From Prague to Padua

The theme of this concert is inspired by the international career of one of the most significant Czech baroque composers, Bohuslav Matěj Černohorský. The programme also includes works by contemporaries and students that he met in Prague or during his time in Assisi and Padua.

The concert will start with his Regina coeli, which reflects his perceptions of the musical life of Venice, including the work of Antonio Vivaldi, whose aria from his musical setting of the psalm Laudate pueri Dominum will be performed as the second, vocal piece in the programme. Vivaldi appears to have composed this psalm for the court of Dresden, where the composition has survived up to this day. The same city is associated with the following composer of the evening, Jan Dismas Zelenka, known as the “Czech Bach”. Contacts between Dresden and Prague in the first half of the 18th century were relatively active, not only in terms of the movements of musicians but also the spreading of their works. 1723 was an exceptional year in the musical history of Prague as musicians from all over Europe converged on the city for the celebrations to mark the coronation of Charles VI as King of Bohemia. Local musicians, including František Ignác Antonín Tůma and Jan Josef Ignác Brentner, could thus take the measure of their own skills against the international masters in the field.