Overview

A long-needed reassessment of the musical culture of fifteenth-century Bohemia, liberating it from nineteenth- and twentieth-century nationalist agendas and reassessing its position in European music history. What was musical culture like in a country in fifteenth-century Central Europe where theologians tried to restore the values of the early church--including through musical practices--only to be branded ""heretical""? Bohemian theologians tried to return to Christianity's ""roots"" by promoting frequent bread-and-wine communion for all (including children) and by encouraging lay participation in worship through translations into the vernacular. Unlike in many other European lands, monophonic chant and sacred songs were primarily used (though some advanced contemporary polyphonic settings circulated as well). These religious and musical developments formed part of the seedbed that would develop more fully during the European Reformation through the work of Martin Luther and others. Music in Fifteenth-Century Bohemia: Between Reform and Identity Building contains essays on liturgy, song, and the influence of the Hussite movement. The book resists both nationalistically tinged narratives and the marginalization that has long resulted from an emphasis on the disparities between Czech and Western European musical traditions. One chapter demonstrates how a fifteenth-century song was employed in the revival of Czech culture in the nineteenth century. Taken as a whole, the essays in this important collection illustrate the distinctive and often effective ways in which fifteenth-century Czech culture dealt with the dichotomy between religious reform and cultural identity.

Full Product Details

Author:   Dr Hab. Hana Vlhová-Wörner ,  Jan Ciglbauer ,  Dr Eliška Baťová ,  Jan Ciglbauer
Publisher:   Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Imprint:   University of Rochester Press
ISBN:  

9781648251252

ISBN 10:   1648251250
Pages:   292
Publication Date:   09 December 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Preface Note on the Online Material Note to the Reader List of Abbreviations Introduction Hana Vlhová-Wörner 1 Sequences in Late Medieval Bohemia: Genre, Form, and Function Transformations Hana Vlhová-Wörner 2 Between Tradition and Heresy: Fifteenth-Century Liturgical Chants for Jan Hus Rhianydd Hallas Czech Liturgical Singing of the Later Fifteenth Century: Expression of Identity or Lost Local Tradition? Eliška Baťová 4 Liturgy and Songs ca. 1350-1520: On the Exclusiveness of the Bohemian Contribution Jan Ciglbauer 5 Local Networks of New Polyphony in Bohemia, ca. 1470-1520: Sources, Repertory, Performance Practice Lenka Hlávková 6 Hussitism in Modern Czech Musical Culture: The Roots of Myths (1800-1848) Viktor Velek List of Sources Bibliography Notes on Contributors General Index

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Author Information

HANA VLHOVÁ-WÖRNER is researcher at the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic. JAN CIGLBAUER is assistant professor at the Institute of Musicology, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. JAN CIGLBAUER is assistant professor at the Institute of Musicology, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. HANA VLHOVÁ-WÖRNER is researcher at the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic.

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