St. Wenceslas Choral

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Wenceslas on the white horse, above the line of song: "Nedej zahynouti nám ni budoucím!" (= Let us and the future not perish! ), Wenceslas Church in Kostelec , South Moravia

St. Wenceslas Choral (Czech: Svatováclavský chorál ) is a Bohemian church hymn . It is one of the oldest known Czech sacred songs , its roots going back to the 12th century.

history

The original hymn has three five-line stanzas , each ending with the cry of Kyrie Eleison . It is a simple intercession to St. Wenceslas , the patron saint and patron saint of Bohemia , so that he may intercede before God for his people, to save them from evil and give them salvation. After the hymn Hospodine, pomiluj ny , it is the second oldest musical monument in Bohemia. The origins of the St. Wenceslas chant lie in the Slavic liturgy of the 12th century, at a time when the Wenceslas cult was already widespread. Both songs share the reputation of Kyrie Eleison at the end of each verse. The St. Wenceslas Choral is musically and lyrically more mature than the older Hospodine, pomiluj ny .

From the original song, a 5-stanza version was probably created in the pre-Hussite period and then a 9-stanza version in the 15th century. The oldest version with three stanzas, with St. Wenceslas as mediator, addresses the Holy Spirit , the comforter and intercessor of the believers (according to Rom 8:26  EU ). Wenceslaus is seen as a powerful mediator with God and a victorious helper of his people in the earthly battles against their enemies. The later versions also invoke the Virgin Mary and a number of Bohemian saints as mediators.

Contemporary notation, sung at Vespers in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague

The hymn was always held in high esteem in Bohemia; it has lasted for centuries and is sung regularly today, e.g. B. at the end of the Catholic Sunday mass or on important Christian holidays. It was sung at important events such as the coronation of Bohemian kings . Jan Hus had the song sung at his sermons in the Prague Bethlehem Chapel. It became a war song as early as the 13th century; the Hussites sang it and wrote stanzas on their shields. The hymn became a symbol of the Czech statehood and a protest against foreign rule, especially in times of national oppression after the defeat in the Battle of White Mountain .

In 1918, in the early days of the Czechoslovak state , the song was discussed as a possible candidate for the national anthem . In more recent times it was z. B. to be heard at the funeral of the Presidents of Czechoslovakia T. G. Masaryk and Václav Havel . On the equestrian statue of St. Wenceslas on Wenceslas Square in Prague is the text from the St. Wenceslas Choral: "Svatý Václave, vévodo české země, kníže náš, nedej zahynouti nám ni budoucím" (= "Holy Wenceslas, Duke of Bohemia our prince, let us not perish and those to come ”). St. Wenceslas on horseback is depicted on the Czech 20 kroner coin , next to it also the text: "Svatý Václave nedej zahynout nám i budoucím" (= "Saint Wenceslas, let us and the future not perish").

text

The oldest known text version comes from the chronicle written in Latin by Benesch von Weitmühl (Czech: Beneš Krabice z Veitmile ) from the 14th century.

The best known first stanza is:

Musical use

The chorale inspired some Czech composers to create musical variations . Significant examples are:

  • Josef Klička : Concert Fantasy for Organ about the St. Wenceslas Choral, op.65 (1890)
  • Josef Suk : Meditace na chorál Sv. Václave , op.35a (1914)
  • Pavel Haas : Suite for oboe and piano , op.17 (1939)
  • Vítězslav Novák : St. Wenceslas Triptych , op.70 (1941)
  • Vladimír Hirsch : Do Not Let Us Perish (St. Wenceslaus), op. 96, a part of compilation Communion Of Saints by Brave Mysteries (2016)

German version

The song was only translated into German in modern times - the oldest German translation is from the end of the first half of the 17th century. A suitable for vocal use ( heil'ger King Wenceslas ) is found in the 1912 first published the German hymnal for the dioceses of Bohemia Manna .

literature

  • Josef Hrabák: Dějiny české literatury. 1., Starší česká literatura . Československá akademie věd, Praha 1959, p. 69-70 (Czech, 531 pp.).
  • Jan Lehár ed .: Česká středověká lyrika . Nakladatelství Vyšehrad, Praha 1990, ISBN 80-7021-015-X , p. 61-62 (Czech, 406 pp.).
  • Luboš Merhaut a kol .: Lexicon české literatury: osobnosti, díla, instituce. 4 / I. ST . Academia, Praha 2008, ISBN 80-200-0345-2 , p. 445-446 (Czech, 1082 pp.).

Web links

  • The song in the kancionál online : 830A , 830B . Published in: Czech Bishops' Conference, accessed February 13, 2018
  • Sung by Kateřina Winterová [1] , accessed on February 19, 2018

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dobroslav Orel: Hudební prvky svatováclavské . In: Svatováclavský sborník III . Národní výbor pro oslavu svatováclavského tisíciletí, Praha 1937, p. 3 (Czech, 590 pp.).
  2. ↑ Nikola Bojčev: Zádušní mši za Havla uzavře Svatováclavský chorál , iRozhlas.cz [online], 2011-23-11 online , accessed on February 13, 2018 (Czech)
  3. ↑ Mince 20 Kč (Czech), accessed on February 27, 2018
  4. ↑ Kronika Beneše z Weitmile, edited by Josef Emler . In: Fontes Rerum Bohemicarum, vol. IV, Praha 1884, pp. 437-538 (Latin)
  5. ↑ Current version in Kancionál online No. 830A . Published in: Czech Bishops' Conference, accessed February 13, 2018
  6. ↑ Concert Fantasy on the St. Wenceslas Choral , in the International Music Score Library Project , accessed on February 19, 2018
  7. ^ Petr Vacek: Svatováclavský triptych Vítězslava Nováka . Janáčkova akademie múzických umění v Brně, Hudební fakulta, Brno 2015 (Czech, 32 pages, online [PDF; accessed February 13, 2018]).
  8. ↑ Vladimir Hirsch - Do Not Let Us Perish (St Wenceslas) , accessed on February 13, 2018 (English)
  9. ↑ Viktor Velek: Musical Wenceslas tradition (until 1848) in the context of the Bohemian historical traditions . 2010 ( muni.cz [accessed on May 24, 2020] Masarykova univerzita, Filozofická fakulta).
  10. ↑ Manna. Catholic prayer and hymn book for Bohemia . 2nd Edition. State Publishing House, Prague 1925, p. 473 .