Ars Rediviva was a Czech instrumental early music group, whose
historically informedHistorically informed performance is an approach in the performance of music and theater. Within this approach, the performance adheres to state-of-the-art knowledge of the aesthetic criteria of the period in which the music or theatre work was conceived...
performances played a key role in the revival of
Baroque musicBaroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
in
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
.
Ars Rediviva chamber ensemble
It was founded in 1951 in
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
by flautist and musicologist
Milan MunclingerMilan Munclinger was a significant Czech flautist, conductor, composer and musical scientist.-Biographical:...
and his wife, pianist, and harpsichordist Viktorie Švihlíková (she was later succeeded by Josef Hála). In the original cast also played two prominent members of the Czech Philharmonic, cellist
František SlámaFrantišek Sláma was a significant Czech chamber music performer. He was the first Czech cellist who focused on Early music.-Biography:...
and oboist Stanislav Duchoň (later succeeded by violinists Václav Snítil and Antonín Novák).
From 1951 to 1956
Václav TalichVáclav Talich was a Czech conductor, violinist and pedagogue.- Life :Born in Kroměříž, Moravia, he started his musical career in a student orchestra in Klatovy. From 1897 to 1903 he studied at the conservatory in Prague with Otakar Ševčík...
collaborated with Ars Rediviva.
Ars Rediviva orchestra, soloists
The repertoire consisted largely of chamber music, the works of J. S. Bach ranked high on the list.
Depending on score requirements, the ensemble's size expanded regularly up to the chamber orchestra having mainly Czech Philharmonic instrumentalists as members (a complete
stringA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
group with its section leaders, prominent
windA wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator , in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece set at the end of the resonator. The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of...
-players, for example solo flautists Géza Novák and František Čech, solo oboist Jiří Mihule, solo bassoonists Karel Bidlo and František Herman, solo horn-players Miroslav Štefek and Zdeněk Tylšar, solo double-bass player František Pošta, etc.).
Ars Rediviva collaborated with the Czech Philharmonic Choir, Czech singers (
Karel BermanKarel Berman was a Jewish Czech opera singer, composer and opera director.- Life :...
,
Ladislav MrázLadislav Mráz was a Czech operatic bass-baritone who had an active career in Czechoslovakia from 1943 through 1962...
,
Jana JonášováJana Jonášová is a Czech opera singer. One of the most important Czech coloratura sopranos of her generation, she has had an active international career at the world's major opera houses and concert stages for roughly four decades. As an opera singer she performed a varied repertoire from a...
, Virginia Walterová,
Ludmila VernerováLudmila Vernerová is a Czech operatic soprano and the niece of oboist Pavel Verner. After graduating from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, she was a regular performer at the Prague Chamber Opera in the mid 1980s. In 1987 she joined the Prague National Theatre where she performed for 12...
, etc.) and foreign artists, specializing in performances of Baroque and Classical music (e.g.
András AdorjánAndrás Adorján is a Hungarian author and Grandmaster of chess , born in Budapest. He adopted his mother's surname Adorján in 1968....
,
Theo AltmeyerTheo Altmeyer was a German classical tenor. Although he was a successful opera singer, he is chiefly remembered for his work as an oratorio soloist...
,
Maurice AndréMaurice André is a French trumpeter, active in the classical music field.-Biography:He is a classical virtuoso trumpeter, born in Alès, France in the Cévennes into a mining family. His father was an amateur musician....
,
Nedda CaseiNedda Casei is an operatic mezzo-soprano.Born in Baltimore, Maryland, she premiered in Brussels in 1960. In 1964 she debuted at the Metropolitan Opera playing Maddalena in Rigoletto. She would perform at the Met for the next 21 years. She has also been an advocate for musicians being president of...
,
Otto PeterOtto Peter is a Swiss classical baritone. He studied with the composer Paul Hindemith, the Swiss violinist of Czech origin Petr Rybář, and singers Margherita Perras and Heinz Rehfuss. He became famous as an interpreter of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and performed frequently with the Zürich...
,
Jean-Pierre RampalJean-Pierre Louis Rampal was a French flautist. He has been personally "credited with returning to the flute the popularity as a solo classical instrument it had not held since the 18th century."-Early years:...
).
Ars Rediviva season performances (1954-1994)
In 1954 the ensemble started giving season performances in Wallenstein Pallace, later in
RudolfinumThe Rudolfinum is a music auditorium in Prague, Czech Republic. It is designed in the neo-renaissance style and is situated on Jan Palach Square on the bank of the river Vltava.-Overview:...
) in
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
(6 concerts, later 12 concerts a year). In four decades several hundreds of compositions were introduced here, including scores of premiered archive pieces.
Live recordings of Ars Rediviva performances in Rudolfinum are deposited in the Czech Museum of Music Recording Library (see External links: The Czech Museum of Music).
Repertoire, recordings
Ars Rediviva was the first ensemble in
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
to record a large number of works of
Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
(LPs of the complete
Brandenburg concertosThe Brandenburg concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, in 1721 . They are widely regarded as among the finest musical compositions of the Baroque era...
,
The Art of FugueThe Art of Fugue , BWV 1080, is an incomplete work by Johann Sebastian Bach . It was most likely started at the beginning of the 1740s, if not earlier. The first known surviving version, which contained 12 fugues and 2 canons, was copied by the composer in 1745...
,
The Musical OfferingThe Musical Offering , BWV 1079, is a collection of canons and fugues and other pieces of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, all based on a single musical theme given to him by Frederick II of Prussia , to whom they are dedicated...
, trio sonatas, flute sonatas, of cantatas, concertos reconstructions, etc.), Bach's sons (
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bachright|250pxCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and second son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach...
: sonatas, sinfonies, concerts;
Wilhelm Friedemann BachWilhelm Friedemann Bach , the second child and eldest son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach, was a German composer and performer...
: sinfonies, sonatas;
Johann Christian BachJohann Christian Bach was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is sometimes referred to as 'the London Bach' or 'the English Bach', due to his time spent living in the British capital...
: chamber music, sinfonies),
Antonio VivaldiAntonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
(concertos, sonatas,
Stabat Mater),
Jean-Philippe RameauJean-Philippe Rameau was one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the Baroque era. He replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera and is also considered the leading French composer for the harpsichord of his time, alongside François...
(e.g.
Pièces en Concerts),
François CouperinFrançois Couperin was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as Couperin le Grand to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented Couperin family.-Life:Couperin was born in Paris...
(
Les Apothéoses,
Les Goûts réunis),
Georg Philipp TelemannGeorg Philipp Telemann was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually...
(concertos, orchestral suites,
Nouveaux Quatuors,
Tafelmusik,
Essercizii musici,
Der harmonische Gottesdienst, cantatas), Jan Dismas Zelenka (trio sonatas ZWV 181, orchestral works,
Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae),
František BendaFranz Benda was a Czech violinist and composer. He was the brother of Jiří Antonín Benda, and he worked for much of his life at the court of Frederick the Great....
(sonatas, flute concertos), Jiří Antonín Benda (
Ariadne auf Naxos,
Bendas Klage, sonatas, concertos), etc. (for more see External links: Ars Rediviva Discography).
The ensemble recorded for
SupraphonSupraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, it is oriented mainly towards publishing classical music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers.- History :...
, Panton,
ColumbiaColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, Ariola,
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
,
OrfeoL'Orfeo , sometimes called L'Orfeo, favola in musica, is an early Baroque opera by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and tells the story of his descent to Hades and his fruitless attempt to bring his dead bride Eurydice back to...
,
NipponNippon is a native name for Japan, more formal than Nihon.Nippon can also refer to:-Company names:All of the following companies are based in Japan.*Nikon *Nippon Telegraph and Telephone...
,
Deutsche GrammophonDeutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
,
Sony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
as well as for broadcasting and television companies and film industry (awards:
Grand Prix du DisqueThe Grand Prix du Disque is the premier French award for musical recordings. The award was inaugurated by l'Académie Charles Cros in 1948 and offers prizes in various categories. The categories vary from year to year, and multiple awards are often made in any one category in the same year...
, Supraphon Golden Lion, etc.).
Jan Tausinger, Ivan Jirko,
Ilja HurníkIlja Hurník is a contemporary Czech composer and essayist. He entered the Prague Conservatory, then went on to the Prague Academy of Arts, where he studied with Ilona Štěpánová-Kurzová, daughter of Vilém Kurz.His 1953 sonata da camera, for flute, oboe, cello and harpsichord, has been recorded on...
and other Czech composers dedicated their
neoclassicalNeoclassicism in music was a twentieth-century trend, particularly current in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers sought to return to aesthetic precepts associated with the broadly defined concept of "classicism", namely order, balance, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint...
compositions to Ars Rediviva (e.g. Hurník's
Sonata da Camera,
Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra).
Documents, discography
Other links