CONTRAFACTA IN BOHEMIAN CHURCH MUSIC OF THE 18th CENTURY

By means of transferring popular opera arias into the repertoire of church music, using new latin texts, some of the Bohemian churches gained new functions as centers of concert life. In the collection of Prague's St. Veit cathedral more than hundred church arias and duets exist, dating back even to the 1740 years, the origin of which are Italian operas of 14 composers (Anfossi, Boroni, Fux, Galuppi, Gluck, Graun, Handel, Hasse, Leo, Lotti, Marcello, Pergolesi, Sarri, Vinci). In the music collection of the Royal Canonry of Premonstratensians in Prague in Strahov 32 contrafacta are preserved, deriving from Mozart's operas (13 from Idomeneo, 10 from La clemenza di Tito). Even the unique quintet of the three Ladies, Tamino and Papageno of The Magic flute had been transformed into an offertory. 28 contrafacta from operas of Antonio Boroni are preserved in the music collection of the Benedictine monastery in Prague in Brevnov. From Gluck's Prague opera Ezio are preserved in Bohemian historical music collections 19 contrafacta. Mozart's music in the form of historical contrafacta going back to arias and ensembles amount to be c. sixhundred in church collections of Bohemia. The music of the contrafacta is nearly never simplified but faithfully transferred. In some of them new cadences and ornaments are inserted for local singers. Until now more than 120 of these cadences within the contrafacta could be registered.