Unique Baroque gems from the collection of Bishop Karl Liechtenstein-Castelcorn in the archives of Kroměříž Castle will be presented by the Silentium Ensemble under the direction of leading Czech conductor Tomáš Netopil.

G. F. Sances
Salmi brevi a 8 voci in due cori

P. J. Vejvanovský
Missa Orientalis

H. I. F. von Biber
Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum: Sonata IX in G major

P. Rittler
Offertorium de Confessore

P. Rittler
Salve Regina

P. J. Vejvanovský
Vesperae de Confessore

Silentium Ensemble
Tereza Válková – artistic director
Tomáš Netopil – conductor

Unique Baroque treasures from the collection of Bishop Karl von Liechtenstein-Castelcorn, preserved in the archive of the Kroměříž Château, will be presented by the Silentium Ensemble under the direction of leading Czech conductor Tomáš Netopil.

Today, who does not know the trumpet sonatas of Pavel Josef Vejvanovský, who from the 1660s served the Olomouc bishops as a trumpeter, composer, and later as Kapellmeister of the Kroměříž episcopal ensemble? He assumed this latter position after the now world-famous violin virtuoso Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber. Much less known, however, is Vejvanovský’s work as a composer of sacred music. From his extensive output, Missa Orientalis and Vesperae de Confessore will be performed.

Giovanni Felice Sances, a contemporary of Vejvanovský who was two generations older, served from 1649 as one of the Kapellmeisters at the Viennese court of Emperor Ferdinand II and his successor Ferdinand III. Having arrived in Vienna from his native Italy, Sances became one of the most renowned European composers of his time. His double-choir cycle of “short psalms,” Salmi brevi, preserved in the Kroměříž archive in a copy made by Vejvanovský, bears the clear influence of the musical tradition of Baroque Venice.

Composer Philipp Jakob Rittler emerged from the Jesuit college in Opava and served as Kapellmeister of St. Wenceslas Cathedral in Olomouc from 1678 to 1690. It was already in Opava that he became acquainted with Pavel Josef Vejvanovský, with whom he shared a lifelong friendship. Rittler’s fresh and vivid musical output—exemplified by Offertorium de Confessore—testifies to the exceptional artistic standard of the musicians in the service of the Olomouc bishops at that time.