Page 91 - 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

musical interpretation: specifics of working with textual statements ...
which version should I use?” Several factors influenced the decision. Some
prioritised the criterion of antiquity, opting for the mediaeval version. Oth-
ers might have chosen the version that they “grew up with” or that was famil-
iar in the environment for which they were composing, for example the ba-
roque version. Sometimes regionality played a role in the decision.
With the Hussite chorale Ye Who Are Warriors of God, which I will
discuss in greater detail, the situation is considerably more complicated,
though there are only two versions to choose from. It should be noted that
at the time of the recatholization of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, the
song was forbidden and gradually fell into oblivion. At the beginning of the
th
19 century only the lyrics were known, and even then, they were familiar
to only a few linguists! It is possible that the Napoleonic Wars revived in-
terest in its musical aspect – some Czech pro-monarchist anti-Napoleonic
songs apparently work with its melody and partly with its lyrics. However,
it seems to have been a passing fashion, as after the defeat of Napoleon these
14
songs fell into oblivion. Quite logically, the song is also absent from the
musical repertoire of the revolutionary year 1848. It was not until the early
1860s that the chorale resurfaced, reintroduced through arrangements for
voice and piano or choral adaptations. This was a clear manifestation of the
process of searching for old Czech musical heritage, the impetus being the
liberalisation of social relations after the announcement of the October Di-
ploma (1860). This is how the public came to know the younger version of
15
the chorale, namely the one printed in a songbook from 1530. Many com-
posers worked with this version, believing it to be the only and oldest ver-
sion of the song. The unique semantic and semiotic content of the work is
due to the fact that Bedřich Smetana worked with it at the end of the cy-
cle of symphonic poems My Country, i.e. in the Hussite parts Tábor and
Blaník.

14 Viktor Velek, “Hussitism in Modern Czech Musical Culture: The Roots of Myths
(1800–1848),” [chapter in a collective monograph by the team members of the inter-
national scientific project EXPRO GA ČR Old Myths, New Facts: Czech Lands in
the Centre of 15 -Century Music Developments], eds. Hana Vlhová-Wörner and Jan
th
Ciglbauer (2025), forthcoming.
15 [Anon.], Zpráva a naučení křesťanům věrným, jak by se v těchto časích nebezpečných
při spasení božím říditi, zpravovati a v něm růsti měli, ano i při těžkostech nynějších,
přicházejících od násilí Tureckého, jak se míti a zachovávati mají [A Message and In-
structions for Faithful Christians on How to Act, Conduct Themselves and Grow in
their Salvation in These Perilous Times, and Also in the Face of Current Difficul-
ties Arising from the Violence of the Turks, Providing Guidance on How to Live and
Preserve Themselves] (Mladá Boleslav: Bratrská tiskárna Jiříka Štyrsy, 1530), 166–8.

91