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Jan Dismas Zelenka (baptised Jan Lukáš Zelenka; 16 October 1679 – 23 December 1745), also known as Johann Dismas Zelenka, was a Czech composer and musician of the Baroque period. His music is admired for its harmonic inventiveness and counterpoint. == Life == Zelenka was born in Louňovice pod Blaníkem (German: ''Launiowitz''), a small market town southeast of Prague, in Bohemia. He was the eldest of the eight children born to Marie Magdalena (née Hájek) and Jiří Zelenka. The middle name Dismas is probably his confirmation name.〔David Charlton: (''Jan Dismas Zelenka'' ), a detailed biography at Classical Net〕 Zelenka's father Jiří was a schoolmaster and organist in Launiowitz, and it is likely that Zelenka received his musical lessons with him. However, nothing more is known with certainty about Zelenka's early years. He received his musical training at the Jesuit college Clementinum in Prague. His instrument was the violone (or bass viol). His first works were probably written in Prague, and his earliest known work ''Via laureta'' (ZWV 245) was composed in 1704. The music is lost, but a libretto still exists. Zelenka served Baron von Johann Hubert von Hartig in Prague, before his appointment as violone player in Dresden's royal orchestra.〔Václav Kapsa – Jana Perutková – Jana Spáčilová: Some remarks on the relationship of Bohemian aristocracy to Italian music at the time of Pergolesi, in: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi e la musica napoletana in Europa centrale (Studi pergolesiani – Pergolesi studies 8), ed. C. Bacciagaluppi, H.-G. Ottenberg and L. Zoppelli, Bern, Peter Lang, 2012, pp. 315-316.〕 This Baron von Hartig was a well known connoisseur of music and a virtuoso musician. He corresponded with many important Italian composers and amassed a great musical library in his life, which Zelenka would later have access to, as in the example of Antonio Lotti's ''Missa Sapientiae''. In ca. 1729 Zelenka copied this work from Hartig's collection, and later in the 1730s, Johann Sebastian Bach aquired a copy of Lotti's mass from Zelenka's library. Georg Friedrich Handel's copy of Lotti's mass might also have been aquired through Zelenka. When Johann Hubert died in Prague in 1741, Zelenka dedicated his ''Litaniae Lauretanae 'Salus infirmorum (ZWV 152) to his old patron. It is possible that Johann Hubert von Hartig recommended Zelenka for the Dresden ''Hofkapelle'' (court orchestra) as a double bass player. Zelenka entered the service of the Dresden court with a salary of 300 thalers in 1710/1711. The favourable conditions for music making at Dresden gave added impetus to his creativity, particularly with respect to the composition of sacred music for the Catholic court church.〔 His first opus in Dresden was a Mass, the "Missa Sanctae Caeciliae" (c. 1711).〔(Lo Mejor De La Musica Clasica )〕 Zelenka must have made an impression with his music, for only few months after his arrival in Dresden his salary was increased by 16,6 %, to 350 thalers, which placed him amongst the better paid musicians in the ''Hofkapelle''. Three years later, Zelenka's salary was increased once again, this time by 14,3 %, which raised his wages to 400 thalers. Zelenka continued his education in Vienna under the Habsburg Imperial Kapellmeister Johann Joseph Fux beginning in 1716; he was back in Dresden by 1719. Whether or not he ever went to Venice is unclear, but a Saxon court document of 1715 records a royal cash advance for such a journey to Zelenka along with fellow musicians Johann Christian Richter, Christian Petzold and Johann Georg Pisendel. New documents concerning the arrival of Richter and Pisendel in Italy have now surfaced. Since Zelenka was not travelling with his colleagues, it now seems very unlikely that he made the trip to Venice.〔Janice B. Stockigt, ''Zelenka Reviewed and Re-evaluted'', paper given at the Zelenka Conference Prague, 15 October 2015.〕 Except for an extended stay in Prague in 1722-1723, where Zelenka conducted the première of one of his major secular works, ''Sub olea pacis et palma virtutis conspicua orbi regia Bohemiae Corona'', a melodrama about St. Wenceslas on the occasion of the coronation of Charles VI, he remained in Dresden.〔(''Jan Dismas ZELENKA'' ), biography at baroquemusic.org〕 While in Prague he concentrated on instrumental composition, as the autograph of the score of Concerto à 8 concertanti confirms: "Six concerti written in a hurry in Prague in 1723". In the early 1720s Zelenka composed some of his finest works, for example the ''Responsoria pro hebdomada'' (ZWV 55) and the ''Lamentations'' (ZWV 53). As a result, his compositions now formed an important part of the repertory of the Catholic court church. Following the frequent illnesses of ''Kapellmeister'' Johann David Heinichen, Zelenka gradually took over the direction of the sacred music. In January 1726 Zelenka began to register his own works, and compositions of other composers he collected, into his ''Inventarium (''1726-1739'')'', which today is one of the most important documents of Dresden baroque music. Heinichen died in July 1729, and Zelenka became the acting ''Kapellmeister,'' a position that he fulfilled in an unofficial capacity until 1734. This period is known as the ''Interregnum'' in the literature, a term coined by Professor Wolfgang Horn.〔WOLFGANG HORN, ''Die Dresdner Hofkirchenmusik 1720-1745: Studien zu ihren Voraussetzungen und ihrem Repertoire'', Kassel, Bärenreiter – Stuttgart, Carus, 1987, p. 89.〕 The first work that confirms Zelenka's newly-found status is the ''Sinfonia'' (ZWV 190, 18 May 1729, previously known as ''Capriccio''), which, as Janice B. Stockigt has now established, was performed at a ''Galla'' event to celebrate the birthday of the Saxon Elector and Polish King, August II.〔JANICE B STOCKIGT, ''On the Dresden Sources of Zelenka’s Instrumental Music'', “QUCOSA”, forthcoming.〕 The official publication ''Königl. Polnischer und Churfürstl. Sächsischer Hoff-'' (from 1734 ) ''und Staats-Calender'' (), which listed the members and servants of the Dresden court, shows Zelenka listed as a Contra-''Basso'' & ''Compositeur'', in the editions of 1731 and 1732: in 1733 he is listed as a Compositeur only, which clearly suggests that he no longer was playing the double-bass. Instead, Zelenka most likely directed the sacred music from his position as a singer.〔 The period of the Interregnum has given birth to a number of outlandish theories on Zelenka's position at the Dresden court, and especially around his petitions from October/November 1733 for the ''Kapellmeister'' position. The fact is, that already before Heinichen passed away in 1729, the Dresden court was actively looking for a well-established opera composer to take Heinichen place. This was a part of a long-term project to re-establish the opera in Dresden. From 1724 the Dresden court had been training five young Italian opera singers with some of the finest vocal teachers in Italy, and these teachers included Nicola Porpora. In the first week of February 1730, the young singers, the castrati Domenico Annibali (alto), Giovanni Bindi and Ventura Rocchetti 'Venturini' (sopranos), and the sisters Maria Rosa Negri and Anna Negri (sopranos) were called to Dresden. There is no coincidence that in the same week, Johann Adolph Hasse was offered the "primo" ''Kapellmeister'' position – meaning that he was to be the first and most senior ''Kapellmeister''. These two events were clearly connected with each other.〔Jóhannes Ágústsson, ''The Secular Vocal Collection of Jan Dismas Zelenka – A Reconstruction'', in "Studi vivaldiani" 13, 2013, p. 31.〕 Following the arrival of the five young singers in Dresden in April 1730, Zelenka would play an important role in their continuing education. After the "''compositeur de la musique italienne''" Giovanni Alberto Ristori travelled to Moscow in the end of 1730, Zelenka became responsible for supplying secular vocal music for the chamber concerts for the court at the royal palace in Dresden. It is at this point in time when he began to assemble his fascinating collection of Italian operas and cantatas, which are individually numbered in the hand of Zelenka and partly still exists in Dresden. This suggest that he once held an inventory of the secular works in his possession: by listing up the numbers it was possible to reconstruct Zelenka's now missing inventory.〔 This included a number of arias of Hasse, who had arrived in Dresden in July 1731 with his famous wife, Faustina Bordoni, the most brilliant female singer of the baroque era. Shortly after his arrival Hasse was officially appointed ''Kapellmeister'': it was a position he was to reign in unrivalled and unchallenged for the next 32 years. After the performances of his opera ''Cleofide'' in September 1731, Hasse and Faustina travelled back to Italy, but not before the future arrangements of the ''Hofkapelle'' had been decided and later put in motion. Johann Georg Pisendel was officially appointed ''Konzertmeister''. Eleven new musicians were hired for the orchestra on 28 November 1731. On that same day, Zelenka was awarded a handsome salary increase of 37,5 %, which brought his wages up to 550 thalers. This enabled Zelenka to purchase 24 opera arias and one duet, eight secular cantatas and two sacred motets from Antonio Vivaldi, music he was then able to use both in the chamber and the church.〔''Ibid.''〕 After August II passed away in Warsaw on 1 February 1733, his son and successor as Saxon Elector Friedrich August moved swiftly, and tied Hasse and Faustina to an extraordinarily generous contract, worth an astonishing 6000 thalers annually, in addition to travel costs. At that time, Hasse was already one of the most famous composers in Europe and it was a major coup for the Dresden court to have secured his and Faustina's services. Confirmation of Hasse's position is seen in the libretto to his ''Siroe'', which was performed in Bologna in May 1733, where the composer is titled ''Maestro di Cappella di S.A. R. l’Elettore di Sassonia''. In that same month, Zelenka was also referred to as the Saxon elector's "well-born and virtuoso ''Kapellmeister''" in a letter written by the Superior of the Catholic court church in Dresden.〔JANICE B. STOCKIGT and JÓHANNES ÁGÚSTSSON, ''The Visit of Members of the Dresden Hofkapelle to Bautzen: May 1733'', forthcoming.〕 Following the election of Friedrich August as King of Poland (as August III) in October 1733, countless servants from all departments of the Dresden court sent in petitions for unpaid salaries or promotions. Zelenka was one of those who petitioned. It was only natural for the composer to wish to attain official recognition from the newly elected Polish king. The impression has often been given in the literature that Zelenka was in direct competition with Hasse for the ''Kapellmeister'' position. Nothing is more far from the truth. It was very clear to Zelenka at that time, that his colleague Hasse was, and would remain the senior ''Kapellmeister''. As it turned out, Hasse, like he did in 1750, requested that he alone would hold this title.〔 This led the Dresden court to create the official position of church composer, which Zelenka would hold from 1734 and onwards, in the good company of his student Tobias Buz and, from November 1736, Johann Sebastian Bach, who was awarded this title, but only in an honorary capacity. Confirmation of this arrangement is seen in the official and annual ''HStCal'' of 1735-1737, which lists Zelenka and Buz as Kirchen-''Compositeur''s, with Bach joining them in the HStCal of 1738, notably with the remark "''tit''()" (honorary) next to his name. Suggestions seen in a previous edition of this Wikipedia page, and subsequently cited without any criticism or scrutiny by some commentators, that Zelenka "lost" his position to Bach, are completely baseless and unfounded, but are very much in common with the often bizarre discussion when it comes to Zelenka and his role as a musician and composer at the court of Dresden. The widely presented image of Zelenka as the suffering genius so often presented in the literature, CD booklets and concert programs, can be traced directly to an explosive article from 1987: this is the late Dr. Wolfgang Reich’s oft cited and self-published (that is, not going through the all-important peer-review) study „An unbeloved composer?”,〔"''Ein ungeliebter Komponist? Zu Jan Dismas Zelenkas Stellung in Dresden''", in idem, Zwei Zelenka Studien, Studien und Materialien zur Musikgeschichte Dresdens, 7, Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Hochschule für Musik “Carl Maria von Weber”, 1987, pp. 1-12.〕 which literally acted as a nuclear bomb thrown into the tranquil world of Zelenka. This is an extraordinarily pessimistic read, where every source and situation is interpreted in the most negative way possible for the Bohemian composer, in order, as it seems, only to create the romantic image of the suffering genius. This myth, or, rather, misinformation, has recently been refuted,〔Jóhannes Ágústsson, ''‘Vollkommner VIRTUOS': Jan Dismas Zelenka – the man, the myth, the musician'', paper given at the Zelenka Conference Prague, 15 October 2015.〕 following the discovery of a wealth of new archival sources, which all confirm the great respect Zelenka was held in by his employers, his colleagues and contemporaries.〔A detailed survey of the numerous new archival discoveries will be presented in JANICE B. STOCKIGT and JÓHANNES ÁGÚSTSSON, ''Reflections and Recent Findings on the Life and Music of Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745)'', forthcoming.〕 At the heart of this re-appraisal is the astonishing re-discovery of a panegyric about the Dresden court orchestra, which was published in 1740 by the blind poet Johann Gottlob Kittel. Titled ''Virtuosen'',〔JOHANN GOTTLOB KITTEL, ''Denen Bey Ihro Königl. Majest. in Pohlen und Churfürstl. Durchl. zu Sachsen, Welt-gepriesenen Hof-Capelle Befindlichen Virtuosen () folgendes Lob-Gedichte Im Monath Junio 1740'', with an epilogue by Gerhard Poppe, Beeskow, Ortus, 2008. Kittel's well-known poem from 1731 about the organ playing of Bach, is universally accepted as a great example of the contemporary praise for the art of the German composer.〕 this realistic poem of praise describes well the affect Zelenka's music had in his time: ''Zelenca'' ward hierauff von ''Phœbus'' auch erblicket, Der dessen billig Lob, wie folget, ausgedrücket: Du hochgepriesener, vollkommner ''VIRTUOS'', Dein selbst erworbner Rühm ist Welt-bekannt und groß; Du kanst zu GOttes Ehr, die Seelen zu ergötzen, Auf das beweglichste die Kirchen-Stücken setzen, Die also rührend sind, daß die andächtge Brust Den Vorschmack schon empfindt von jener Himmels-Luft; Dahero wird Dein Lob nach Deinen Nahmen * grünen, Sowohl auf Erden hier, als in den Sternen-Bühnen. * The English translation (kindly provided by David Fairservice): ''Zelenca'' was then also seen by ''Phoebus'' who rightly expressed his praise as follows: You, the most highly regarded, perfect ''VIRTUOS'', your fame, all of your own making, is world-renowned and great. To honour GOD and delight the soul you do most movingly compose church music () which is so touching that the enrapture breast receives a foretaste of heavenly pleasures. This is why your praise will green *, according to your name, both here on earth and on the stellar stage. * In 1736 Zelenka's salary was once again increased, this time by 45,5 %, which took his wages up to 800 thalers. This shows without a doubt, how much his employers valued his contribution. In 1741 he received yet another increase of 12,5 % so that in the end, his wages were 900 thalers. J.S. Bach held Zelenka in high esteem, as evidenced by a letter of 13 January 1775 from his great son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach to Bach biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel. Bach thought enough of Zelenka to have some of his works copied; e.g. he had his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, copy out the Amen from Zelenka's third Magnificat (ZWV 108) for use in Leipzig's St. Thomas's church where J.S. Bach was cantor for the last 2 1/2 decades of his life. In addition to composing, Zelenka taught throughout his life, instructing a number of prominent musicians of that time, e.g. Johann Joachim Quantz (Frederick the Great of Prussia's longtime court flautist and flute teacher), J. G. Röllig, Joseph Riepel – an important theorist and composer who took daily lessons from Zelenka from ca. 1739-1745. His close friends included eminent composers Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Georg Pisendel and Sylvius Leopold Weiss. Zelenka died of dropsy in Dresden on December 22–23, 1745, and was buried on Christmas Eve.〔 He never married and had no children; his compositions and musical estate were purchased from his beneficiaries by Electress of Saxony Maria Josepha of Austria, and after his death were closely guarded and considered valuable court possessions. Telemann, with Pisendel's assistance, planned to publish Zelenka's "Responsoria". He wrote on 17 April 1756, that "the complete manuscript will be at the Dresden court, kept under lock and key as something very rare...". There is no confirmed portrait of Zelenka, but worthy of mention is a mirror-image black-and-white copy of a well-known portrait of his old teacher Fux which has been passed off as a picture of Zelenka on several respected websites. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jan Dismas Zelenka」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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