Michna: The Czech Lute

Adam Michna (1600-76) is one of the most significant compositional personalities of the Czech baroque. He lived most of his life in Jindřichův Hradec, from where he set out on only a few longer journeys. He apparently assimilated the elements of Italianmusic from the Jesuit schools, with which he held good contacts from the time of his studies - most of his compositions were published by the Klementinum, a Prague Jesuit institution. While the Czech Marian Music (1647) and Music for the Liturgical Year (1661) remind us of the music from traditional hymn books, The Czech Lute on Holidays, on Friday, in the Church, at the table, and as one wishes for any time, for pleasure, for devotion, composed and published by Michna of Otradovice from Jindřichův Hradec in the year 1653 - this is the whole title of the collection - comes much closer to a modern cycle of love songs. They were originally written for two voices, two violins, three viols, and continuo, but because the violin and viol parts are not extant,the collection has been presented in recent times in the sensitive and scholarly instrumentation of Jaroslav Krček. Michna is a pronounced idealist and lyricist, and his Christmas pastoral poetry, which comprises of one-third of this collection, is particularly warm and sensitive. This music, with its characteristic Czech folk simplicity and clear, periodically divided melodies, has much to say to today's listener.