Page 90 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2025. Glasbena interpretacija: med umetniškim in znanstvenim┊Music Interpretation: Between the Artistic and the Scientific. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 8

glasbena interpretacija ... | music interpretation ...
drawn from this? It cannot be concluded on the basis of reviews that the
singer failed to control her art, etc. This means that reviews have only lim-
ited explanatory power.

Old Bohemian spiritual mediaeval songs in Czech
The third and final part in this study is devoted to the issue of the “cor-
rect version,” and I will immediately explain what is meant by this rath-
er ambiguous phrase. The “Old Bohemian spiritual songs” have a signifi-
cant place in the history of Czech music, and I would like to focus on two of
them, namely the songs Svatý Václave (Saint Wenceslas) and Ktož jsú Boží
bojovníci (Ye Who Are Warriors of God).
The first of these, also known as Saint Wenceslas Chorale / Song of St
Wenceslas, dates from the 13 century. It is one of the earliest surviving
th
songs sung in Czech and had a state-representative character from the be-
ginning. Initially associated with the Přemyslid dynasty, its importance
was also recognised by Emperor Charles IV and all subsequent rulers. The
second song – the Hussite chorale Ye Who Are Warriors of God – represents
the body of Hussite spiritual songs and their vernacular production. From
1420, the Hussites aligned themselves with the legacy of Master Jan Hus, a
theologian and rector of Charles University in Prague, who was burned at
the Council of Constance in 1415 because he did not recant his beliefs. From
1420 onwards, there was a period of anarchy in the Lands of the Bohemi-
an Crown, many monasteries and churches were plundered, and a new re-
formed Hussite church emerged, with its own liturgy and related music in
the Czech language. Ye Who Are Warriors of God is a special, unique type
of song: its content is essentially a military code, instructing each group of
the Hussite army on their duties.
What do the two songs have in common? It is the various versions of
the melody and, to some extent, the rhythm.
The ancient Saint Wenceslas Chorale has continuously permeated the en-
tire history of Czech music without any restrictions (for example, by the gov-
ernment or the church) until today. Given its widespread popularity, it is under-
standable that different variations of intervals or rhythm would emerge over
13
time. Composers faced a choice: “If I quote the song in my own composition,
13 Karel Cirkle, “Nejstarší české lidové duchovní písně: k melodickému vývoji Hospo-
dine, pomiluj ny a Svatý Václave [The Oldest Czech Folk Spiritual Songs: On the Me-
lodic Development of Lord, Have Mercy on Us and Saint Wenceslas]” (PhD Disser-
tation, Masaryk University in Brno, Faculty of Arts, 1968).

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