Václav Karel Holan Rovensky

Václav Holan, or Holan Rovensky as he’s sometimes called, was probably one of the most important composers in the kancionál (hymnal) custom in the Czech lands. He previously been organist in Turnov and Rovensko (where he was also cantor) from 1668 and in Dobrovice, near Mladá Boleslav, in 1679-1680. During his tenure at Vy’ehrad he might took a pilgrimage to Rome and sometime in the first eighteenth hundred years he resided a prayerful and hermit-like presence at Waldstein Castle near Turnov. His magnum opus is usually Cappella Regia Musicalis (Prague: 1693), made up of 772 items, which was probably the fruits of his 12-plus years like a provincial cantor. The publication coincides along with his visit as organist at Vy’ehrad in Prague, though he might have been around in the city for quite a while before that. Cappella Regia Musicalis is usually a massive assortment of hymns, sacred and festive tunes, and all types of musical configurations of virtually all central elements of the Roman-Catholic liturgy, all imprinted mainly in the Czech vocabulary. It is hard to tell the amount of from the collection was made up by Holan himself (though it really is clear that lots of additional composers are displayed), plus some from the music and various other pices are obviously much older, like the anoymous fifteenth hundred years Czech configurations from the Interest. Curiously, the collection also includes many previously Protestant as well as Hussite music, rendering it something of the study of Czech sacred tune to time. Unlike almost every other Czech hymnals, many parts in Holan’s collection also included basso continuo as well as obligatto instruments such as for example violins, viols, and trumpets. Another wondering feature of the rather amazing publication is certainly that no two making it through copies are as well, resulting in suspicions that they could have already been made-to-order. It could appear that Heinrich Schmelzer (c.1620-1680) was acquainted with it, since a (greatly explanded) German-language edition of one from the parts circulated in his name. Parts of Cappella Regia Musicalis had been constantly copied and reprinted through the entire ensuing decades and, in a few quarters, have already been the foundation for most Czech hymnals since.