The international festival dedicated to the baroque composer Jan Dismas Zelenka begins. It will begin with a festive concert in Prague
Ensemble Inégal is preparing an exceptional concert from the work of the phenomenal baroque composer Jan Dismas Zelenka on October 12 in Prague. The renowned music ensemble led by conductor and organist Adam Viktory will open the 8th year of the international Zelenka Festival Prague – Dresden with it.
He has been dedicated to Zelenka’s work and personality since 2014. The concert is produced from 7:30 p.m. in the Church of Our Lady under the Chain in Malá Strana. The program will include the first of Zelenka’s four cycles of solemn vespers Psalmi Vespertini I, a magnificent work bearing witness to the composer’s mastery and originality. Ensemble Inégal will perform on it together with the Dresden vocal ensemble Dresdner Kammerchor. The festival will then continue until October 16, the anniversary of Zelenka’s baptism, at various locations in Prague and Dresden.
(Adam Viktora, photo: René Volfík)
As the founder and leader of the ensemble Ensembe Inégal recalls Adam Viktorcompositions Jan Dismas Zelenka was also excited Johann Sebastian Bach. “We know that part of Zelenka’s vespers was performed by Bach in the church of St. Thomas in Leipzig. At the upcoming concert in Prague, however, listeners will be able to get to know this part of Zelenka Vespers as a complete ensemble in all its beauty,” says Viktora. The origin of the Czech composer, born in 1679 in the family of a cantor and organist in Louňovice pod Blaníkem, was also praised by his contemporary, the German poet JG Kittel. He wrote about Zelenka in the sense that his music allows us to “taste the joy of heaven” already here on earth.
“Which definitely applies even today, because Zelenka’s music is heartbreaking,” confirms Adam Viktora. “His work as a whole is of extraordinary quality. He impresses the listeners and us performers with his compositional art and invention. What Bach accomplished in the Protestant field, Zelenka as a bravura composer created and completed in the Catholic field. For me, Zelenka is the most important musical being of the baroque sky,” says Viktora.
(Gabriela Eibenová and Adam Viktor, photo: René Volfík)
Zelenka’s music: unknown, bravura, beautiful and challenging
However, for many listeners, Zelenka and his work still remain unknown. “Ordinary audiences are used to the constant repetition of titles such as Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Bach’s John Passion. The other 99% of baroque music, including Zelenka’s, still remains undiscovered. But wherever we played Zelenka abroad, be it in Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Sweden and so on, a similar scenario is always repeated. Dismayed audience, amazed organizers and questions like: how is it possible that we didn’t know this? And why isn’t it played more often?”.
almost all of Zelenka’s surviving music is available. Carefully stored, largely scanned and accessible online, it is waiting in the Dresden State Library for someone to find it and bring it back to life. And that’s exactly what Adam Viktora has been doing tirelessly with Ensemble Inégal for more than 20 years.
Zelenka was in a privileged position as a composer, double bassist and later bandleader at the royal court in Dresden. He could therefore afford to compose his music for the best performers. “As a composer, for example, he had at his disposal a group of Italian castrati, top singers equipped at considerable expense, for whom he could write even the most demanding parts. In addition, he himself was a virtuoso player of stringed instruments – the performance of his compositions requires exceptional technical and expressive quality from the instrumentalists. presenting his music is therefore again very challenging,” explains Adam Viktora.
Admiring more than we thought
Studying Zelenka’s work is thus, according to Viktora, an intensive and definitely the most adventurous task of the entire discovery work. “It is not enough to play cleanly and without mistakes. With literally every note, everyone involved must be aware of where it comes from and where it is going, how long it will be, and what role it plays in the place where it is. It is necessary to understand Zelenka’s handwriting itself. His musical notation is sometimes ambiguous and hard to read,” Adam Viktora describes.
“You have to find the right temperature, taking into account the character of all the parts. And with the help of articulation and declamation, strive for a correct grasp of the emotions that Zelenka’s music is full of. When it succeeds and all the instrumentalists and singers are in harmony with the chosen way of rendering, something indescribable is created. At such a moment, Zelenka’s music broadens our horizons, deepens our knowledge and sensitivity. Thanks to him, as listeners and performers, we can admire more than we thought before,” concludes Ensemble Inégal, its founder and leader Adam Viktor.
(Adam Viktora, photo: René Volfík)
Welcome to…
…Czech composer Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745) ranks among the most important composers of the High Baroque period? He is one of the most original and remarkable musical geniuses, and his music still amazes today. Zelenk’s contribution lies primarily in a specific imaginative, always surprising harmony, the perfection of the art of counterpoint and the originality of the instrumentation. His music is characterized by a revealing rhythmic and harmonic imagination that is always full of life and energy.
…we know very little about Zelenka’s personal life? “The relationship between Zelenka and the princess was remarkable Maria Josefafuture Electors of Saxony and Queens of Poland, cousins Maria Theresa. The music-loving noblewoman valued Zelenka immensely and he dedicated many of her compositions to her. It is based on contemporary testimony and from the nature of his music, in my opinion, he was a sociable and educated person with a noble character and an original sense of humor,” describes Adam Viktora.
…After his death, Zelenka’s work was deposited in the Dresden court archive as the property of the sovereign and for a long time it was not possible to copy or publish it? His music was forgotten for over a hundred years.
…he was responsible for the rediscovery of Jan Dismas Zelenka in Bohemia in the 19th century Francis Palacky also Bedrich Smetana. The one in Prague at the New Town Theater festivities in
Opening photo: Husband and wife Adam Viktora and Gabriela Eibenová, who founded an international music festival in Zelenka’s honor (photo: René Volfík)