Kryštof Harant (1564-1621)
- Missa quinis vocibus super Dolorosi martir (1602)
Performers: Duodena Cantitans; Capella Rudolphina; Michael Consort; Petr Danek (conductor)
Further info: Harant - Missa Quinis Vocibus Super Dolorosi Martir
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Bohemian composer and writer. From 1576 he studied singing and
counterpoint as a member of a local court band at Innsbruck, at the
court of Archduke Ferdinand II, learning 7 languages, discovering his
talent for music and the other arts and his interest in history,
geography and political science. He returned to Bohemia in 1584 in a
vain attempt to get a post at the court of Rudolf II, and so enlisted as
a soldier, participating in the 1593 and 1597 campaign against the
Turks. In 1589 he married Eva Czernin von Chudenitz – they had two
children before she died in 1597. Kryštof married two more times.
Leaving his relation Lidmila Markvartová z Hrádku to raise the children,
in 1598 and 1599 he went to the Holy Land as a pilgrim, wishing to
visit the Holy Sepulchre with Eva's brother Hermann. He wrote about his
experiences in a book entitled Journey from Bohemia to the Holy Land, by
way of Venice and the Sea which was published in Prague in 1608. After
his return, in 1599, he was given a post in the emperor's court and
simultaneously raised to the peerage, though both his children died that
year. In 1601 he was made an advisor to the court of Rudolf and his
successor Matthias and part of the imperial chambers. When the imperial
court moved to Vienna, Harant was granted the Pecka Castle and dedicated
himself for some years to music, becoming the foremost Bohemian
composer. In 1615 he was unexpectedly released from his court duties and
he went to live in seclusion at Pecka Castle, where, on the evidence of
an inventory, he kept a musical establishment. Although he had been
brought up from childhood as a Catholic, he was converted, by 1618 at
the latest, to neo-Utraquism. On 25 July 1620 a mass by him was
performed with great show in the Catholic church of St Jakub, Prague. He
did not take part in the Battle of the White Mountain in 1620, but in
spite of his plea for mercy to the emperor for his part in the uprising
he was arrested in his castle at the beginning of March 1621 and taken
to Prague, where he was condemned to death and to the sequestration of
his property. On 21 June he was beheaded in the Old Town square with the
other 26 leaders of the uprising. According to his contemporaries he
was a good singer and instrumentalist and his compositions were
performed not only at the emperor’s court but also at those of German
noblemen. The seven pieces that survive are predominantly contrapuntal
and conservative, with only occasional up-to-date touches where melodic
writing takes precedence over polyphony.
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