CD recording and complete critical edition of one of the most seminal Czech relics of instrumental music of the early 17th century. It hails from Prague during the reign of Emperor Rudolf II and a later period of time. PLEASE SUPPORT THIS PROJECT.
Author: Jan Čižmář
Praha, Hlavní město Praha, Česko
All or nothing. Project finished on Jun 21, 2020 at 12:21.
50 years ago: this remarkable manuscript - actually only a pile damaged papers from the time of Rudolf II (from 1862, the Codex Jacobides was included in the collections of the National Museum in Prague) - was scrutinised by JiříTichota, leading specialist in lute tablatures. He instantly realised what a significant position the manuscript occupies in Czech music history. He proceeded to transcribe it from german tablature (that looks like a secret code to people today) into modern notation and work with the rediscovered music further. Perhaps best known to the Czech public is the use of some of the melodies from the Codex Jacobides by the folk band Spirituál kvintet on their debut album (1973).
30 years ago: In 1989, just before the Velvet revolution, his handwritten edition was ready to be published. This was unfortunatelly cancelled, the publishing house ceased to exist.
2 years ago: Jiří Tichota and Jan Čižmář meet and plan to finally finish the project - improve and publish the ediiton and record a CD.
Recording and publishing the CD with music from this remarkable prague lute tablature - the oldest surviving czech instrumental music. CD will be part of a complete package of editions and studies dedicated to this gem. Reprint of the original will be included as well as modern computer typeset music edition. CD will be available also separately.
Originally the realisation was planned on the end of March 2020, but because of the coronavirus this has been postponed. We hope that the CD will be published in June 2020 and the edition soon after. The gala concert where we will present both the edition and the CD will be likely in September 2020 (depending on the coronavirus situation).
CD will include some 44 pieces, mostly for solo lute (Jan Čižmář), selected compositions are recorded by the Czech lute society members (Bohemian lute orchestra) and other musicians (renaissance flute consort, viola da gamba, singer). Sound engineer is Jakub Hadraba.
CD is based on - and forms a natural complete package with - the edition of one of the foremost czech musicologists and musicians, Jiří Tichota. This publication will hopefully be interesting to audiences worldwide.
The publication is in A4 format, includes critical edition, czech-english textual part, original facsimile and transcription into french tabulature. All together some 400 pages.
Czech lute society (CLS) started in 2018 with aim to educate, research and promote lute music and publish editions and CDs from this field. Members are professional players as well as teachers and amaterus or supporters. Honorary president is Jiří Tichota. The society has its own ensemble – Bohemian lute orchestra.
www.lute.cz
Jiří Tichota - foremost czech musicologist and band leader of legendary Spiritual kvintet (60th anniversary on stage!)
Jan Čižmář - after completing his classical guitar and musicology training in Brno, Jan Čižmář went on to study the lute and related instruments at the Royal College of Music in London and the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, where his teachers included Jakob Lindberg, Nigel North, Joachim Held, Mike Fentross and Christina Pluhar. His repertoire is primarily made up of solo Baroque and Renaissance works, yet he has also focused on chamber music. Jan Čižmář is the artistic director of the Plaisirs de Musique ensemble, specialised in early music. He has given concerts and performed in opera productions in Europe, Asia and the USA, appeared with orchestras and ensembles of such renown as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Stuttgarter Bachakademie, Vox Luminis, Collegium 1704 and Orkiestra Historyczna, and worked with Frans Brüggen, Christopher Hogwood, Giovanni Antonini, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and other distinguished conductors.
As a music editor, he has cooperated with the Bärenreiter publisher. Jan Čižmář taught the lute at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice and the Academy of Ancient Music within the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University in Brno. At the present time, he works at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. He has also regularly taught at other universities in Europe and been invited to lead master classes worldwide.
Our aim is to deliver the music - as a CD with or without the edition - to the listeners and music lovers. The CD will also include a pdf file with colour photograph of the precious manuscript.
Part of the funding of the edition is covered from the public sources. We hope to cover further costs from future sales - and that is why we are here. Current market for this specialised and unique is uncertain these days, so we would like to have a security in order not to end in red numbers. Every piece of the publication that will be sold in advance is a big help.
CD recording however - although its recording, mastering and publishing is also a costly enterprise - has received no public support and is currently considerably in red numbers. Hopefully thanks to your donation we will have hope for future projects and not a debt on our shoulders... only a good feeling after creating a good thing is not enough.
If we manage to raise even more funds, another CD and edition of lute music from 17th century Prague will be published - there is loads of unpublished material for that. We love doing things in a complex and honest way! We could also print the Codex Jacobides edition on a better quality paper and with truly representative cover. It will be a proud presentation of the musical culture and history.
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