Kryštof Harant
Encyclopedia
Klenová castle
Klenová castle is a large castle located in southwest Bohemia near the town of Klatovy. Only ruins remain from the original castle but buildings of a new chateau were added in the 19th century....
, 1564 – Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, June 21, 1621) was a Czech
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...
nobleman, traveller, humanist, soldier, writer and composer.
As a composer he represented the school of Franco-Flemish polyphony
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
in Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
. His activity in the revolt of Protestants resulted in his execution by Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
forces after the Battle of White Mountain
Battle of White Mountain
The Battle of White Mountain, 8 November 1620 was an early battle in the Thirty Years' War in which an army of 30,000 Bohemians and mercenaries under Christian of Anhalt were routed by 27,000 men of the combined armies of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor under Charles Bonaventure de Longueval,...
during the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
.
Life
He was born at Klenová CastleKlenová castle
Klenová castle is a large castle located in southwest Bohemia near the town of Klatovy. Only ruins remain from the original castle but buildings of a new chateau were added in the 19th century....
, near Klatovy
Klatovy
Klatovy is a town in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic.Klatovy is also the seat of the Municipality with Extended Competence and Municipality with Commissioned Local Authority.- History :Klatovy was founded during 1260–1263 by Přemysl Otakar II....
, Bohemia. From 1576 he studied singing and counterpoint
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
as a member of local court band at Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
, at the court of Archduke Ferdinand II
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand II , a member of the House of Habsburg, was Holy Roman Emperor , King of Bohemia , and King of Hungary . His rule coincided with the Thirty Years' War.- Life :...
, learning 7 languages, discovering his talent for music and the other arts and his interest in history, geography and political science. He returned to Bohemia in 1584 in a vain attempt to get a post at the court of Rudolf II, and so enlisted as a soldier, participating in the 1593 and 1597 campaign against the Turks
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. In 1589 he married Eva Czernin von Chudenitz
Czernin von und zu Chudenitz
The Czernin family is one of the oldest and most important dynasties originating in Bohemia, present-day Czech Republic.- History :The family is descended from the clan of "Drslavice", like several other Bohemian families. The first known bearer of the family name was "Comes" and Camerarius regis ...
- they had two children before she died in 1597. Kryštof married two more times. Leaving his relation Lidmila Markvartová z Hrádku to raise the children, in 1598 and 1599 he went to the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
as a pilgrim, wishing to visit the Holy Sepulchre with Eva's brother Hermannn. He wrote about his experiences in a book entitled Journey from Bohemia to the Holy Land, by way of Venice and the Sea
Journey from Bohemia to the Holy Land, by way of Venice and the Sea
Journey from Bohemia to the Holy Land, by way of Venice and the Sea is a voyages book written by Kryštof Harant, a Bohemian nobleman and published in 1608. The complete title transliterated into modern Czech is: Cesta z Království Českého do Benátek, odtud do země Svaté, země Judské a dále do...
which was published in Prague in 1608.
After his return, in 1599 he was given a post in the emperor's court and simultaneously raised to the peerage, though both his children died that year. In 1601 he was made an advisor to the court of Rudolf and his successor Matthias
Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor
Matthias of Austria was Holy Roman Emperor from 1612, King of Hungary and Croatia from 1608 and King of Bohemia from 1611...
and part of the imperial chambers. When the imperial court moved to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Kryštof Harant was granted Burg Pecka and dedicated himself for some years to music, becoming the most important Bohemian composer of the time. During 1614-15 he travelled to Spain with a diplomatic mission.
In 1618 he converted to Protestantism, returned to Prague, joined the forces arrayed against the Catholics as an artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
officer and fought on the side of the Bohemian states during the uprisings. In 1619 he became the commissioner of the military unit of Boleslav, Kouřim
Kourim
Kouřim is a small town in the Central Bohemian Region, Czech Republic. It is located 45 km east of Prague and has a population of 1,769 ....
and Hradec Králové
Hradec Králové
Hradec Králové is a city of the Czech Republic, in the Hradec Králové Region of Bohemia. The city's economy is based on food-processing technology, photochemical, and electronics manufacture. Traditional industries include musical instrument manufacturing – the best known being PETROF pianos...
, and was involved in a 50,000 strong regiment in the unsuccessful march on imperial Vienna. During the rebellion he bombarded the imperial palace in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
—with the emperor inside—which proved to be a bad move.
After Friedrich V
Frederick V, Elector Palatine
Frederick V was Elector Palatine , and, as Frederick I , King of Bohemia ....
succeeded to the Palatinate, he was appointed as a privy councillor and president of the Bohemian chamber, though this career was short-lived. After the defeat of the Protestant Czechs at the battle of White Mountain
Battle of White Mountain
The Battle of White Mountain, 8 November 1620 was an early battle in the Thirty Years' War in which an army of 30,000 Bohemians and mercenaries under Christian of Anhalt were routed by 27,000 men of the combined armies of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor under Charles Bonaventure de Longueval,...
in 1620 by the combined arms of Maximilian
Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria
Maximilian I, Duke/Elector of Bavaria , called "the Great", was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. His reign was marked by the Thirty Years' War ....
and Tilly, the subsequent sack of Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
by Imperial troops, and the assumption of office by emperor Ferdinand II
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand II , a member of the House of Habsburg, was Holy Roman Emperor , King of Bohemia , and King of Hungary . His rule coincided with the Thirty Years' War.- Life :...
, Kryštof Harant withdrew to his castle. He was captured there by Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Waldstein
Albrecht von Wallenstein
Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein , actually von Waldstein, was a Bohemian soldier and politician, who offered his services, and an army of 30,000 to 100,000 men during the Danish period of the Thirty Years' War , to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II...
, arrested and taken to Prague, unsuccessfully pleading for mercy. As one of the twenty-seven Bohemian noble rebels, he was condemned to death and beheaded on 21 June 1621 by Jan Mydlář in the Old Town Square, Prague, along with all the other leaders of the insurrection.
His widow Anna Salomena (born von Horschitz, who had married Kryštof) in 1625 married Hermann Czernin von Chudenitz, Eva's brother.
Music and influence
Harant's music was conservative, and in the style of the Netherlands composers of the previous generation. He used archaic techniques such as cantus firmusCantus firmus
In music, a cantus firmus is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.The plural of this Latin term is , though the corrupt form canti firmi is also attested...
mass
Mass (music)
The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...
composition. Seven separate works survived, all sacred vocal compositions (the rest were lost when his property was confiscated as being that of an executed traitor). One of his pieces is a cantus firmus mass based on a madrigal
Madrigal (music)
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....
by Marenzio
Luca Marenzio
Luca Marenzio was an Italian composer and singer of the late Renaissance. He was one of the most renowned composers of madrigals, and wrote some of the most famous examples of the form in its late stage of development, prior to its early Baroque transformation by Monteverdi...
(Missa quinis vocibus super Dolorosi martir) —an amusing musical irony in that it combines a technique which went out of fashion a hundred years before with the music of one of Italy's most popular and progressive composers.
Harant had a reputation as a fine instrumentalist and singer in addition to being a composer. In another interesting irony, one of his Roman Catholic masses was performed in 1620, just before his execution, in a Catholic church in Prague, to great ceremony.
Musical works
- Missa quinis vocibus super Dolorosi martir - to the theme of madrigal by L. Marenzio "Dolorosi martir, fieri tormenti". The mass was published in 1905-6 by Czech musicologist Zdeněk NejedlýZdenek NejedlýZdeněk Nejedlý was a Czech musicologist, music critic, author, and politician whose ideas dominated the cultural life of what is now the Czech Republic for most of the twentieth century...
. - Motet Maria Kron, die Engel schon - for five voices, to the German text, 1604
- Motet Qui confidunt in Domino - for six voices, composed in Jerusalem, 1598
Fragments:
- Dejž tobě Pán Bůh štěstí - Czech wedding song
- Dies est laetitiae - an arrangement of a Christmas song for eight voices
- Motet Psallite Domino in cythara - for five voices
- Motet Qui vult venire post me - for five voices
The complete works of Kryštof Harant were published in 1956, by Czechoslovak
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
publishing house KLHU.