Adam Michna z Otradovic

SACRA ET LITANIAE - pars VI - Missa pro defunctis (Requiem)

ed. by V. Bělský, J. Sehnal

Until recently, Adam Michna z Otradovic was known solely as a major Czech Baroque poet, and the composer of church songs to his own texts. With the series of his edited works, Adam Michna z Otradovic - Compositiones, started in 1989, however, he has been presented - for the first time in the modern times, and in the form of a critical edition - also as an outstanding composer of liturgic forms. Of the nine compositions contained in his collection, Sacra et litaniae (publ. 1654), this new edition has already brought out five of its six masses. The last of the masses, Missa pro defunctis (Requiem), is a work embued with calm, reconciled grief. In contrast to Michna´s previous output, it is virtually free from the standard Baroque-style rhetorics, instead running its course largely in the polyphonic stile antico. The combination: S,A,T,B soli, coro, 2 violins, 3 trombones, organ (basso continuo). The mass may likewise be performed by a chamber-format choir. The ideal solution would involve, in compliance with the 17th-century practice, having both the solo and choir soprano and contralto parts sung by boys´ voices.
The score is also suitable for use as performing material for singers.

H 7996, ISMN M-2601-0401-3, 140 pages, 26.50 EUR     BUY