Ars Rediviva was a Czech classical instrumental music group, whose historically-informed performances played a key role in the revival of Baroque music in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

Ars Rediviva chamber ensemble

The group was founded in 1951 in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

by flautist and musicologist Milan Munclinger and his wife, pianist and harpsichordist Viktorie Švihlíková (she was later succeeded by Josef Hála). The original lineup also consisted of two prominent members of the Czech Philharmonic, cellist František Sláma and oboist Stanislav Duchoň (later succeeded by violinists Václav Snítil and Antonín Novák).
From 1951 to 1956

Václav Talich Václav Talich (; 28 May 1883, Kroměříž – 16 March 1961, Beroun) was a Czech violinist and later a musical pedagogue. He is remembered today as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, the object of countless reissues of his ...

collaborated with Ars Rediviva.

Orchestra, soloists

The band's repertoire consisted largely of chamber music, the works of J. S. Bach ranking high on the list.
Depending on score requirements, the ensemble's size expanded regularly up to the chamber orchestra having mainly Czech Philharmonic instrumentalists as members (a complete string group with its section leaders, prominent

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ho ...

-players, for example solo flautists Géza Novák and František Čech, solo oboist Jiří Mihule, solo bassoonists Karel Bidlo and František Herman, solo horn-players Miroslav Štefek and Zdeněk Tylšar, solo double-bass player František Pošta, etc.).
Ars Rediviva collaborated with the Czech Philharmonic Choir, Czech singers ( Karel Berman, Ladislav Mráz, Jana Jonášová, Virginia Walterová, Ludmila Vernerová, etc.), and foreign artists, specializing in performances of Baroque and Classical music (e.g. András Adorján,

Theo Altmeyer Theo Altmeyer (16 March 1931 – 28 July 2007) was a German classical tenor. Although he was a successful opera singer, he is chiefly remembered for his work as an oratorio soloist. He possessed a rich and lyrical voice that he employed with grea ...

Maurice André Maurice André (21 May 1933 – 25 February 2012) was a French trumpeter, active in the classical music field. He was professor of trumpet at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris where he introduced the teaching of the picc ...

, Nedda Casei, Otto Peter,

Jean-Pierre Rampal Jean-Pierre Louis Rampal (7 January 1922 – 20 May 2000) was a French flautist. He has been personally "credited with returning to the Western concert flute, flute the popularity as a solo classical instrument it had not held since the 18th ce ...

Season performances (1954–1994)

In 1954, the ensemble started giving season performances in Wallenstein Pallace, and later in

Rudolfinum The Rudolfinum is a building in Prague, Czech Republic. It is designed in the neo-renaissance style and is situated on Jan Palach Square on the bank of the river Vltava. Since its opening in 1885, it has been associated with music and art. Curr ...

) in

(6 concerts, later 12 concerts per year). In four decades, several hundreds of compositions were introduced here, including scores of premiered archive pieces.
Live recordings of Ars Rediviva performances in Rudolfinum are deposited in th
Czech Museum of Music

Repertoire, recordings

Ars Rediviva was the first ensemble in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

to record a large number of works of

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

(LPs of the complete Brandenburg concertos,

The Art of Fugue ''The Art of Fugue'', or ''The Art of the Fugue'' (german: Die Kunst der Fuge, links=no), BWV 1080, is an incomplete musical work of unspecified instrumentation by Johann Sebastian Bach. Written in the last decade of his life, ''The Art of Fug ...

The Musical Offering ''The Musical Offering'' (German: or ), Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, BWV 1079, is a collection of keyboard canon (music), canons and fugues and other pieces of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, all based on a single musical Subject (music), theme given ...

, trio sonatas, flute sonatas, cantatas, concerto reconstructions, etc.), Bach's sons (

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and sec ...

: sonatas, sinfonie symphonies, concerts;

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (22 November 17101 July 1784), the second child and eldest son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach, was a German composer and performer. Despite his acknowledged genius as an organist, improviser and compose ...

: sinfonies symphonies, sonatas; Johann Christian Bach: chamber music, symphonies), Antonio Vivaldi (concertos, sonatas, ''Stabat Mater''), Jean-Philippe Rameau (e.g. ''Pièces en Concerts''), François Couperin (''Les Apothéoses'', ''Les Goûts réunis''),

Georg Philipp Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hild ...

(concertos, orchestral suites, ''Nouveaux Quatuors'', ''Tafelmusik'', ''Essercizii musici'', ''Der harmonische Gottesdienst'', cantatas), Jan Dismas Zelenka (trio sonatas ZWV 181, orchestral works, ''Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae''), František Benda (sonatas, flute concertos),

Jiří Antonín Benda Georg Anton Benda ( cz, Jiří Antonín Benda, italic=no, link=no; 30 June 17226 November 1795) was a composer, violinist and Kapellmeister of the Classical period (music), classical period from the Kingdom of Bohemia. Biography Born into a Bend ...

(''Ariadne auf Naxos'', ''Bendas Klage'', sonatas, concertos), etc. (for more see External links: Ars Rediviva Discography).
The ensemble recorded for

Supraphon Supraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, oriented mainly towards publishing classical music and popular music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers. History The Supraphon name was first registered as a trademark in 1932. ...

, Panton, Columbia,

Ariola Ariola (also known as Ariola Records, Ariola-Eurodisc and BMG Ariola) is a German record label. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of the Bertelsmann Music Group, which in turn has become a part of the international media conglomerat ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

Orfeo Orfeo Classic Schallplatten und Musikfilm GmbH of Munich was a German independent classical record label founded in 1979 by Axel Mehrle and launched in 1980. It has been owned by Naxos since 2015. History The Orfeo music label was registered ...

Nippon Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

, as well as for broadcasting and television companies and film industry (awards:

Grand Prix du Disque Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and co ...

, Supraphon Golden Lion, etc.). Jan Tausinger, Ivan Jirko,

Ilja Hurník Ilja Hurník (25 November 1922 – 7 September 2013) was a Czech composer and essayist. Biography Hurnik was born in Poruba, now part of Ostrava. He entered the Prague Conservatory, then went on to the Prague Academy of Arts, where he ...

, and other Czech composers dedicated their neoclassical compositions to Ars Rediviva (e.g., Hurník's ''Sonata da Camera'', ''Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra''.

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Documents, discography

* František Slámabr>Archive

Ars Rediviva
. Documents - Photographs - Sound Archive
Milan Munclinger in Documents and Reminiscences
*
Viktorie Švihlíková
. Documents - Photographs
Czech Philharmonic Instrumentalists and Ars Rediviva

Ars Rediviva Discography: Recordings with Supraphon and Panton 1954-1984
*
Czech Radio: Ars Rediviva recordings