Posts by Alistair

  • Zelenka Conference 2020, Friday 16 October (with COVID-19-related support)

    ZELENKA CONFERENCE PRAGUE 2020: ZELENKA AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES


    Place: Library of the Department of Musicology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Puškinovo náměstí 447/9, Praha 6.
    Date: FRIDAY 16.10.2020
    Time: 09.00–17.00 Central European Time


    We cordially invite you to the Seventh Zelenka Conference to be held in Prague 16 October 2020. The conference is organized by Ensemble Inégal with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and co-organized with the Institute of Art History, The Czech Academy of Sciences.


    The program:
    Samantha OWENS (Victoria University, Wellington): „The Social Status of Trumpeters and Kettledrummers at the Courts of Dresden and Stuttgart, c. 1700–1740“
    Frederic KIERNAN (University of Melbourne): „Zelenka and his contemporaries from the perspective of reception study“
    Janice B STOCKIGT (University Melbourne): „A Meeting of Minds: Jan Dismas Zelenka’s „Laudate pueri“ (ZWV 81: c1729) and Johann Sebastian Bach’s „Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!“ (BWV 51: c1730)“
    Denis COLLINS (The University of Queensland): „Zelenka at the Crossroads of contrapunctus and partimento in the Early Eighteenth Century“
    Shelley HOGAN (The University of Melbourne): „Jean Baptiste Prache du Tilloy: the life and times of a Dresden court musician during the reign of August the Strong“
    Andrew FRAMPTON (University of Oxford): „Musical Exchange in a Golden Age: Berlin, Dresden and Johann Friedrich Agricola“
    Claudia LUBKOLL (Dresden): „Identification of several sieves of Schuchardt-paper dated in the 1730s“
    Jiří SEHNAL (Brno): „Vogt’s advice to composers“
    Jiří K. KROUPA (Prague): „Zelenka’s “Currite ad aras” (ZWV 166): Latin Text Revisited“
    Ondřej DOBISÍK (Prague): „The Second Life of Palestrina’s „Missa Papae Marcelli“ in the 17th and 18th Centuries“


    Due to coronavirus measures, this year’s conference will also be live-streamed. Registrants will be able to interactively participate in the conference online, and an online recording of the conference will be made available.
    Registration is possible on the website http://www.zelenkafestival.cz/…a-conference-prague-2020/


    For more information see http://www.zelenkafestival.cz
    http://www.facebook.com/zelenkafestival/

  • Death of David Nelson

    I am sorry to have to relate to our forum members that David Nelson, the author of many editions of the CD Survey and, latterly, the Timeline, died on 2 February. Apart from being a very likeable individual, he had a vast knowledge of Zelenka's music and recordings thereof. Among our circle of Zelenka fans, no-one will be able to take his place. Being an unassuming and private man, he never had much of a presence on the forum, preferring to contribute where he knew that he could make a difference.


    So the CD Survey and Timeline as they now stand are the last editions. Please download them and marvel at how much work went in to them, and at how authoratatively they are written.


    My condolences to David's family. And thanks to Andrew Hinds (London) for letting me know.


    Alistair

  • Website's future

    Thanks, King Max!


    I am sure that I speak for all of us when I wish you luck in doing the transfer, and in continuing to look after what I started 16 years ago. It has been a lot of fun, and very educational, to be part of the reincarnation of the great Zelenka in the 21st century.


    A special thanks also to all the contributors to the forum who continue their intellectual input, and to all the truly great artists who have recorded Zelenka's music over the years -- keeping his name green both here on Earth and on the platform of the stars (to quote Kittel).


    I'll be around on the forum for a while yet, but KingMaximillian has taken a weight off my ageing shoulders and we all owe him a big Thank You!

  • Website's future

    Dear members,


    The forum has never before been frequented by so many enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and serious-minded people. It started in 2006, and the Discover Zelenka website started 4 years earlier, in 2002. Personally, I feel that my contribution to the Zelenka revival has been fairly substantial (in a modest sort of a way), but next year I will be retiring -- which means that things must change. Either the whole operation will be closed down, or a new chapter in the history of the site must begin...


    If the website and forum are to continue in any shape or form after the spring of 2018, they must be taken over (and paid for) by someone else. That person must have a burning desire to further the music of Zelenka, must be comfortable with internet technology (especially new developments), must be willing to keep a rather precious database of recordings up to date, must be willing to oversee all contributions to a forum or similar medium, and must be willing to finance (or find a source of revenue for) the running of the operation.


    Technically, the forum rides on the back of the Discover Zelenka website, so at the moment it is one operation. The timetable is as follows:


    The domain "zelenkaforum.net" expires on 26 May 2018, which has a fee for DNS redirection.
    The domain "jdzelenka.net" expires on 22 May, 2018.
    The whole website is paid up until 17 July, 2018.


    Personally, I feel that both the website and the forum need a facelift, and the easiest way for someone to do that would be to start from scratch with a new site that opens shortly after July 2018. If that sounds appealing, I can supply a (then) very recent "dump" of the recordings database (in MySQL) and a similar dump of the forum entries (also in MySQL). I might add that vBulletin has a service whereby they can get a new version of the forum up and running for you at a modest cost, given a dump.


    I see this as a happy announcement, as nothing is forever and life moves on. At this juncture, it is in no way a disaster or crisis situation -- so please, everyone, please put on your thinking caps and come up with a good idea for a new Zelenka site. Or perhaps even for two separate ones!


    I will be happy to help wherever possible.


    Alistair


    p.s. I can be reached at mail@jdzelenka.net

  • Revisiting the old catholic court church building

    Many thanks, Johannes, for this wonderful treasure trove. It will take me a while to digest all this new visual information!


    Regarding pictures 9 and 10, it all becomes clear why a small part of the Royal Archive building was kept standing in 1889 -- to be used as a temporary worker's hut or store when the renovations to the palace were being carried out.


    Regarding pictures 1 and 2, it is interesting that the opera house from the 1600s (which was later turned into the Catholic Court Church) was -- presumably from the start -- sitting in a very cramped space. It also becomes clear from the model why it was built at a strange angle to the palace building... as there was a curved row of houses to the south of it.

  • Revisiting the old catholic court church building

    Thanks for this great detective work, rnkt.


    I find it difficult to believe that the end-part of the Catholic Court church was lopped off to make a shorter, rectangular building. The Royal Archive was long, and took up most of the space available. You can see from the photograph that the west wall is quite close to the Zwinger, with only enough space for a road. I think that it is more likely that there was a more extensive rebuilding project than this at the end of the 1700s. Perhaps an almost complete rebuild. The renovation was ready in 1802, and the rectangular building stood until 1888-89.


    Thanks to djdresden, I have seen a photograph from the time of the demolition (a rather sorry picture, I might add), and then, ironically, only the most westerly corner of the building remained standing -- right next to the tramline. The rails were in place, but the building was probably uncomfortably close to the track.


    Alistair

  • Zelenka Festival Prague with one-day Zelenka Conference

    This has been taken from the website of Ensemble Inégal, with permission:



    PROGRAM OF ZELENKA FESTIVAL PRAGUE


    J. D. ZELENKA – FROM THE SECULAR VOCAL COLLECTION
    Musica Aeterna
    Peter Zajíček - artistic director


    19/10/2016 AT 19:30 – RYTÍŘSKÝ SÁL (KNIGHT HALL), VELKOPŘEVORSKÝ PALÁC, PRAGUE


    The programme drawn up of Zelenka's unknown treasure of his own secular vocal collection includes pieces from J. A. Hasse, N. Porpora, A. Lotti a G. Giacomelli.

    *********************


    J.D. ZELENKA - ALCUNE ARIE


    The Czech premiere of Zelenka's collection of Italien arias

    Musica Florea
    Marek Štryncl - artistic director


    20/10/2016 AT 19:30 – RYTÍŘSKÝ SÁL (KNIGHT HALL), VELKOPŘEVORSKÝ PALÁC, PRAGUE.


    In this unique composition you encounter Zelenka as a supreme composer who could exceptionally handle opera style.

    *********************


    ZELENKA CONFERENCE PRAGUE


    Janice B. Stockigt, Andrew Frampton (Australia), Wolfgang Horn, Claudia Lubkoll, Michael Maul, Clemens Harasim, Ansem Hartinger (Germany), Michaela Freemanová (Czech Republic)


    21/10/2016 FROM 10:00- 17:00 – LIBRARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC HISTORY OF THE ETHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC, PUŠKINOVO NÁMĚSTÍ 9, PRAGUE 6


    Zelenka festival Prague offers a one-day conference with well-known contemporary Zelenka researchers and will present unpublished findings of Zelenka's work and his life. The aim of the Zelenka Conference is to create a platform that can present the results of the contemporary foreign research on Zelenka in hopes to bring the inspiration to restart the reasearch of Zelenka's work which has been stagnated in the Czech Republic for many years.

    *********************


    J.D. ZELENKA – MISERERE & MISSA DEI FILII

    Kammerchor Stuttgart
    Ensemble Inégal


    Frieder Bernius - conductor


    22/10/2016 at 19:30- Kostel U Salvátora, Salvátorská street, Prague 1
    23/10/2016 AT 17:00 – ANNENKIRCHE, DRESDEN


    The Kammerchor Stuttgart and Ensemble Inégal common project performed by German conductor Frieder Bernius, legendary rediscoverer of Zelenka's works. The programme consists of two Zelenka's finest works, Missa Dei Filii ZWV 20 and Miserere C-minor ZWV 57.


    *********************


    The festival is organized by Ensemble Inégal with the financial support of the City of Prague, Ministry of Culture and the Czech-German Funf for the Future.


    YOU CAN ALSO BUY TICKETS ONLINE THROUGH THE FOLLOWING LINKS:

    http://www.webticket.cz [1]


    http://www.pragueticketoffice.com [2]

  • The future of the Discover Zelenka website and the Zelenka Forum

    I have had to find a way of financing the running of the Discover Zelenka website and the Zelenka Forum without asking members for any more financial input. (Passing the hat around may work once or twice, but that's all).


    After much deliberation, and after weighing up the pro's and con's of being in any way associated with a commercial enterprise, I have chosen to link the Discover Zelenka website to a partnership scheme based in Germany (http://www.JPC.de -- online shop and owner of the "cpo" label -- which in my own experience is an excellent and reliable supplier of recorded music and sheet music).


    This means that anyone who buys anything after clicking on the small banner advertisements for JPC on the Discover Zelenka website (at http://www.jdzelenka.net) will be contributing a small amount of what they have paid to the running of this website and forum. This only works through the banners on the Discover Zelenka website.


    In case you have not already noticed, JPC has an excellent range of Zelenka recordings! :)

  • Canada: April/May, Missa Omnium Sanctorum ZWV 21, Toronto Tafelmusik

    It's mind-blowing that these performances are just taking off all over the place. Jan Dismas, your time has finally come!


    I also like to think that it might have something to do with OUR little website and forum. And I do mean ours! Special thanks to Xanaseb for keeping a watchful eye over what is coming up in the near future in terms of performances (quite apart from your input on the other sections of the forum).


    Best wishes.


    Alistair

  • Gaps in the ZWV Catalogue

    The ZWV catalogue material you are referring to is the same as that used on the database at the Discover Zelenka website (jdzelenka.net). In fact, the latter was taken with permission from the former. You will also find that this is the same material as in the appended list of works in Janice Stockigt's book from 2000.


    This ZWV catalogue was originally put together by the late Dr Wolfgang Reich in Dresden, and as far as I know there have been no updates published. (Perhaps Johannes or Jan could correct me if I am wrong).


    The catalogue is based on grouping of works according to their nature or purpose (e.g. the masses are numbered 1 to 21). My hunch is that Dr Reich put some spaces in the whole list in case other works of a particular kind turned up later on.