Loutna česká [1653] by Adam Michna z Otradovic; Martin HorynaReview by: Mark GermerNotes, Second Series, Vol. 44, No. 1 (Sep., 1987), pp. 149-150Published by: Music Library AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/940999 .

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Music Reviews Music Reviews

ing groups looking for fresh Renaissance repertory of intrinsic musical value. His- torians and theorists will be surprised to discover the creativity sparked in Central Europe by increased familiarity with West- ern European models. Unfortunately, not many copies were printed, and the Ger- man preface is not a complete translation

ing groups looking for fresh Renaissance repertory of intrinsic musical value. His- torians and theorists will be surprised to discover the creativity sparked in Central Europe by increased familiarity with West- ern European models. Unfortunately, not many copies were printed, and the Ger- man preface is not a complete translation

of the extensive Czech musicological ma- terial. The heavy paper binding tends to tear with frequent use. Nevertheless, this edition is worth having.

BARBARA A. RENTON Domus Musicae Slavicae

of the extensive Czech musicological ma- terial. The heavy paper binding tends to tear with frequent use. Nevertheless, this edition is worth having.

BARBARA A. RENTON Domus Musicae Slavicae

Adam Michna z Otradovic. Loutna .eska [1653]. K vydani pfipravil Martin Horyna; studii napsal a bibliografii sestavil Julius Hulek. Ceske Bud.jovice: Sttni v6decka knihovna in cooperation with Jiho.esky nakladatelstvi, 1984. [Facsim., 42 p.; pref. in Czech, 17 p.; score, 36 p.; critical commentary in Czech, 7 p.; summaries in Russian and Ger.; cloth; K/s 25.00]

Adam Michna z Otradovic. Loutna .eska [1653]. K vydani pfipravil Martin Horyna; studii napsal a bibliografii sestavil Julius Hulek. Ceske Bud.jovice: Sttni v6decka knihovna in cooperation with Jiho.esky nakladatelstvi, 1984. [Facsim., 42 p.; pref. in Czech, 17 p.; score, 36 p.; critical commentary in Czech, 7 p.; summaries in Russian and Ger.; cloth; K/s 25.00]

The spectrum of Counter-Reformation culture in Central Europe is, now more than ever, a subject to be reckoned with. Before very long it will be hard to remember when the part-imported, part-indigenous Cath- olic Baroque-particularly the thauma- turgic admixture of charm and spectacle characteristic of the Habsburg heart- lands-was not the object of critical atten- tion in virtually every field of historical discourse. What populist writers in Czech- oslovakia formerly called the Age of Dark- ness now basks in the radiance of its own restored gold leaf. In that reflected light, it is difficult to understand why the music integral to the phenomenon of ecclesiasti- cal (and imperial) consolidation has bene- fited so little from this scholarly recrudes- cence; why in the case of the Czechs there are no modern facsimile editions of the great songbook compendia from the sev- enteenth and eighteenth centuries; why in- deed there is no complete edition of Adam Michna's original canticles, let alone of the more grandly-scaled Latin works. If musi- cologists are indulging a habit of arriving at the party late, no matter: there can be advantages in that. For all the fun of gen- eralized cultural rediscovery we may have missed, we may still profit from the sobri- ety of reassessment already in full swing. And, as Marie-Elizabeth Ducreux compel- lingly demonstrated in her important dis- sertation of 1982 (Universite de Paris), we would best begin with that music and verse in which the popular outreach of the Counter-Reformation invested most heavily, namely that of the songbooks. Eventually

The spectrum of Counter-Reformation culture in Central Europe is, now more than ever, a subject to be reckoned with. Before very long it will be hard to remember when the part-imported, part-indigenous Cath- olic Baroque-particularly the thauma- turgic admixture of charm and spectacle characteristic of the Habsburg heart- lands-was not the object of critical atten- tion in virtually every field of historical discourse. What populist writers in Czech- oslovakia formerly called the Age of Dark- ness now basks in the radiance of its own restored gold leaf. In that reflected light, it is difficult to understand why the music integral to the phenomenon of ecclesiasti- cal (and imperial) consolidation has bene- fited so little from this scholarly recrudes- cence; why in the case of the Czechs there are no modern facsimile editions of the great songbook compendia from the sev- enteenth and eighteenth centuries; why in- deed there is no complete edition of Adam Michna's original canticles, let alone of the more grandly-scaled Latin works. If musi- cologists are indulging a habit of arriving at the party late, no matter: there can be advantages in that. For all the fun of gen- eralized cultural rediscovery we may have missed, we may still profit from the sobri- ety of reassessment already in full swing. And, as Marie-Elizabeth Ducreux compel- lingly demonstrated in her important dis- sertation of 1982 (Universite de Paris), we would best begin with that music and verse in which the popular outreach of the Counter-Reformation invested most heavily, namely that of the songbooks. Eventually

we must place this highly varied corpus of paraliturgical, concertato hymns within the context of combative reconversion on the one hand, and of the traditions of popular piety on the other.

Overall, the Czechs have delved deeply into this rich devotional repertory; and by focusing on the absence of musical editions I have actually misrepresented the sus- tained intensity of Czech interest in the subject. Of late, in fact, two inspired di- ploma theses have broken the pattern of tabulation and description, which has so often diluted discussion of the songbooks in the past, and have specifically addressed conceptual problems in approaching the canticles of Michna: one by Julius Hulek (Univerzita Karlova [Prague], 1977) and the other by Frantisek Maly (Univerzita J. E. Purkyne [Brno], 1980). Still the lack is un- fortunate: the literature has not offered us the music itself, and we cannot all go to Prague to hear the sensitive renditions by Pavel Klikar and the as yet little-known Musica Antiqua Praha! (Old recorded ver- sions, by the way, are best avoided.) None- theless, those who acquaint themselves with the literature from Central Europe can risk some optimism based on the familiar strengths of Czech musicology-consider- ing, at least, the solidity of the discipline's foundations rather than the presumptions upon which many of its recent critical ven- tures have been predicated. The facsimile and modern edition of Michna's Loutna sesk4, in any case, occasion the recollection

of the former. This publication is a straightforward and succinct contribution,

we must place this highly varied corpus of paraliturgical, concertato hymns within the context of combative reconversion on the one hand, and of the traditions of popular piety on the other.

Overall, the Czechs have delved deeply into this rich devotional repertory; and by focusing on the absence of musical editions I have actually misrepresented the sus- tained intensity of Czech interest in the subject. Of late, in fact, two inspired di- ploma theses have broken the pattern of tabulation and description, which has so often diluted discussion of the songbooks in the past, and have specifically addressed conceptual problems in approaching the canticles of Michna: one by Julius Hulek (Univerzita Karlova [Prague], 1977) and the other by Frantisek Maly (Univerzita J. E. Purkyne [Brno], 1980). Still the lack is un- fortunate: the literature has not offered us the music itself, and we cannot all go to Prague to hear the sensitive renditions by Pavel Klikar and the as yet little-known Musica Antiqua Praha! (Old recorded ver- sions, by the way, are best avoided.) None- theless, those who acquaint themselves with the literature from Central Europe can risk some optimism based on the familiar strengths of Czech musicology-consider- ing, at least, the solidity of the discipline's foundations rather than the presumptions upon which many of its recent critical ven- tures have been predicated. The facsimile and modern edition of Michna's Loutna sesk4, in any case, occasion the recollection

of the former. This publication is a straightforward and succinct contribution,

149 149

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MLA Notes, September 1987

attractively printed and bound-far supe- rior to the only other (partial) edition and facsimile of a seventeenth-century devo- tional songbook (that of Kadlinsky's Zdo- roslavitek [Brno, 1971]), whose haphazard, predigested format insulted every poten- tial user's intelligence. So, not just for the presentation of thirteen three-voice canti- cles by Michna, but also for the promise that wider attention may be paid this repertory as a whole, the present volume is welcome.

It would be welcome even were Martin Horyna's edition not so meticulous and Ju- lius Hulek's historical essay not so elegant, given that the tercentenary of the compos- er's death passed in 1976 without much fanfare. The 1970s had originally shown promise of becoming Michna's decade, launched as it were by Antonin Skarka's distinguished 1968 edition of all the lyric verse, and by Supraphon's announcement in 1972 that musical editions of both the 6eske maridnskd muzika (Czech Marian Mu- sic [1647]) and the Svatoroeni muzika (Music for the Feasts of Saints [1661]) were being prepared for publication. But while liter- ary studies continued apace-a second edi- tion of the poetry, by Zdefka Ticha, ap- peared in 1976, accompanied by an elaborate analysis-the musical plans have come to naught. Yet that fact is not the only reason musicians might be relieved to have any complete version at all. Until recently the Loutna feskd had been thought to sur- vive only in torso, and the frenzied antici- pation of recovery had been aroused more than once only to lead to disappointment. Two single parts were identified as early as 1930 by Emilian Trolda (1871-1949), the first modern champion of Michna's music and indeed of the Czech musical Baroque in general. Based on a manuscript copy of the first Cantus part, dated 1666, and an organ part from the original 1653 print, Trolda issued a tentative "reconstruction" in 1943. The organ part subsequently wan- dered from its shelf. And after the printed part of the second Cantus was at last lo- cated in 1968, that too mysteriously dis- appeared. Thus the 1666 copy served as the only texted source for these canticles, the source on which Skarka and Ticha had necessarily depended; the present edition, therefore, not only constitutes a musicolog- ical event of some importance, but also of- fers the first edition of Michna's thirteen

poems to be derived from the original print. Strangely, Horyna and Hulek leave these episodes wholly unexplained, and in fact extend their discretion so far as to exclude even a capsule history of the photographed exemplar's former whereabouts. (It is now in the Muzeum husitskeho revolu/niho hnuti, Tabor, collection Sobeslav [VI.H.5].) The frenzy, at least, has abated.

The valiant will no doubt prefer to per- form these canticles from the perfectly leg- ible facsimile, referring to the edition mainly for suggestions pertaining to tempo and declamation. The edition possesses one odd aspect: in order to facilitate an arrange- ment whereby no page turns interrupt the music of each canticle, the scale of the pho- toreproduction varies. The fourth and eighth canticles, for example, comprise three systems of music each; but the former is spread over two pages, while the latter is reduced and crowded onto one page. In addition the small (editorial) notes of the continuo realization vary in proportionate size, and in a very few cases open note- heads are blurred. Furthermore, not all verses of text are placed so conveniently as they were in the linear format of Michna's day, with music and corresponding lines of text listed across a single opening. All of the preceding, again, recommends the use of or reference to the facsimile in perfor- mance whenever that is an option.

Hymnologists have recognized since Trolda's time that the pious reflections set by Michna, the extraordinary town organ- ist of Jindfichuiv Hradec, constituted the most beloved and widely disseminated cor- pus of music by a single composer in Counter-Reformation Bohemia and Mo- ravia. The massive third edition of Steyer's famous anthology (1697), for instance, contained one hundred forty-two canticles culled from Michna's books alone, while some Michna favorites continued to be adapted and arranged by village cantors all the way to the beginning of the nineteenth century. That this was a cherished reper- tory among burgher and rural church- goers alike cannot be seriously doubted. And this volume speaks well for those who would wish us to know the reasons why.

MARK GERMER New York University

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