Collegium Marianum
Melantrichova 19, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic
Phone: 00420-2-24229462, Fax: 00420-2-24233417
e-mail: marianum@tynska.cuni.cz, http://tynska.cuni.cz/
_____________________________________________________
Collegium Marianum
cultural-educational centre of Early arts, Prague
Since early history the Latin Tyn School and Recek College Collegium sanctissimae Mariae has ranked among the most important educational organizations in the Old Town of Prague. The Tyn School (founded in the 13th century) was a preparatory school educating members of the bourgeosie and future students of the Charles University. The Recek College was founded in 1438 by the Old Town citizen Jan Recek of Ledec to raise the spiritual and educational level of Prague University. Recek College had an extensive library and was famous for its theatre performances.
Since 1990 the renewed Collegium Marianum institution provides, in co-operation with the Pedagogical and Philosophical Faculties of Charles University in Prague, education in the fields of music and fine arts. Apart from educational activities the institution organizes cultural and educational events (Early Music festival, concert series, music-dance performances, interpretation workshops, exhibitions, etc.). An Early Music concert series are a continuation of the tradition of regular music-life in Prague in the 18th century. Since June 2000 the institute has been organizing the Summer Festivities of Early music, whose successful second year formed a part of the National Gallery project, The Glory of the Baroque in Bohemia.
Collegium Marianum
music-dance ensemble, Prague
The Collegium Marianum music and dance ensemble (artistic leader Jana Semerádová) represents the institution Collegium Marianum. The main purpose of the ensemble is to rediscover the forgotten musical and dance treasures of Central Europe Baroque music. Its members are outstanding young Czech and foreign interpreters, who regularly appear in this country and abroad. They are also active as scholars, and as a result of their academic research they have introduced modern premieres of works that had been long unknown to modern audiences.
Apart from regular concert series Collegium Marianum (CM) puts on extensive projects with leading artists, conductors and choreographers and appears regularly at leading international music festivals. In May 1999, the ensemble staged the opera Scylla et Glaucus by J -M. Leclair under the guidance of British violinist and conductor Simon Standage and choreographer Dorothée Wortelboer at the Ball-Game Hall of the Prague Castle. In June 2000, the CM gave a scenic performance of the same opera during the Festival at the Baroque Castle in Jaromerice nad Rokytnou. In September 2000, the CM performed under the baton of Peter van Heyghen (Belgium) at the Moravian Autumn festival in Brno and in November the same year it introduced in Prague the oratorio Maddalena ai piedi di Christo by A. Caldara in collaboration with the Swiss violinist Chiara Banchini. At the Summer Festivities of Early Music 2001 the CM won particular acclaim for its staged performance of Schmelzer's serenata Hercules und Onfale under the guidance of choreographer Sigrid T'Hooft. In August the ensemble made a successful debut at the Mitte Europa festival. Among the highlights of the last season is a November project with Andrew Parrot , presenting the Church Music of Baroque Prague.
The CM maintains regular collaboration with Czech TV (Leclair – Jaromerice 2000 ; Bach, Zelenka – Brno 2000; Caldara – Prague 2000 ; Baroque Pilgrimage – Prague 2001). In February 2000 the ensemble recorded a CD of the Concerti Op. 7 by J. H. Albicastro for the Swiss label Pan Classic.
***
Jana Semerádová was born in Prague. During her elementary school years she obtained several first prizes in National Competitions. In 1990 she entered the Conservatoire in Prague to study flute with Jan Riedlbauch, and in 1996 received her diploma. While studying there she formed the Prague Conservatoire Wind Quintet which performed worldwide (USA, UK, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands etc.), and in 1994 she stayed at the Birmingham Conservatoire. In 1999 she graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy at the Charles University where she specialized in the discipline of Theory and Practice of Early music organized by the Department of Musicology in co-operation with the Collegium Marianum – Tyn school. At the same time she also studied Baroque traverso with Wilbert Hazelzet at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. She currently leads the ensemble Collegium Marianum, devoting herself to musicology research of the forgotten Czech music in our archives and composing the dramaturgy of the concerts and cycles of baroque music of the ensemble. Jana Semerádová regularly performs solo concerts and joins ensembles such as Musica Florea, Musica Aeterna, and records for Archiv Produktion among others. She has a serious interest in baroque dance and Renaissance music.
TESTIMONIALS ; PRESS REFERENCES
In June the Collegium Marianum ensemble appeared at the first year of The Summer Festivities of Early Music... In Troja Chateau the CM introduced a modern premiere of the Giovanni Bononcini serenata La Nemica d’Amore fatta Amante (1693)... this project certainly ranks among the best early music events produced in this country. This Bononcini could well be snatched up by important European festivals.
HARMONIE 10/2000, Michaela Freemanová
To place a choreographed performance with dance and music of the 17th and 18th century, during which the viewers become a part of period noble festivities, into the Vrtba Garden, is on its own a cultural deed. The lightness of the dance steps and gracefulness of the protagonists’ movements, compositions, which showed to advantage the period instruments, the use of space of the garden terraces, but also of its bottom part with salla terrena..., all this contributed to the deserved success of the opening performance of the Summer Festivities of Early Music.
TTG Czech Republic 14/2000
Summer Festivities of Early Music... at Troja Chateu took place a modern premiere of pastoral serenata La Nemica d’Amore fatta Amante by Giovanni Bononcini. The half-scenic performance with dance and three vocal soloists (Hana Jonášová, Markus Forster, and Roman Janál), supported by the extended Collegium Marianum orchestra, was, also judged from the ardent applause, the peak of the festival and a first class cultural event.
HUDEBNÍ ROZHLEDY 9/2000
The exclusive atmosphere of the evening was enhanced by both the surprisingly beautiful Leclair’s music and the performance on the highest level of perfection. The Collegium Marianum - Týn School Recek College body, who produced this event, has become the most distinct link between Bohemia and the realm of historical music and dance. There has not been so far a project so well organized and interpreted. What is more is that it has proved that Czech vocalists and instrumentalists are apt to be equal musical partners to international stars.
HARMONIE 6/1999, Lucie Chvátilová (J-M Leclair - Scylla et Glaucus in Ball Game Hall, Prague Castle)
The Summer Festivities of
Early Music produced by the Collegium Marianum present the type of professional
musical event that Prague has been lacking for a long time; the remarkable
choice of repertoire, wedded with first-class interpretation, and
a
genuine,
careful approach both to the music material and the venue, make the festival into
an event that one
hopes
will continue for many more years.
HUDEBNI ROZHLEDY
9/2001,
Michaela Freemanová.
This "mini-festival' proved
to be one of the most successful music events connected with the National
Gallery project The Glory of the Baroque in Bohemia.
LISTY PRAHY
1 9/2001, Jana Buchtová
The splendour of historical
Prague locations, together with first-rate performance of
early music form a
combination that can help Prague to retain its status of a unique city.
TTG Czech Republic
14/ 2001, Marta Jedlicková
This young festival is
still unrewardingly little known; its exceptionally high artistic standard
and
original dramaturgy deserve a far greater attention
from
the media. During the
summer months many of the top Prague orchestras and their agencies empty the
musical scene in the capital city to mostly shallow tourist productions and, in
that respect, The Summer Festivities help to save the reputation of the city.
HARMONIE
8/2001, Lubos Stehlík
The summer project of
Collegium Marianum undoubtedly can boast daring programme offerings and young,
enthusiastic, energetic performers...
HARMONIE
6/2001, Dina
Snejdarová
The Summer Festivities of
Early Music produced by the Collegium Marianum, which is on the way to becoming
an important European centre of
early ancient
music, have become a credit to the city
of Prague and have offered a number of unique performances of newly discovered
musical treasures.
TTG Czech republic
12/2001 , Marta Jedlicková
Johann
Heinrich Schmelzer
Hercules
und Onfale
Serenata performed in 1676 at the Court of the Emperor Leopold II
Balletti
Balletto di 4 Elementi, Balletto di Ninfe, 2 Balletti di Trittoni (1677)
Director ( choreography: Sigrid T'Hooft
Choreography: Hana Barochová
Manuscript consultant: Jirí Sehnal
Dramaturgy: Pavla Semerádová
Costumes: Markéta Stormová
Masks: Václava Kresadlová
Scene: Iva Veselá
Onfale – Anna Hlavenková
Hesperia – Irena Houkalová
Istria – Pavla Jansová
Hercules – Radek Prügl
Himen – Vojtech Safarík
7
Music-dance ensemble
Flauto traverso + flauto dolce, 2 Violons, 2 Violas,
Viola da gamba, Harpsichord, Double-bass
4 dancers
Besides their entertaining function, court festivities were also used to demonstrate the power and majesty of aristocracy. Most festive occasions were accompanied by music and theatre performances, including opera and ballet. Schmelzer’s serenata Hercules und Onfale was written for the occasion of the 1676 marriage settlement between Leopold I’s daughter Marie Antonie with the Spanish king Carlos II in Hofburg, Vienna. The story of Hercules in the Lydia Queen’s service was taken from Ancient mythology; Onfale was sung by the eight-year-old princess and Hercules was rendered by the Spanish King, older by seven years. The theme of marriage is presented allegorically as the linking of two branches of Habsburg dynasty – the Spanish, personified by Hesperia and the Austrian, embodied by Istria. Using Himen, the Ancient God of Marriage, as a messenger, Hercules sends Onfale the Imperial Apple and offers her Hesperia. Istria, together with Hesperia, sing a duet about eternal unity of Austria and Spain. The serenata is closed by a final licenza, where all the characters pay tribute to Hercules and Onfale.
The work is interspersed with Schmelzer’s dances: Baletto di ninfe, tritoni e 4 elementi. Baletti were included in practically all court festivals, most notably in operatic productions, and they also belonged to homage ceremonies, celebrating the emperor or a member of the royal family. Serenata with baletti was a typical non-scenic musico-dramatic form performed on the occasion of important events called applauso per musica.
***
Sigrid T'Hooft received classical ballet training and studied musicology at the University of Leuven, where she graduated in 1987 specializing in 16th century French dance music, namely the Balet Comique de la Royne, Paris 1581 by Baltasar de Beaujoyeux. Her academic research in the area of 15th to 18th-century Italian Baroque dance, dance music and Baroque gesture – done in collaboration with such experts as Andrea Francalanci, Angene Feves, Barbara Sparti, Francine Lancelot, Anna Yepes and Adriano – brought her international recognition. Sigrid T_Hooft is a co-founder and artistic director of the PassOstinato (1988) and Fontainebleau (1991) ensembles. She has performed with a large number of other dance companies, including Ris & Danceries, LaCaDance Barocktanztheater, European Early Dance Company and L_Autre Pas. She is regularly invited to teach Early Dance, dance music and Baroque gesture at the Royal Music Conservatory Brussels and The Hague, as well as the Institut für Historische Tanz in Berlin. She is a member of the European Association of Dance Historians (London-Paris), and has given lectures at the International Early Dance Conference as well as the European Science Foundation. Sigrid T_Hooft has appeared at festivals in Flanders, Utrecht and Thun. Her projects have been broadcast on TV and she has recorded for the Vanguard-Classics label (Phalesiusí). As a choreographer and stage director Sigrid T'Hooft collaborated on the productions of Don Quichote / Telemann, La Liberazione / Caccini, Hmoll-suite/ Bach, and others.
Music of Baroque Prague
the music scene in the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia around 1723
Johann Joseph Ignaz Brentner Concerto I. Vigil Nocturnus
(1689 - 1742) from Horae Pomeridianae, op. 4 (Prague, 1720)
J. J. I. Brentner II. Aria „Ubi Jesu“ from Harmonia
Duodecatometria Eccelsisastica, op. 4 (Prague, 1717)
Guiseppe Tartini Triosonata in G No. III
(1692-1770) per Flauto, Violino e Continuo
Antonio Vivaldi Sonata in d RV 51
(1678 - 1741)
A. Caldara Aria of Magdalena „In lagrime stemprato“
(1670-1736) from oratorio „Maddalena ai piedi di Cristo“, (cca 1700)
Johann Joseph Fux Sinfonia per flauto e oboe con basso
(1660-1741)
Carlo Tessarini Triosonata II.
(1690-1766)
J. J. I. Brentner XI. Aria „Si quid est cor meum“ from Harmonia
Duodecatometria Ecclesiastica, op. 1 (Prague, 1717)
Jan Dismas Zelenka Aria of Angel from Coronation melodrama
(1678-1741) „Sub olea pacis et palma virtutis“, (1723)
Antonio Lotti Triosonata in G
(1667 - 1740)
J. J. I. Brentner Concerto I. in A minor
Horae Pomeridianae, op. 4 (Prague, 1720)
František Antonín Tùma Sinfonia XII. in D
(1704 - 1774)
Soprano solo
Flauto traverso + piccolo, Oboe, 2 Violins, Viola,
Violoncello, Harpsichord
Johann Joseph Ignaz Brentner was born and died in Dobøany near Pilsen but during his life he worked as an organ player at the St. Nicolas Church in Prague. Judging by four of his collections being published by the Prague printer J. Labaun, Brentner was a popular composer there. His first work to be brought out in print was a collection of sacred cantatas in the da capo form with a contrasting middle part, a style imported from Italy and very popular at the time. Brentner dedicated his Offertoria solemniora Op. 2 to his patron Sir Raymund Wilfert, the abbot of the Premonstratensian Monastery in Teplá. He wrote in the late Baroque concerto style employing frequent melodious motifs. Another fact documenting the popularity of Brentner’s music is that his works were performed at the Strahov Monastery in Prague until as late as 1840. The Horae pomeridianae collection, Brentner’s fourth printed publication, is unique in comprising solely instrumental compositions. There is no other collection with similar contents to be found among the Prague musical output of the period.
In 1723, cellist Antonio Vandini invited his friend of many years, the famous Italian violinist Giuseppe Tartini, to join him on his journey to Prague and take part in the splendid celebrations of the coronation of Charles VI as the King of Bohemia. After the festival Tartini stayed on in Prague in the services of the Counts Kinsky and Lobkowicz. He got to know a number of other famous composers and musicians residing in Prague, such as Fux, Caldara and Weiss. Unfortunately, however, the Prague climate undermined his health and caused him to return, „against his own will“, as he wrote in a letter, back to Padua in 1726. Tartini also studied composition with our Bohuslav Matej Cernohorsky in Assisi (both were monks of minorit order - known for its good music education).
According to period documents František Antonín Tùma was a pupil of Èernohorský in the Jesuit seminary in Prague. After 1722 Tùma moved to Vienna to work as a composer and Kapellmeister in the services of the Czech Chancellor František Ferdinand Kinsky. Although Kinsky recommended Tùma for the position of the choirmaster at the Prague St Vitus Cathedral, Tùma spent the rest of his life in Vienna working as the Empress Elizabeth’s Kapellmeister. He was also renowned for his viola da gamba and theorbo playing. In his Sinfonia in D Tùma aspires to a freer musical form; the common models of the Neapolitan sinfonia and of the sonata form are replaced by the style of a dance suite and by a well balanced cycle of movements, based on the principle of contrast.
Around 1737, the Italian composer and violinist Carlo Tessarini worked in the services of the Cardinal Wolfgang Hannibal Schrattenbach in Kromeriz in Moravia. Before finally settling down in the Netherlands, Tessarini travelled extensively through most of the musical centres of the time. He dedicated all his work to instrumental music and although his sonatas and concertos bear the stamp of Vivaldi’s influence, there is no evidence that he would have studied with Vivaldi or Corelli. His sonatas full of syncopated and clear themes frequently of dance character anticipate the gallant style.
Like Tessarini, Josef Antonín Gurecký was a member of the household of the Kromeriz Cardinal Schrattenbach and stayed there to work in the services of his successor Jakob Ernest von Liechtenstein. Together with his brother Václav Matyás Gurecky he was educated at a Piarist college and after Václav Matyáš died he took over his position as a musical director at the Olomouc cathedral, composing mostly sacred music. His sonata for violin and basso continuo was probably written during his Dresden sojourn; together with his virtuoso violin concerto it is preserved in the Dresden library and the difficulty of the solo part signifies it was dedicated to the phenomenal German violinist Pisendel.
Italian operatic composer Antonio Lotti was famous in Prague mainly for his sacred music frequently performed at the galleries of the Prague churches and cathedrals. Lotti was born in Hannover but spent most of his life in Venice. In the early 1720s he worked occasionally for the court in Dresden and some say that between 1718-1726 he travelled several times to Prague. The National Museum archives stores the manuscript of his vocal composition Miserere.
The Golden Age of the Lute
Antonio Vivaldi Trio in sol minore
(1678 - 1741) per sua Eccelenza Signor Conte Wrtbij (Vrtba)
Concerto in re minore per liuto, viola d_amore e archi
Václav Norbert Èervenka Menuet
(1677 - 1752)
Jan Antonín Losy Rondeau, Chaconne
(1660 - 1721)
Silvius Leopold Weiss Tombeau sur la Mort du Mr. Losy, 1721
(1686 - 1750) Suite in re minore
Johann Friedrich Fasch Concerto in re minore per liuto e archi
(1688 - 1758)
Baroque lute