Adam Michna

Adam Václav Michna z Otradovic (* around 1600 in Jindřichův Hradec (Neuhaus); † November 2, 1676 ibid) was a Czech organist and composer of church music .

Life

Adam Václav Michna received his first music lessons from his father Michal Michna, city organist and castle trumpeter in the residential town of Neuhaus in southern Bohemia. The family was noble with the title of knight and the predicate "Michna z Otradovic" or in German "Michna von Otradovic". He studied at the Jesuit high school in his hometown, where from 1645 he ran an inn in addition to his work as an organist. Michna is considered to be the first representative of an independent Czech style in early baroque music in Bohemia . He was influenced by the mysticism of Saint Teresa of Ávila but also by local popular piety . With his ingenious and versatile creative compositions, Michna is comparable to the works of the German composer Heinrich Schütz for Czech music history .

Works

Front page of the Česká mariánská muzika

Michna published two hymn books: Česká mariánská muzika (1647) and Svatoroční muzika (1661), which contain four to five-part songs in a homophonic setting . Another collection Loutna česká (1653) has been preserved in fragments. He composed five masses , two litanies and a Te Deum "Sacre et Litaniae" (Prague 1654). A Magnificat and the Missa Sancti Venceslai have survived as manuscripts . In this, strictly polyphonic parts of the old style such as the Kyrie and the Agnus Dei alternate with homophonic parts and concert solo parts in the Gloria and Credo .

One of his most famous works is the Vánoční noc ("Christmas"), also known as Chtíc, aby spal ("To want to sleep"), which is played at Christmas time in the Czech Republic.

literature

Constantin von Wurzbach : Michna von Ottradowicz, Adam . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 18th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1868, p. 228 ( digitized version ).
Jaroslav Bužga: The Czech baroque composer Adam Michna z Otradovic (around 1600–1676) . In: Eberhard Klemm (Ed.): Festschrift Heinrich Besseler for his sixtieth birthday . Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1961, pp. 305–316.
Antonín Škarka: Adam Michna z Otradovic . Fink, Munich 1968 (in Czech).
Zdeňka Tichá: Adam Václav Michna z Otradovic . Melantrich, Prague 1976.
Biographical encyclopedia on the history of the Bohemian countries, published on behalf of the Collegium Carolinum (Institute) in Munich by Heribert Sturm , Volume II (I – M), page 660 Adam Vaclav Michna von Otradowicz († 1676), composer, with further references, ISBN 3-486-52551-4 .

Web links

Commons : Adam Václav Michna z Otradovic - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Literature and other media by and about Adam Michna in the catalog of the National Library of the Czech Republic
Works by and about Adam Michna in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

↑ Jan Bažant et al: The Czech Reader, 2010, p. 88.
↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4miansjLseo
↑ See also Jaromír Koláček: Vánoce s kytarou. Christmas with guitar. Panton, Prague 1990, ISBN 80-7039-102-2 , p. 18. ( Chtíc, aby spal , “She lulled him in”).

personal data
SURNAME	Michna, Adam
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Michna z Otradovic, Adam Václav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Czech poet, organist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1600
PLACE OF BIRTH	Jindřichův Hradec
DATE OF DEATH	November 2, 1676
Place of death	Jindřichův Hradec

[1] Jan Bažant et al: The Czech Reader, 2010, p. 88.

[2] ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4miansjLseo

[3] See also Jaromír Koláček: Vánoce s kytarou. Christmas with guitar. Panton, Prague 1990, ISBN 80-7039-102-2 , p. 18. ( Chtíc, aby spal , “She lulled him in”).