Přehled o publikaci

A cantata Saints Cyril and Methodius (Svatý Cyril a Metoděj, 1861) is one of the most important compositions by Pavel Křížkovský and a pivotal work of the Moravian music before Janáček too, especially in terms of reception. Given its importance, it is quite surprising then that any official recording of the cantata has not been created yet. This fact corresponds to a large extent with the general change of the composition’s reception during the 20th century. To describe and analyse performance and reception history of Saints Cyril and Methodius as well as cultural and ideological contexts in which these processes ran is the main goal of the present study. Saints Cyril and Methodius is probably the most outstanding musical expression of a particular conception of Cyrillo-Methodian tradition, associated mainly with František Sušil. During the 1860s, this specifically Moravian synthesis of Catholicism and Nationalism represented the main ideology of the constituting Czech national consciousness in Moravia. Pan-Slavic in nature, this ideology was based on the idea of integrity of love to Czech nation (and to all Slavic nations, regarded as the purest Christians) with warm religiosity. The cantata was first performed during the Celebrations of the 1000-anniversary of the Saints’ arrival to Moravia. The celebrations – which were one of the most powerful manifestations of Czech national consciousness in the 19th-century Moravia – took place in Brno in 1863. Křížkovský’s cantata met with great success, and thanks to this occasion the composition gained in popularity. Subsequently, the composition was performed quite frequently in the Czech Lands until the First Republic era, and was celebrated as a purely “Slavic” or “national” work of art. Its festive character and, above all, its glorious performance in 1863, caused the tradition of performing the cantata Saints Cyril and Methodius mainly during festive events, often those in which the national-emancipatory aspect blended with the religious one.