CAPPELLA MARIANA AND CONSTANTINOPLE

The theme of interaction between different cultures and seeking a common language in the current globalised world is more topical than ever. An inspiring encounter between two distant musical universes has resulted from the collaboration between Cappella Mariana, focusing on Renaissance polyphony, and Constantinople, an ensemble pursuing Islamic musical traditions. Their joint project mirrors the adventure-packed 1598 journey of the Czech nobleman and composer Kryštof Harant, who described his experience in the travelogue Journey from Bohemia to the Holy Land, by Way of Venice and the Sea. Supraphon will release the new album, titled Pilgrimage / Musical Journey of Kryštof Harant to Jerusalem / circa 1600, on Friday 4 October 2024, both on CD and in digital formats.

The recording features the complete surviving works of Kryštof Harant, combined with the music of his contemporaries in the Ottoman Empire and Persia. The Middle East’s multi-ethnicity, further enhanced by pilgrims, monks and wanderers, resulted in a highly variegated sonic mosaic. Accordingly, the present album is sung in some seven languages. Harant’s polyphony is juxtaposed with songs by renowned and anonymous 16th-century Middle East composers, including those to texts by the feted Persian poet Hafez. “From the very beginning, my intention was not only to make an album but also to perform the music in concert,” says Vojtěch Semerád, artistic director of Cappella Mariana, who invited to participate in the project Kiya Tabassian, a composer, distinguished setar player and artistic director of the Constantinople ensemble.

“I started pondering the project around 2018. I thought of showing Kryštof Harant not only as a musician and composer, but as a humanist too. He was also a writer, diplomat, traveller, high-ranking army officer and imperial official. What I find truly fascinating is his inner struggle with faith. Hailing from a Catholic noble family, during the socially turbulent time in Bohemia he converted to Protestantism, his political career notwithstanding. He joined the Bohemian estates’ uprising against the Habsburgs. But, although reflecting in the selection of the pieces, this is not the most crucial aspect of our project. In 2021, 400 years had passed since the execution on Prague’s Old Town Square of the 27 leaders of the Bohemian Revolt. As merely three complete Harant works and several fragments of his scores have survived, I couldn’t compile a whole album of his music. The programme revolves around Harant’s travelogue, capturing his journey to the Holy Land. I intended to combine the Harant pieces with the music Harant may have heard en route to Jerusalem. When I met Kiya Tabassian, during the Summer Festivities of Early Music, I immediately felt that he was the right person to take up the challenge with,” Vojtěch Semerád says. Kiya Tabassian adds: “To tell the truth, it was the very first time I’d heard of the renowned figure. Only after talking to Vojtěch did I begin to inquire into Harant. And very soon I realised what a significant person, what a well-educated man, he was. I was truly fascinated.”

The album Pilgrimage / Musical Journey of Kryštof Harant to Jerusalem / circa 1600 provides a unique musical portrait of the Middle East’s multi-ethnicity, showing that by getting to know different cultures we learn that we share more than we may think. “It is also a message to contemporary society,” Vojtěch Semerád points out.