Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • 3 - Liturgical Music of the Bohemian Reformation

  • from Part I - Before 1800
  • Edited by Martin Nedbal, University of Kansas, Kelly St. Pierre, Wichita State University and Institute for Theoretical Studies, Prague,, Hana Vlhová-Wörner, University of Basel and Masaryk Institute, Prague
  • Book:
    A History of Music in the Czech Lands
    Published online:
    21 October 2025
    Print publication:
    16 October 2025, pp 39-53

  • Summary

    The Czech Reformation was unique in some of its manifestations. It preceded the main Reformation wave of the early 1500s by a century. One of its distinctive features was the creation of its own repertory, with vernacular (Czech) songs and paraphrased chant, preserved in characteristic songbooks, so-called cantionals. Certain printed cantionals, especially those produced by the Unity of Brethren, stand out in terms of both scope and typographic sophistication, even in an international context. The polyphonic repertoire, persisting well into the sixteenth century, retained some aspects of late medieval style. Despite the defeat of the Bohemian Revolt in 1620, leading to the prohibition of non-Catholic worship in Bohemia and Moravia, the practice of singing in Czech during liturgy continued to be tolerated within Catholic worship. Several songs have endured as a consistent part of the church repertory up to the present day.