Concerts & Ouvertures of Prague

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The Baroque ensemble Czech Collegium 1704, which has a made a speciality of the composer Jan Dismas Zelenka, invites us to examine the Italian influences on the Baroque music of Central Europe.

The music of Italy shines far beyond the peninsula’s natural borders. From throughout Europe – Germany, Bohemia, Flanders – aspiring composers came to learn and bask in the Italian style, which, along with the French, dominated the musical life of the era. This was the case of Zelenka, a Bohemian who studied in Prague then in Dresden, where he became a contrabassist in the royal orchestra. He was then sent to Venice in 1715 along with the orchestra’s other musicians. He took classes with Lotti, organist of the basilica of Saint‐Marc. Venice, then in full political decadence, was one of the most important musical capitals on the Continent: it is there that Händel triumphed in 1709 with Agrippina, there that reigned Antonio Vivaldi, the red priest and violin virtuoso who created L’Estro armonico in 1711. With this essential collection, the solo concerto definitively broke away from the concerto grosso form that was still practiced to that day, and installed the violin as primus inter pare among the stringed instruments.

Rich in experiences from this intense musical life, Zelenka returned to Dresden where he developed a style whose mastery of counterpoint and harmonic invention spurred the admiration of Bach and Telemann and contributed to the formation of “goûts réunis”, the synthesis of French and Italian styles that would form the basis of music in the following century.

COnductor, Václav Luks
Oboe, Xenia Löffler
Bassoon, Sergio Azzolini