Music in Fifteenth-Century Bohemia: Between Reform and Identity Building

What was the musical culture like in a country in fifteenth-century Central Europe that tried to restore the values of the early church, only to be branded "heretical" and that needed to defend its identity politically, militarily, and intellectually?

Bohemian theologians tried to return to Christianity's "roots" by promoting frequent bread-and-wine communion for all (including children) and by encouraging lay participation in worship through translations into the vernacular. Unlike in many other European lands, monophonic chant and sacred songs were primarily used (though some advanced contemporary polyphonic settings circulated as well). These religious and musical developments formed part of the seedbed that would develop more fully during the European Reformation through the work of Martin Luther and others.

Music in Fifteenth-Century Bohemia: Between Reform and Identity Building contains chapters on liturgy, song, and the influence of the Hussite movement. The book resists both nationalistically tinged narratives and the marginalization that has long resulted from an emphasis on the disparities between Czech and Western European musical traditions. One chapter demonstrates how a fifteenth-century song was employed in the revival of Czech culture in the nineteenth century.

Taken as a whole, Music in Fifteenth-Century Bohemia illustrates the distinctive and often effective ways in which fifteenth-century Czech culture dealt with the dichotomy of religious reform and cultural identity.