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Article Excerpt
Cesky Krumlov is a noble South Bohemian town, one of the most visited in the Czech Republic. A Czech national cultural monument, in 1992 it was included in the UNESCO List of World Natural and Cultural Heritage, and the walls of its chateau hide many secrets of musical history, not least the history of representation of music in the fine and applied arts.
For architectural splendour, cultural tradition and sheer scale, the state castle and chateau in Cesky Krumlov must count as one of the most important of Central European monuments. Its glories illustrate its historical development from the 14th to the 19th century. It is one of the largest chateau complexes in Central Europe, and the second largest in the Czech Republic after Prague Castle.
The Lords of Krumlov
The original Gothic castle, which bore the name of Krumlov (a name probably derived from the Latin castrum Crumnau or Old German Crumbenowe, which means place on a crooked meadow or plain), was evidently founded in the mid-13th century. At that time the South Bohemian town of Krumlov (the adjective "Cesky", or "Czech", which is today part of the name, started to be used only from the 15th century), was the seat of Vitek of Krumlov, founder of the line of the Lords of Krumlov whose sobriquet was the same as that of their seat. According to legend, Vitek II was one of the heirs of Vitek of Prcice (who died in 1194), a member of one of the most important oldest Czech noble clans, the Vitkovecs, who divided his huge family lands between his five sons. The sons then founded lines named after their seats--the Lords of Hradec, the Lords of Krumlov, the Lords of Rozmberk, the Lords of Landstejn and Trebon and the Lords of Sezimovo Usti.
The Rozmberks
The last Lord of Krumlov was Vok, who died in 1302 childless, and so the Castle of Krumlov and lands around it fell to the Rozmberk line of the Vitkovecs--the Lords of Rozmberk, who ruled here for a whole 300 years. Especially under Vilem of Rozmberk (1535-1592), Krumlov experienced a massive phase of building and cultural development that culminated in the later 16th century, when the originally medieval castle was turned into a vast and grand Renaissance residence appropriate to the status of the rulers of the Rozmberk dominions, who were leaders among the Bohemian nobility, educated humanists, important patrons of the arts and above all capable politicians occupying the highest offices in the Kingdom of Bohemia.
The musical life of the town was concentrated mainly around the noble court at the Chateau of Cesky Krumlov, but also around the Church of St. Vitus and the Minorite Convent. A particular kind of musical ensemble and a distinctive kind of music was associated with each of these centres. Musicians in the service of the Rozmberks are historically recorded from the mid-15th century at the latest. Many members of the family tried to create permanent structures of musical life at the chateau, but it was Vilem of Rozmberk, who in 1552 founded what is known as the Rozmberk Music--the most important musical ensemble in the services of the Bohemian nobility in the Pre-Baroque period, and indeed more distinguished than the ensembles at the Habsburg court.
Vaclav Brezana, the librarian and chronicler of the Rozmberks, recorded this important event in his memoirs: "... My lord himself made the arrangements for this musical ensemble. Before the Feast of St. Matthew (24th of February 1552) the young lord, arriving in Krumlov and wishing to celebrate Shrovetide with joy and merriment, sent the German scribe Mikolas Wittich to Linz with a wagon and four horses to get the town trombonists or musicians to come to serve His Grace. But rather than doing as His Grace bade them and sending him such musicians, the burgomeister, magistrate and councillor of the town of Linz excused themselves, saying that they were expecting King Maximilian in the coming days, and so it was not a fitting time for the Lord to make the request.... Nonetheless the lord succeeded in finding musicians for himself in Bohemia ... sparing no cost and unwilling to ask of others. In Ceske Budejovice he had Joachym the organist make a new regal ... And His Grace also succeeded in acquiring other musical instruments and musicians and trombonists ..."
The ensemble in question was a small group of Czech and German musicians, who apart from serving in the chateau helped in the church choir and with the permission of the estate performed outside the chateau as a town ensemble. At the time of its founding the group had six members, but around 1600 its numbers had risen to twelve musicians, usually hired for a two-year period. The sources even contain several specific names, mainly of trumpet players, but also of timpanists such as M. Linhart Gruebar, Sebestian Taller, Josef Feinlechner or Gregor Samper, whom Vilem of Rozmberk so valued that...
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