Sub olea pacis et palma virtutis

Last updated

Sub olea pacis et palma virtutis conspicua orbi regia Bohemiae Corona: Melodrama de Sancto Wenceslao (Under the Olive Tree of Peace and the Palm Tree of Virtue the Crown of Bohemia Splendidly Shines Before the Whole World: Melodrama to Saint Wenceslaus ), ZWV 175, is an extensive composition, written in 1723 by Czech baroque composer Jan Dismas Zelenka.

Contents

History

The opus was composed for the coronation of Charles VI in 1723. [1] The work was commissioned in 1722 by Prague Jesuits who were involved in the grand preparation for the coronation act. The composer came to Prague in 1723 to complete, rehearse and perform his work. It was performed in the presence of the imperial couple at the Jesuit Clementinum in Prague in the afternoon of 12 September 1723, with Zelenka himself as conductor. Besides the eight soloists and musicians of the orchestra, a further 142 persons, including dancers and walk-on actors, were involved in that grandiose performance. Vocal soloists were selected from among native Czechs who attended Jesuit schools. This event was probably the social culmination of Zelenka's career, something he had not been able to achieve during his time in Dresden.

Description

The composition is a monumental allegorical opus, its character between melodrama, oratorio, stage play and contemporary opera, celebrating the memory of the greatest Czech saint and patron of Bohemia, Saint Wenceslas, one of the founders of Czech state, who lived from c. 907 to 935.

The libretto was written by Matouš Zill, a member of the Jesuit order in Prague. The drama begins with a dispute between Prince Václav (Wenceslaus) and the Prince of Kouřim in which Wenceslaus wins not by sword but the mind. The principal characters, who are allocated the majority of the musical numbers are allegorical figures that appear throughout all three acts of the drama. There is not any apparent plot in the play, it being rather a work in praise of religious devoutness and fortitude.

The work opens with an orchestral Sinfonia scored for 3 instrumental groups comprising two trumpets with timpani, a pair of oboes with bassoon and string ensemble with continuo. The Baroque concertante principle is utilised in several numbers in the score, polyphonic writing is featured in two pieces. In many parts, we can find innovative elements, e.g. the use of cello as a solo instrument (in part no. 28), combination of two concertino recorders with a couple of flutes (in part no. 24), solo part of flute (which was still a very young component in the range of Baroque instruments) in aria no. 33 and chorus no. 36, that combines strict fugal with richly scored orchestral music. The ceremonial character of the composition is emphasized by the use of trumpets and timpani in many parts of the work.

Orchestration

All parts of the orchestra were original Baroque instruments. There were used: 17 violins, 7 viols, 5 cellos, 3 double basses, 4 oboes, 3 flutes, 2 bassoons, 2 recorders, 2 trumpets, 1 chalumeau and theorbo, timpani, harpsichord and positive organ. Vocal casting included 2 sopranos, 2 tenors, countertenor, bass and boy's choir. The tradition of Jesuits did not allow the use of female figures in the play. Consequently, soprano and alto parts were taken by students from the lower grades of Jesuits' music school.

Parts

Symphonia
Prolusio
Actus I
Actus II
Actus III
Epilogus

Recordings

The composition was performed using authentic instruments of the Baroque era, tuned on A=415 Hz (Kirnberger III). The album was recorded in the Rothmayer Hall of Prague Castle on July 15–19, 2000. The total time of the recording is 95 minutes 11 seconds. A complete performance with the spoken dialogue would last approximately 2 hours 40 minutes.

Soloists: Noémi Kiss (soprano), Anna Hlavenková (soprano), Jaroslav Březina ([tenor), Adam Zdunikowsi (tenor), Aleš Procházka (bass), Markus Foerster (countertenor)

Ensembles: Musica Florea, Boni Pueri, Musica Aeterna, Ensemble Philidor

Conductors: Marek Štryncl (principal conductor, Musica Florea), Peter Zajíček (Musica Aeterna), Eric Baude-Delhommais (Ensemble Philidor), Pavel Horák (Boni Pueri choirmaster)

Orchestra members

Related Research Articles

Jan Dismas Zelenka, baptised Jan Lukáš Zelenka was a Czech composer and musician of the Baroque period. His music is admired for its harmonic inventiveness and mastery of counterpoint.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass No. 2 (Schubert)</span>

Mass No. 2 in G major, D 167, by Franz Schubert was composed in less than a week in early March 1815 and remains the best known of his three short settings, or missae breves, dating between his more elaborate No. 1 and No. 5. Apart from some passages for soprano, its solistic interventions are modest; Schubert, characteristically, inclines toward a devotional mood. The First Mass had been successfully performed in the composer's parish the year before.

<i>Tönet, ihr Pauken! Erschallet, Trompeten!</i> BWV 214 Cantata by J.S. Bach

Tönet, ihr Pauken! Erschallet, Trompeten!, BWV 214, is a secular cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, composed in 1733 for the birthday of Maria Josepha, Queen of Poland and Electress of Saxony. Classified in published editions as a dramma per musica, it is based on a libretto by an unknown author. The piece has the dedicatee addressed by allegorical figures representing Roman and Greek goddesses of war and peace. It is structured as nine movements, and scored for four vocal parts and a festive Baroque orchestra with trumpets, timpani, flutes, oboes and strings. Choral movements frame a series of alternating recitatives and arias. Bach led the first performance with the Collegium Musicum at the Zimmermannsches Caffeehaus on 8 December 1733.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marek Kopelent</span> Czech contemporary composer (1932–2023)

Marek Kopelent was a Czech composer, music editor and academic teacher, who is considered to have been at the forefront of the "New Music" movement, and was one of the most-published Czech composers of the second half of the 20th century.

Antonín Dvořák's Requiem in B minor, Op. 89, B. 165, is a funeral Mass scored for soloists, choir and orchestra. It was composed in 1890 and performed for the first time on 9 October 1891, in Birmingham, England, with the composer conducting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boni Pueri</span> Czech boys choir

Boni Pueri is a Czech boys' choir founded in 1982, which has become one of Europe's most famous musical ensembles.

<i>Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele</i>, BWV 69

Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele, BWV 69, also BWV 69.2, is a cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Marek Štryncl is a Czech conductor, violoncellist, choirmaster, and composer. He is the founder and leader of Baroque music ensemble Musica Florea.

Musica Florea is a Czech Baroque music ensemble in Prague, founded in 1992 by conductor and cellist Marek Štryncl.

Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis in A minor, ZWV 17, is the a vocal-instrumental sacred work, written by Czech Baroque composer Jan Dismas Zelenka. It was completed in 1736 as the first of five high masses he wrote in the last ten years of his life.

Il Serpente di Bronzo, ZWV 61 is a sacred cantata composed by the Czech composer Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679–1745).

<i>Ihr Tore zu Zion</i>, BWV 193 Cantata by Bach

Ihr Tore zu Zion also called Ihr Pforten zu Zion, BWV 193, is a sacred cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for Ratswechsel, the inauguration of a new town council, in 1727 and first performed it on 25 August 1727. The music survives in an incomplete state.

Hana Blažíková is a Czech soprano and harpist. She is focused on Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music, appearing internationally. She has recorded as a member of the Bach Collegium Japan, among many others.

Schleicht, spielende Wellen, BWV 206, is a secular cantata composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig and first performed on 7 October 1736.

Il Diamante, ZWV 177, is a composition from 1737 by Czech baroque composer Jan Dismas Zelenka.

Ludwig van Beethoven's Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II, WoO 87 is a cantata with a libretto by Severin Anton Averdonk (1768-1817), written in 1790 and intended for a memorial service for Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor to be held in Bonn. Composed when Beethoven was nineteen, it was neither published, nor apparently performed until it premiered in Vienna in November 1884, fifty-seven years after Beethoven's death, and it was first printed in an 1888 supplement to the Complete Works. It remains one of Beethoven's lesser-known works.

<i>La Croce doro</i>

La croce d’oro is an opera in 3 acts by Henrique Oswald to an Italian libretto. It was composed in 1872. No performances of it are registered. The work remains unpublished.

I penitenti al sepolcro del redentore, ZWV 63, is an oratorio by Jan Dismas Zelenka, commissioned and first composed for a performance on Good Friday, March 30 1736, for his employer Augustus III, in Dresden. The work departing from the usual canon of a setting of the text of one of the Gospels, being instead a poem focusing on the meaning of Christ's sacrifice, is unusual in this aspect.

References

  1. Vogl, Radek (19 January 2005). ""Proslulá královská koruna česká" zazněla na Pražském hradě" (in Czech). Britské listy . Retrieved 17 April 2011.