Robert G. Rawson
Christ Church University, Canterbury
The Context and Content of Czech-language
Liturgical Music in the 17th Century:
Some Questions
Introduction
The Czech lands are widely recognised for the historical use of vernacular liturgy with
a venerable tradition dating back to the missions of Cyril and Methodius, sent to the
region in by Patriarch Photius in 863 AD. In the era following the execution Jan Hus
(c. 1369–1415) volumes of Czech Christian songs and hymns grew in popularity (in
books called kancionály), many of which were used in conjunction with the Mass in both
Czech and Latin—the vernacular Mass being most prevalent amongst the Utraquists
in particular.
Rather than being eradicated, some of these traditions were transformed
during the Counter-Reformation. It is hoped that the patterns and examples discussed
in this paper shed some light on the use Czech singing at Mass during the decades following
the Thirty Years War and perhaps pursue new avenues of enquiry.
In the period before the Thirty Years War, some powerful Roman-Catholics in Bohemia
and Moravia had shown a spirit of accommodation with some of their non-conformist
compatriots.
Some of the pre-war toleration continued in order to incorporate
 
For the Utraquist Mass see Barry Graham, “The Evolution of the Utraquist Mass 1420–1620,“ The
Catholic Historical Review 92, no. 4 (2006): 553–73.
 
For the sake of space I am not dealing with use of German here. However, the German-speaking
members of the Bohemian Brethren, for example, have a parallel tradition to the Czech speakers up to
the Thirty Years War, including translations of Czech kancionálý. Moreover, there are signs that German
speakers in Bohemia and Moravia continued to sing some liturgical music in the vernacular long after
re-Catholicisation of the region—a fascinating phenomenon perhaps related to the Czech-language tradition,
but still awaiting a comprehensive study.
 
Even the archbishop of Prague, Antonín Brus (1518–80), who chaired the censorship committee,
made no attempts to enforce severe prohibitions. R. J. W. Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy,
1550–1700: An Interpretation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979), 18. Jiří Sehnal, “Český zpěv při
mši,“ Hudební věda 1 (1992), 4.
Robert G. Rawson — The Context and Content of Czech-language Liturgical Music in the 17th Century     229
those non-conformist traditions that could be tolerated by the new regime. Examples
of this continuity can be seen in the musical traditions associated with the literary
brotherhoods [literati] that had flowered during the Reformation. In the turbulent era
after 1620, some of the Catholic brotherhoods maintained earlier customs such as the
singing parts of the liturgy in the vernacular. Some of the leaders of these brotherhoods
were also regens chori or associated with the literary choirs of prominent chapels
(many of them private) or churches and thus the context for the performance the many
Czech-language liturgical music and spiritual songs is open to question.
Were these
settings sung as part of the liturgy with a presiding priest, or were they part the private
devotions of the literary brotherhoods or other groups? Some sources suggest that, at
least on some occasions, Czech settings were sung at Mass.
Before White Mountain
Before 1620, singing in Czech at Mass was not uncommon—the most basic pattern being
that the Catholics only sang in Czech for non-liturgical songs, whilst the non-conformists
(especially the Utraquists) might use the vernacular for both congregational
singing as well as the Mass itself.
The patterns of vernacular singing at Mass are not
uniform and represent a gap in current research and understanding. The most common
vehicle of Czech singing are the sacred songs and hymns sung by the congregation
disseminated in kancionalý. More than merely the Czech equivalent of hymnals,
they embodied the ethos of the Czech Protestants with their focus on correct use of
language in high-literary style and congregational participation. The collections of the
Utraquists are more closely associated with the literary brotherhoods and the vernacular
liturgy; these collections remained mostly in manuscript form.
In the spirit of the
Counter-Reformation, Catholics also created their own kancionály on a grand scale and
these were modelled on their Protestant precursors, with a fair amount of overlapping
repertoire.
Fraternitas Litteratorum
Literary brotherhoods rose to prominence in Bohemia and Moravia during the Renaissance
and reached their apotheosis in the decades leading up to the Thirty Years
 
Paul Nettl, “The Czechs in Eighteenth-Century Music,“ Music & Letters 21, no. 4 (1940), 363.
 
There is not enough space to discuss such a massive subject in the detail it requires. The standard
(though ageing) work is Zdeněk Nejedlý, Počatky Husitského zpěvu (Prague: 1907). Older still (though very
useful) is Karel Konrad, Dějny posvátneho zpěvu staročeského (Prague: Cyrillo-Methoděské Kněhttiskárry,
1881). Some of Nejedlý’s claims about Hus and congregational singing are challenged in Jan Kouba, “Jan
Hus und das gesitliche Lied: ein Literaturbericht,“ JbLH 14 (1969): 190–96.
 
Barry Graham, “The Evolution of the Utraquist Mass 1420–1620.“ There are even Czech-language
contrafacta of works by Josquin discussed in Jitka Snižková, “Josquin in Czech Sources,“ in Josquin
des Prez (London: Oxford University Press, 1976).
230     Round Table III — Context and Meaning in 17th-Century Sacred Music
War.
They were a product of humanism and part of their endeavours usually included
(or even focussed on) singing polyphonic music in the vernacular and this latter aspect
made them unique amongst humanistic fraternities.
Much early Czech polyphony is
attributed to such groups (there were at least 100 in Bohemia alone and at least 55 in
Moravia).
The members of the brotherhoods were usually well-educated and wellsituated
men of the town, often lawyers, wealthy merchants, burghers, and so on. The
groups were also well-organised and well-funded, either from within the group or
from aristocratic patronage. They aimed to reflect both their humanist ideals and their
non-conformist traditions. Considering the influential positions of many members of
the literati, the use of vernacular singing may also be construed as a statement of social-political
values in addition to theological ones. The brotherhoods were also often
connected with a specific church or order where they would hold their devotions and
more pertinently, they would train singers and cantors.10
What is not completely understood
are the implications for the connections between the literati and the cantors
and choir members of the church—especially after 1620. The singing of the literati was
not merely an act of private devotion, but some of them also participated in liturgical
music making such as singing of morning Mass and at certain feast days and funerals.11
The combination of the brotherhood’s activities made important connections between
their humanist thinking, theology and Czech culture and language. In at least one case
(St Havel in Prague) the Czech liturgical music manuscripts of the literati were used
again by the church after re-Catholicisation following the Thirty Years War.12
These
connections between the literary brotherhoods and the regens chori are not always clear,
but the small amount of evidence is too tantalising to ignore.
The careers of some musicians associated with the literati straddle the pivotal Battle
of White Mountain and might serve as examples to help shed some light on this
transitional period. One such example is the Utraquist intellectual and composer Jan
Campanus–Vodňanský (1572–1622) who was associated (directly and indirectly) with
 
The brotherhoods have traditionally been most strongly associated with Bohemia, but recent research
reveals that they were more common in Moravia than previously thought. See Vladimír Maňas,
“Hudební aktivity náboženských korporací na Moravě v raném novověku” (Filozofická fakulta Masarzkovy
univerzity v Brně, 2008).
 
An excellent and recent study of the polyphonic repertoire of the brotherhoods in Bohemia before
1620 is Martin Horyna, “Vícehlasá hudba v Čechách v 15. a 16, století a její interpreti,“ Hudební věda
43, no. 2 (2006): 117–34.
 
Vladimír Maňas, “Hudební aktivity náboženských korporací,“ passim. Until the work of Maňas
there were only around thirty literary brotherhoods known in Moravia before 1620.
10 
Christine Covert Barrows, “The Music of the Bohemian Literary Brotherhoods as preserved
in Prague, Naródní Knohovna Manuscript PragU XVII B 19” (University of Ottowa, 1996), 125. Barrows’
study focusses on a fascinating manuscript associated with the literary brotherhood at St Havel
in Prague’s old town.
11 
Ibid., passim.
12 
Ibid., 128.
Robert G. Rawson — The Context and Content of Czech-language Liturgical Music in the 17th Century     231
several literary brotherhoods in Prague and elsewhere.13
The next level of connections
of the literati to consider is with networks of schools. Campanus himself had been
superintendent at the school of St Henry [Jindřich] in Prague, whose literati were also
known to sing Czech liturgical music. After leaving, Campanus became head of the
school at St James [Jakub] in Kutná Hora.14
Some of the possible connections remain
conjecture, but the children of these schools did learn to sing polyphony and probably
came into contact with Czech-language singing either directly through their schooling
or through the members of the literati who were attached to the church. Campanus
‘converted’ to the Roman-Catholic church in 1622 with the intention of preserving the
Utraquist traditions of Prague University which had been handed over to the Jesuits,
but died within the year following serious mental disorders.15
Examples such as
Campanus beg the question: to what extent did Utraquist-cum-Catholics succeed in
preserving the pre-war musical traditions? The short answer is that we do not know,
exactly. However, the choir masters of the Utraquist churches were often connected to
the literary brotherhoods and many of those who converted after 1620 continued to
worship as crypto-Utraquists.16
Patterns of Education after 1620
After 1620 the Habsburg authorities handed control of many influential schools (and
Prague’s university) to control of the Jesuits, who are well-known for adapting local
customs and conventions to follow Roman-Catholic dogma. Especially popular with
locals was the practice of making contrafacta of existing folk songs to teach and spread
the Roman faith—an evangelical tool of both the Jesuits and the Dominicans. In the
Czech lands the Jesuits were hugely successful in adapting the Czech singing traditions
of Protestants. The Catholic authorities faced a number of challenges in terms of
music and devotion in the Czech lands: they were faced with a culture of communal
singing, worship and general involvement in devotional matters and so sought to appropriate
some of these ancient customs and liturgical peculiarities rather than strive
for a uniformity that would have been impossible to impose.17
13 
Jan Racek, and Jitka Snižková, eds. Jan Campanus–Vodňanský, Carmina Festiva, vol. 9, Musica Antiqua
Bohemica (Prague: Supraphon, 1978), xiii.
14 
Ibid., xiii.
15 
Ibid., xiii. Snižková points out that the pomp of the funeral given by the Jesuits provides a cruelly
ironic conclusion to the life of Campanus.
16 
Even in the late eighteenth century foreigners noted the survival of Protestant sects and practices
in the Czech lands. The German traveller Reisbeck commented in 1783 that the ‘Hussites are still
very numerous in the country. Some think that a fourth part of the inhabitants are of this sect, which has
also spread widely in Moravia.’ Johann Kaspar Riesbeck, Travels Through Germany in a Series of Letters,
trans. Rev. Maty, 2 vols., vol. II (Zurich: T. Cadell, 1787), 127.
17 
Mark Germer, “The Austro-Bohemian Pastorella and Pastoral Mass to c. 1720” (Ph. D, New York
University, 1989), 50–51.
232     Round Table III — Context and Meaning in 17th-Century Sacred Music
The Catholic Transformation of the Kancionál
The Jesuit’s first and probably most outwardly visible and hugely symbolic sign of this
transformation was in the publication of Václav Adam Michna’s Česká Mariánská Muzika.
Published in Prague in 1647, Česká Mariánská Muzika bore a title page that would
have been familiar to almost every literate Czech. Michna (or more likely his Jesuit
publishers) modified the engraved title page from the most successful and popular of
all Protestant kancionálý to date—Jan Roh’s Písně chval božských (Prague, 1541)—and
replaced the contents with his own compositions dedicated to the Virgin Mary. This
bold move (the title page even retained a representation of Jan Hus!) parallels another
highly symbolic transformation that took place very near to the Jesuit’s printing press
in Prague. After the twenty seven Protestant leaders were executed on Prague’s main
square in 1621, the Roman-Catholic victors undertook a symbolic act intended serve as
a warning. They melted down the golden chalice that sat in a recess between the two
towers of the Týn church and transformed into a statue of the Virgin Mary. The chalice
was a powerful symbol for the Utraquist cause which maintained that communion
should be given to the laiety in ‘both kinds’ [sub utraque specie]. The most obvious level
of symbolism was the victory of the Roman Catholics over the Protestants; but the recasting
of the chalice also echoed the obsession of the Habsburg elites with alchemy,
magic and the transformation of base materials.18
In both political and musical senses,
the kancionál had entered a new era. Michna’s collection was the most original and upto-date
kancionál published at the time. Not only did all of the newly composed songs
have notation, they were also printed in parts (four and five voices) with a figured bass
and instructions on how instruments might also be used with them in performance.19
Moreover, Michna also penned the excellent devotional poetry himself. Michna played
a vital role in the Catholic transformation of the kancionál tradition, but the connections
with pre-war society did not stop there.
Unlike most provincial organists, Michna had both money and influence. Moreover,
his role in revolutionising the kancionál was no coincidence; he was particularly
well-placed to continue (and improve on) the pre-war traditions of Czech singing,
especially when considering he was an elder of the literary brotherhood in his native
town of Jindřichův Hradec. It was though his connections with the literati and
the Marian Society that Michna met with the man who would become the compiler
of the largest baroque kancionál, Václav Matěj Šteyer (1630–92).20
Šteyer was a Jesuit
who (like many in his order) sought to both preserve and encourage Czech singing
in church—his massive Kancionál Český (Prague, 1683) bears a dedication to both the
18 
R. J. W. Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy, 340–418.
19 
Modern edition: Jiří Sehnal, ed. Česká mariánská muzyka (1647) (Prague: Supraphon, 1989).
20 
Ibid., 15.
Robert G. Rawson — The Context and Content of Czech-language Liturgical Music in the 17th Century     233
literati and cantors. So confident were the Jesuits of their success in transforming such
practices from Protestant contexts to Catholic ones that the Catholic kancionály not only
included many Protestant songs, but sometimes even Hussite ones.21
Šteyer not only
advocates singing in Czech, but also places value on its historical legitimacy—but note
well that he does not mention liturgical contexts.22
Our ancestors in Bohemia [Cžechách] used to have a fine and very commendable custom of
gathering all together in the Lord’s church on Sundays and feast days, early before Holy
Mass and the preaching of God’s word, and the of singing sacred songs there, namely at first
songs for the early morning and later on those pertaining to specific annual celebrations, or
generally, of everyone singing piously together, having instituted choirs for that purpose, in
which not only the ordinary townsmen but also the aldermen lords of the town and more
prominent person used to sing in Czech together with the commoners and praise the Lord
God in a unified voice, reckoning this is a special point of honour. [...] Although this fine tradition
of singing Czech songs in church still continues unbroken in certain places, it cannot be
denied, however, that the former praiseworthy ardour in singing the Lords’ praise has, here
and there, cooled down. This is because those who gather for singing in those place are few
and arrive late and some prefer to stay home or talk with each other in front of the church
about various worldly matters rather to praise the Lord God in the church by means of pious
singing.23
The Mass and Paraphrases
In addition to singing vernacular songs at Mass, there is evidence that part or paraphrases
of the Mass were also sung in Czech. The biggest reason for this paraliturgical
phenomenon probably has to do with necessity and pastoral care by local clergy. This
was more easily facilitated (if not out of necessity) by the fact that such practices were
probably confined to small towns and villages, where making Latin accessible was
nearly impossible. Furthermore, in the aftermath of the Thirty Years War, Catholic
preachers were more concerned with conversion and in doing so made allowances
for certain local customs. Many post-war publications as well as private manuscripts
give some hint of continuity. The Český Dekakord (Prague, 1642) contains settings of
four parts of the Mass Ordinary in Czech, omitting the Agnus Dei—a characteristic
21 
Perhaps the widest variety is in Václav Holan-Rovenský, Capella Regia musicalis (Prague: 1693).
A good overview of the collection is Jaroslav Bužga, “Capella regia musicalis Václava Karla Rovenského,“
Časopis Narodního musea cxxiv (1955): 154–80.
22 
The next major collection was compiled by Jan Josef Božan and published in Hradec Králové in
1719: Slavíček Rajský na stromě Života, slávu tvorci Svému Prospěvující [The Nightingale of Paradise on the
Tree of Life, Singing Praise to its Creator]. This collection goes further still in including Czech liturgical
works, including chants and responses with basso continuo.
23 
According to Germer (1989) this preface only appears in the second (1687) edition of Šteyer’s
collection first printed in 1683. See Mark Germer, “The Austro-Bohemian Pastorella,“ 52–54. The above
excerpt is a translation of Šteyer’s preface as reprinted in Jan Josef Božan, Slavíček Rajský na stromě Života,
slávu tvorci Svému Prospěvující (Hradec Králové: Tibeli, 1719).
234     Round Table III — Context and Meaning in 17th-Century Sacred Music
of Utraquist practice.24
By the second half of the seventeenth century the Piarists at
Stražnice used Czech singing at Mass, but perhaps only during Advent—a special cir-
cumstance.25
The popularity of Mass paraphrases not only survives the Thirty Years War, but
perhaps even increases. These are paralitergical sequences of pieces that either start
with text incipits of parts of the liturgy, or are intended to compliment the Latin liturgy.
This duality is reflected in the presentation of such sequences in kancionály where
the texts of the Mass are followed by Czech alternatives ‘pro obecní lid’ [for common
people]. This practice even extends beyond the typical kancionál tradition and is found
in pieces with obligato instruments and basso continuo in Václav Holan’s remarkable
Capella Regia musicalis (Prague, 1693).26
In contrast to some pre-war practices, Czechs
now found themselves at a Mass with which they had no real interaction with the
priest, but only observed from a distance. Removed both physically, culturally and
linguistically from proceedings, rural congregations followed their own proceedings,
echoing those of the formal liturgy unfolding before them.27
The Czech paraphrases
provided an air of familiarity for rural congregations without directly compromising
the integrity of the Latin Mass. But this scenario leaves the possibility of two simultaneous
acts of worship—one for the well-educated who understood the Latin Mass and
one for those still following some form of the older Czech traditions. The comments in
the prefaces of Šteyer in 1687 (and echoed by Božan in 1719) suggest that the physical
and linguistic separation of the congregation and the clergy may have led to a decline
in participation of some rural congregations.
Further Implications
The evidence of the seventeenth-century efforts to Catholicise Protestant practices
eventually bears fruit and the evidence for this is much greater in eighteenth-century
sources. One German noble noted in 1734 that ‘the Bohemians have a great many Talents
for Music, so that there’s no Village, be it ever so small; but the Mass is sung in
24 
Jitka Snižková, “Die kalixtinische Messe gegen Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts,“ Colloquium Musica
Bohemica et Europaea (1972), 91.
25 
The records of 24. 12. 1681: ‘Matutinum habulmus simplex sine organista. Pro Responsoriis
canebantur bohemicae cantilenae. Sacrum cantatum erat ad cantilenas bohemicas’; and the same date
the following year: ‘Habulmus matutinum media 12ma
post illud sacrum cantatum: sine organo inter
versiculos cantionum Bohemicarum’. Cited in Jiří Sehnal, “Hudební inventář stražnických Piaristů
z roku 1675,“ Časopis Moravského muzea, 69 (1984), 127.
26 
Although not one of the quasi-liturgical pieces, it is worth noting that Schmelzer made a German-language
arrangement of one of Holan’s pieces (pozdravena buď) for Liechtenstein-Castelcorno at
Kroměříž.
27 
The account of the Piarists at Stražnice in 1681 and 1682 (cited in Sehnal; see above) seems to
imply this sort of relationship between Czech singing and the formal liturgy. On these sequences in
Catholic kancionály see Jiří Sehnal, “Český zpěv při mši,“ 10–11.
Robert G. Rawson — The Context and Content of Czech-language Liturgical Music in the 17th Century     235
Concert’.28
Some recent research has unearthed sources that suggest that the schoolchildren
at the Jesuit gymnasium in Brno interspersed paraliturgical songs for the entire
Latin liturgy, while the priest only sang the responses for administering commu­
nion.29
These seventeenth-century patterns gather pace in the following century, where
liturgical and paraliturgical pieces in the vernacular increase in number and make allowances
for the inclusion of the congregation (the latter cases become specialities for
Advent and Christmas) as well as singers and instrumentalists.30
Moreover, the Mass
paraphrases also continue to grow in scale and also to grow further from the liturgical
texts they once complimented. The extent of this is such that by the time of Ryba’s socalled
Česká Vanoční Mše of 1796, the titles of the Mass Ordinary are reduced to acting
as mere headings for the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, etc., with the rest of the texts being entirely
non-liturgical—only the observations and responses of the ‘obecní lid’ [common
people] remain.
Bibliography
Božan, Jan Josef. Slavíček Rajský na stromě Života, slávu tvorci Svému Prospěvující. Hradec Králové: Tibeli,
1719.
Bužga, Jaroslav. “Capella regia musicalis Václava Karla Rovenského.” Časopis Narodního musea cxxiv
(1955): 154–80.
Covert Barrows, Christine. “The Music of the Bohemian Literary Brotherhoods as preserved in Prague,
Naródní Knohovna Manuscript PragU XVII B 19.” University of Ottowa, 1996.
Evans, R. J. W. The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1550–1700: An Interpretation. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1979.
Germer, Mark. “The Austro-Bohemian Pastorella and Pastoral Mass to c. 1720.” Ph. D, New York University,
1989.
“Gluck à Paris en 1774.” La Revue Musicale (1934):
Graham, Barry. “The Evolution of the Utraquist Mass 1420–1620.” The Catholic Historical Review 92, no.
4 (2006): 553–73.
Holan-Rovenský, Václav. Capella Regia musicalis. Prague: 1693.
Horyna, Martin. “Vícehlasá hudba v Čechách v 15. a 16, století a její interpreti.” Hudební věda 43, no. 2
(2006): 117–34.
Konrad, Karel. Dějny posvátneho zpěvu staročeského. Prague: Cyrillo-Methoděské Kněhttiskárry, 1881.
Kouba, Jan. “Jan Hus und das gesitliche Lied: ein Literaturbericht.” JbLH 14 (1969): 190–96.
Maňas, Vladimír. “Hudební aktivity náboženských korporací na Moravě v raném novověku.” Filozofická
fakulta Masarzkovy univerzity v Brně, 2008.
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28 
Karl Ludwig Pöllnitz, The Memoirs of Charles-Lewis, Baron de Pollnitz, 2 vols., vol. I (London:
Brown, 1737), 222.
29 
Forthcoming research of Vladimír Maňas, to whom I am grateful for sharing his thoughts and
discoveries.
30 
As Gluck later testifies: ‘in my homeland everyone is musical; music is taught in the schools,
and in the tiniest villages the peasants sing and play different instruments during High Mass in their
churches’. In “Gluck à Paris en 1774,“ La Revue Musicale (1934), 260.
236     Round Table III — Context and Meaning in 17th-Century Sacred Music
Nejedlý, Zdeněk. Počatky Husitského zpěvu. Prague: 1907.
Nettl, Paul. “The Czechs in Eighteenth-Century Music.” Music & Letters 21, no. 4 (1940): 362–70.
Pöllnitz, Karl Ludwig. The Memoirs of Charles-Lewis, Baron de Pollnitz. 2 vols. Vol. I, London: Brown,
1737.
Racek, Jan, and Jitka Snižková, (eds.) Jan Campanus–Vodňanský, Carmina Festiva. Vol. 9, Musica Antiqua
Bohemica. Prague: Supraphon, 1978.
Riesbeck, Johann Kaspar. Travels Through Germany in a Series of Letters. Translated by Rev. Maty. 2 vols.
Vol. II, Zurich: T. Cadell, 1787.
Sehnal, Jiří. “Hudební inventář stražnických Piaristů z roku 1675.” Časopis Moravského muzea, 69 (1984):
117–27.
———. “Český zpěv při mši.” Hudební věda 1 (1992): 3–15.
Snižková, Jitka. “Die kalixtinische Messe gegen Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts.” Colloquium Musica Bohemica
et Europaea (1972):
———. “Josquin in Czech Sources.” In Josquin des Prez, 279–84. London: Oxford University Press, 1976.