Quotations

You [Zelenka], most highly praised, perfect Virtuoso / your fame – all of your own making – is world-renowned and great; / to the glory of God and in order to delight the soul / you compose church music / which is so touching that the rapt breast / has a foretaste of the heavenly pleasures; / so your own praise will forever keep your name green, / both here on Earth and on the platform of the stars.

Johann Gottlob Kittel (1740)

This page presents a selection of quotations pertaining to J.D. Zelenka – the majority of which have been sourced from programme notes accompanying various CD recordings – grouped into different categories. Some have been translated (mostly from German), while others have been taken verbatim. It is hoped that these quotations can distill some of the insights and opinions of prominent scholars and/or commentators regarding Zelenka's standing and the qualities of his music. See also the FAQ page for additional information.

Biography

"...in an age when every master-tailor had his portrait painted, Zelenka seems to have gone through life with his features unrecorded." Dietmar Polaczek
"...it is almost criminal the way he has been portrayed in the literature by certain musicologists, as being a composer not liked by his superiors or his court. There are simply no sources to back this up. ... the sources reveal a composer very much admired by his court, colleagues and contemporaries, and who was ready and willing to embrace changes and accept new challenges - all, it seems, with a minimum of fuss. ... One need only look at the remarkable 'Virtuosen' poem by Kittel presented to the Dresden court in 1740, where he is praised as 'the most highly regarded, perfect Virtuos', to see how his art was perceived and discussed during his lifetime." Jóhannes Ágústsson
"When did Catholic Zelenka first meet Lutheran Bach? And why, during the Leipzig cantor's final years, did he regard Zelenka so highly?" Janice Stockigt
"Being still a bachelor, he buries himself in his study and [...] gives in to his genius." Hans-Josef Irmen (of Zelenka's last 10 years)

Music (general)

"His style may strike us as unusual for the times. It marries brilliant counterpoint and audacious harmonies with a sense of melody and rhythm which remind us of his Bohemian origins. ... His music is full of large intervals, sudden oppositions (major/minor), juxtaposition of remote tonalities, broken triads, and brisk and often sycopated rhythms." René Depoutot
"Even though a number of constant features are to be found in Zelenka's works – as in those of his contemporaries – no two of his twenty masses are alike." Wolfgang Horn
"Zelenka [...] was able to react to such stimuli with the skill of an excellent practical musician who was among the most lavishly gifted of his generation." Marek Štryncl
"This emotional level, so characteristic of Zelenka's church music, is expressed [in the oratorio I Penintenti al Sepolcro del Redentore ZWV 63] with quite exceptional depth and effect." Jaroslav Smolka
"...one commentator [Thomas Kohlhase] has found the late works to be characterized by an overwhelming visionary creative power." Janice Stockigt
"Zelenka's music is intentionally spiritual, leading to contemplation and a concentration on the quest for the meaning of life" (www.operaplus.cz)
"The uniqueness of Zelenka's music means that it will live on as long as there are people in this world who take pleasure in the quest for the unheard and the unheard-of." Wolfgang Horn

Late masses

"Zelenka's final compositions are moving testimonies to his spirit, beliefs and values." Janice Stockigt
"Jan Dismas Zelenka was over fifty years of age when he opted for a new style." Wolfgang Horn
"...his Missae ultimae stand out from the typical products of their time as fascinating manifestations of an entirely self-sufficient will rooted in an unshakable faith..." Thomas Kohlhase
"...that unusual blend of melancholy, fervour and ecstasy which lends them a quality entirely of their own. These are works that have clearly transcended the bounds of opera to which they owe so much." Wolfgang Horn (referring to Zelenka's late masses).
"Sit back and enjoy a work vibrant with life and colour [referring to Zelenka's final mass, Missa Omnium Sanctorum ZWV 21] – music by a composer who is really worth putting back into the foremost limelight of musical performance rather than being just another historical figure we feel duty-bound to resurrect." Brian Northcott
"Zelenka's late Masses are unmistakeable works. It is to be hoped that the increasing number of editions and performances will help to give an idea of the particular greatness of these works." Wolfgang Horn

Instrumental music

"No less interesting than the religious music are Zelenka's instrumental works. Here also, great melody, harmony and contrapuntal beauty are to be found, which seem to place the master far ahead of his time. Only Bach and Händel surpass him in these respects. He leaves the rest of his contemporaries behind." Moritz Fürstenau
"With the benefit of hindsight, we are gradually realising that his instrumental music, with its combination of rapture and reason, pathos and wit, makes Zelenka one of the most original composers of the eighteenth century." Uwe Schweikert
"Evidently the volatile, utopian, experimental quality of the music - its insoluble mystery - still makes a great many performers (whether using period or modern instruments) feel insecure and frightens them off." Heinz Holliger
"...in his instrumental compositions there are incredibly difficult passages, almost to the limits of the instruments' capacity..." Jaroslav Buzga
"Into this world of predictability and clear-cut rules bursts the music of the Bohemian composer Jan Dismas Zelenka... Zelenka delivers the most galvanising shock to listeners with his highly idiosyncratic Fifth [Trio] Sonata [ZWV 181/5]." Uwe Schweikert
"His instrumental works are undoubtedly imposing, but hardly representative of the pure Dresden style; their brooding, seemingly always highly wrought genius appears to be the expression of profound personal crises." Reinhard Goebel
"It seems essential to me, that Zelenka (like Bach) obviously has absorbed the total compositional knowledge of the previous generations, and, by virtue of his most individual personality exposes it to a breaking test, thus setting free a critical element opposing the tradition." Heinz Holliger

Side image: The Hall of Ancestors in Vranov nad Dyjí Castle, Czech Republic, designed by the Austrian architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (photo source: National Heritage Institute, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).