life
Japiks was born in Bolsward, Friesland. He admired the Latin poets Horace and Ovid, but was also an enthusiast for his own Frisian memmetaal, or mother tongue. His work was the most notable in that language of his day and had the effect of elevating Frisian to literary status. The poems of Japiks were published in Friessche Tjerne (1640) and also posthumously in Fryske Rijmlerye (1668).
Songs
Japiks's Frisian songs were contrafacta to well-known tunes by composers such as Goudimel, Bourgeois, and Pierre Guédron. A selection from them was recorded by Frisian singers and Camerata Trajectina in 2003.