‘As unknown to me as a Bohemian village’: a retrospective of Czech Baroque music in recordings

In 1843 the German travel writer, Johann Kohl, commented on the curious fact that although several German states border Bohemia, a large degree of mystery and misunderstanding lay between them; in doing so he cited a common German expression: ‘Dieß ist mir so unbekannt wie die böhmischen Dörfer’ [sic] (this is as unknown to me as a Bohemian village). Despite the centrality, innovation and importance of Bohemian and Moravian musicians in the Baroque era (and before and beyond, of course) a good deal of it has, alas, remained remote to mainstream Western musicology. This situation has, however, improved dramatically over the 50 years since Early Music first went to press. For simple reasons of space this overview is limited to Bohemia and Moravia (modern-day Czech Republic–Slovakia warrants its own retrospective), and to the period from the middle of the 17th to the middle of the 18th century.

In both historical and modern terms, when speaking of a ‘Czech’ early music scene, one is usually discussing ‘Central European’ music-making more broadly (Czech ensembles are frequently international, and their repertory is broad and varied). A few central issues touched upon here relate to ideas of regional/national repertory, concepts of ownership and the centre–periphery paradigm. An unavoidable aspect of discussions of the past 50 years is the communist takeover that lasted between 1968 and 1989, which leaves a narrative of both East and West as well as insider–outsider language with which to contend. By its nature, such an overview as this comes with caveats: there is inadequate space to address all of the important issues, performers, composers and record labels that gave shape to this period. Considering that in both historical and in modern terms, Czechia (as she is now officially styled) is not a big country; in musical terms, she has punched way above her weight.