Schasek (2000/05)
for Male Voice and Four Instruments
Male Voice, Flute, Clarinet, Trombone, Piano
Duration: 1 minutes
Program Note
Vaclav Schasek, was a Czech polyglot who was a member, along with lutenists, jugglers, men at arms and an ape,
of the retinue accompanying the Bohemian noble Leo of Rozmital on his 1465 journey to visit the Holy Sepulchre
in Jerusalem, the cathedral of Saint James in Northwestern Spain and all principalities of Europe. While
ostensibly a pilgrimage, Schasek's chronicles suggest that another goal of the journey was to gain support
among the European nobility for Rozmital's brother-in-law, the recently excommunicated King of Bohemia.
During the journey the group endured hardship and disease before returning to Prague in 1467. Little is
known of Schasek's life beyond what their chronicles tell. Schasek appears to have been a bon vivant a
good wrestler. On the group's safe return to Bohemia, Schasek was knighted.
Schasek is a part of the ongoing collection 'Cancionero Anonimo', a loose grouping of fragments,
sketches, studies, and completed works that together document a life
Premiere:
CC Ensemble
Matthew Cody, conductor
Alex Richardson, tenor
30 March 2005
Merkin Concert Hall
New York, New York
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