Musica Antiqua of Prague, Part 2: A Bohemian Christmas

NOTE: All of the music on this program comes from the Musica Antiqua Praha directed by Pavel Klikar. It is on Supraphon label and is SU 4338-2.

When musician and musicologist Pavel Klikar founded his new ensemble, the Musica Antiqua Praha, in 1982, it was truly a revelation and a breath of fresh air in the stale atmosphere – not only in terms of music performance – of the country conserved by a totalitarian regime. 

Klikar would look for, study and reconstruct period instruments, create an archive of scores and convey the magic of Baroque tuning systems to musicians. Previously unknown music of the Italian Early Baroque began to be performed in churches – played on period instruments and sung with purity, humility and lightness, without any impasto layers of quasi-Romantic emotionality. The ensemble was inspired by encounters with important music figures, such as Reinhard Goebel, Christopher Hogwood, Peter Holman and Andrew Parrott.

Klikar managed to fascinate and win for his vision extraordinary singers and musicians, who would later found their own ensembles and become established among the best in the world of early music.

The Kromeriz Music Archive is currently administered by the Kromeriz Archdiocesan Museum – Olomouc Museum of Art. It is one of the most significant and largest historical music archives in the Czech Republic. 

The oldest parts of the collection consist of music from the time period of Bishop Karl II von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn (1664-1695). The time he had spent at the Kromeriz chateau marks the creation of the bishop, and later archbishop band.

Karl II von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn (1623-1695) was a Catholic priest and served as Prince-Bishop of Olmütz (Olomouc) in the Czech Republic from 1664-1695. 

He spent much of his time in the city of Kromeriz but maintained close ties to the imperial court in Vienna. He was an active supporter and patron of musicians.

The Collection consists of copies of 980 religious and secular compositions collected by Karl II von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn during his tenure as Prinz-Bishop of Olomouc (Olmütz) in the Czech Republic. 

Approximately 100 composers have been identified, including many associated with the imperial court of Leopold I. Works by native Moravians and Bohemians are also present. The compositions include complete settings of masses, vespers, litanies, ensemble sonatas, a requiem, and balleti.

Composers include Benedict Anton Aufschneider, Steffano Bernardi, Antonio Bertali, Heinrich Biber, Heinrich Aloys Brückner, Samuel Friedrich Capricornus (Bockshorn), Giacomo Carissimi, Arcangelo Corelli, Johannes Baptista Dolar, Antonio Draghi, Wolfgang Ebner, Johann Caspar Fischer, Francesco Foggia, Vincent Fux, Bonifazio Graziani (Gratiani), Andreas Hofer, Johann Kaspar Kerll, Albericus Mazak, Tarquini Merula, Adam Václav Michna z Otradovic, Marcin Mielczewski (Miltzovsky), Marco Gioseppe Peranda, Alessandro Poglietti, Joannes Petro Aloysio Praenestino, Ferdinand Tobias Richter, Philipp Jacob Ridler (Rittler), Giovanni Felice Sances, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Giovanni Valentini, Pavel Josef Vejvanovsky, Filippo Vismarri, and Pietro Andrea Ziani.