Among those who were literally torn from our midst on that pre-Christmas Thursday of December 21, 2023, was the director of the Institute of Musicology, Lenka Hlávková, an academic with an international reputation, but also a loving wife and mother of two children.
She studied musicology at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University under the supervision of doc. PhDr. Jaromír Černý, CSc., first as a master student (1993-1998) and then as a doctoral student (1999-2004). Jaromír Černý has significantly influenced her lifelong professional orientation towards music in the Czech lands in the 15th and early 16th century, which is evident from her diploma and dissertation theses focussing on the polyphonic Mass Ordinary settings in the key musical source of the time – the Codex Speciálník. Her detailed analytical studies on the repertoire not only of this manuscript have provided new insights into both the music itself and the possible paths by which numerous compositions by famous foreign masters came to us. However, she paid equally concentrated attention to contemporary compositions of local origin. In dozens of scholarly studies, conference papers and popularisation articles published at home and abroad, she managed to put the Czech lands back on the imaginary scholarly map of early modern European music and make them an attractive research topic. She has undertaken her research both individually and in teamwork, the most important of which were the European project HERA Sound Memories: The Musical Past in Late-Medieval and Early-Modern Europe and the national project GA ČR Expro Old Myths, New Facts: Czech Lands in Center of 15-century Music Developments. However, this has always been done with respect to the fact that the subject of research is music, which must not remain just on printed paper, but should sound and thus help to know and understand the sound world of ancient centuries. Her work has led to the creation of concert dramaturgies as well as recordings.
Hand in hand with her scientific activities, she has also devoted herself with tireless dedication to organizational work, thanks to which she has built a wide network of contacts for our institute which spread across the European and North American continents.One of the highlights of these efforts was the organization of the 45th edition of the annual Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference in Prague in the summer of 2017. However, she has not only directed her organizational skills outward, but has actively participated in the running of our Institute, first as Secretary and then as Head of the Institute in 2012-2015 and 2021-2023.We cannot fail to mention her efforts to involve students as actively as possible in the life of the institute, both on the scholarly level and at practicing real music, without which musicology cannot be imagined.
The scholarly part of Lenka’s personality cannot be completely separated from the practical one. Even in the sometimes noble academic environment, she could keep her feet firmly on the ground and be sensitive to the joys and sorrows of everyday life. One of these joys (and one of her great gifts) was the specific culinary art with which she enriched the final item of the constitutional meetings called “miscellaneous” since her doctoral studies, and which she also managed to turn into one of the most effective means of her foreign scientific diplomacy.
Although her life ended so abruptly and brutally not long before she turned 50, it certainly cannot be said that she left empty-handed. There are three things that remain of her. Firstly, her personal belief that music is the most beautiful gift that man could be given and that it is the most wonderful and exciting subject of scientific investigation imaginable. Secondly, the hope that through international scientific collaboration we will take our knowledge a step further, the hope that through honest pedagogical work we will gain a followers among enthusiastic students. Thirdly, love for the work, for the field, for the people around it. But also the love for her family, which she was able to give wholeheartedly even while working full time. [Jan Baťa]
As an expression of our deep respect and gratitude for Dr. Hlávková’s work, the Memorial Fund was established to fulfill her legacy through the support of talented musicology students and students of Charles University who are going through difficult life situations. Every donation helps. Thank you.
You can donate directly on the account: CZ57 0800 0000 0000 1249 7552 (BIC: GIBACZPX) or via darujme.cz platform.
More details about the fund and its philosophy can be found here: https://nf.cuni.cz/NFNEN-19.html.
Editorship
Hudební věda 57, 4 (2020), in honorem Paweł Gancarczyk (50).
Paweł Gancarczyk, Lenka Hlávková-Mráčková, Remigiusz Pośpiech (eds.), The Musical Culture of Silesia before 1742. New Contexts – New Perspectives (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2013).
Jan Baťa, Lenka Hlávková, Jiří K. Kroupa (eds.), Musical Culture of the Bohemian Lands and Central Europe before 1620 (Prague, August 23–26, 2006) (Prague: KLP, 2011).
Jan Baťa, Jiří K. Kroupa, Lenka Mráčková (eds.), Littera NIGRO scripta manet. In honorem Jaromír Černý (Prague: KLP, 2009).
Studies in scholarly journals
Lenka Hlávková, “From Centre to Periphery and Back: The Codex Speciálník and Fluid Music History around 1500”, Journal of the Alamire Foundation, 15, 2 (2023), 139–150.
Lenka Hlávková, “An inconspicuous relative of the Speciálník Codex. On Dating and Structure of the Manuscript CZ-Pu VI C 20a”, Hudební věda, 57, 4 (2020), 436–453.
Paweł Gancarczyk, Lenka Hlávková, “The Lviv fragments and Missa L’homme armé sexti toni. Questions on early Josquin reception in Central Europe”, Tijdschrift van de Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis, 62, 1-2 (2017), 139–162.
Lenka Hlávková, “Cantio, Lied or Chanson? The Strahov Codex as a 15th Century Song Treasury”, Hudební věda, 50, 3-4 (2013), 259–270.
Lenka Hlávková Mráčková, “Řehtající koně, kdákající slepice, těžkopádní šrotýři… Každodenní život pozdně středověkého města očima a ušima hudebníků [Neighing Horses, Cackling Hens, Heavy-Footed Vessel… Everyday Life of a Late Medieval Town through the Eyes and Ears of Musicians]”, Studia Mediaevalia Bohemica, 3, 2 (2011), 275–285.
Lenka Mráčková, “Codex Franus – a Mirror of the Musical Practice of the Bohemian Utraquist Church around 1500?”, Journal of the Alamire Foundation, 1, 1 (2009), 79–88.
Lenka Mráčková, “Behind the stage: some thoughts on the Codex Speciálník and the reception of polyphony in late 15th-century Prague”, Early Music, 37, 1 (2009), 37–48.
Lenka Mráčková, “Kodeks wrocławski v kontekście życia muzycznego utrakwistycznych Czech okolo 1500 roku [The Wrocław Codex in the Context of Musical Life in the Utraquist Bohemia around 1500]”, Muzyka, 52, 2 (2007), 3–20.
Lenka Mráčková, “Patrem Yacten-Sanctus Elezanger. A Fragment of an Unknown Mass Ordinary from Codex Speciálník and its Milanese Context”, Hudební věda, 43, 2 (2006), 147–164.
Lenka Mráčková, “Części mszalne z określeniem ‘sociorum’ w kodeksie Speciálník: Studium polifonii końca XV wieku w Czechach [The Parts of Mass Ordinary Called ‘sociorum’ in the Speciálník Codex: a Study of Late Fifeenth-Century Polyphony in Bohemia]”, Muzyka, 49, 2 (2004), 89–110.
Lenka Mráčková, “Kodex Speciálník. Eine kleine Folio-Handschrie böhmischer Provenienz”, Hudební věda, 39, 2-3 (2003), 162–184.
Chapters in essay volumes
Lenka Hlávková, “Local networks of new polyphony in Bohemia, ca. 1470–1520. Sources, repertory, performance practice”, in Hana Vlhová-Wörner and Jan Ciglbauer (eds.), Music in Fifteenth-Century Bohemia: Between Reform and Identity Building (forthcoming).
Lenka Hlávková & Pavel Kodýtek, “Manuscript Vyšší Brod 42 as an Outset of a New Perspective on the Tradition of Late Medieval cantiones”, in Hana Vlhová-Wörner (ed.), Vyšší Brod 42: A Unique Music Source from Pre-Hussite Bohemia (Prague: Karolinum, forthcoming).
Paweł Gancarczyk & Lenka Hlávková, “Missa L’ami Baudichon in Central Europe: A New Source and Early Transmission of Josquin’s Music”, in Mitchell P. Brauner, David Fallows, Jesse Rodin (eds.), Music of the Josquin Era, 1460–1560: Studies in Honor of Joshua Rifkin ([Münster]: American Institute of Musicology, 2024), 267–285.
Lenka Hlávková, “31. The Jistebnice Cantionale”, in Vincenzo Borghetti and Tim Shephard (eds.), The Museum of Renaissance Music: A History in 100 Exhibits (Turnhout: Brepols, 2022), 153–155.
Lenka Hlávková & Inga Mai Groote, “Introduction: Religious Reforms and their Links with the Past”, in Karl Kügle (ed.), Sounding the Past: Music as History and Memory (Turnhout: Brepols, 2020), 191–197.
Lenka Hlávková, “Using the Past, Shaping the Present: Tracing the Tradition of Speciuc Polyphonic Repertories in Bohemian Utraquist Sources (c.1450–1540)”, in Karl Kügle (ed.), Sounding the Past: Music as History and Memory (Turnhout: Brepols, 2020), 199–213.
Lenka Hlávková & Paweł Gancarczyk, “Ke kořenům hudební tradice utrakvistické církve [To the Roots of the Music Tradition of the Utraquist Church]”, in Eva Doležalová, Martin Holý et al. (eds.), Hus – husitství – tradice – Praha: Od reality k mýtu a zpátky (Prague: Historický ústav AV ČR, 2020), 99–110.
Lenka Hlávková, “Tradice a identita v hudbě utrakvistické církve 15. a počátku 16. století [Tradition and Identity in the Music of the Utraquist Church in the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries]”, in Pavlína Cermanová and Pavel Soukup (eds.), Husitské re-formace: Proměna kulturního kódu v 15. století (Prague: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2019), 266–275.
Lenka Hlávková, “Credo Seqings in cantus fractus in Bohemian Sources. A Preliminary Report on a Neglected ars nova Repertory”, in Paweł Gancarczyk (ed.), Ars musica and its Contexts in Medieval and Early Modern Culture (Warszawa: Liber Pro Arte, 2016), 247–253.
Lenka Hlávková, “Gibt es ‘deutsche Chansons’? Zum Repertoire der weltlichen deutschen Lieder (ca. 1450–1470) in den böhmischen Quellen”, in Jürgen Heidrich, Klaus Pietschmann, and Nicole Schwindt (eds.), Imitatio – Aemulatio – Superatio? Vokalpolyphonie des 15./16. Jahrhunderts in Polen, Schlesien und Böhmen, Troja Jahrbuch für Renaissancemusik 12, 2013 (Münster: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, 2016), 59–70.
Lenka Hlávková & Hana Vlhová-Wörner, “Hudba [Music]”, in Pavlína Cermanová, Robert Novotný, and Pavel Soukup (eds.), Husitské století. Cermanová, Pavlína – Novotný, Robert – Soukup, Pavel (eds.), (Prague: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2014), 474–489.
Lenka Hlávková, “Die Saganer Stimmbücher (Das Glogauer Liederbuch) und sie Traditionen des polyphonen Liedes in Miqeleuropa”, in Lenka Hlávková, Paweł Gancarczyk, and Remigiusz Pośpiech (eds.), The Musical Culture of Silesia before 1742. New Contexts – New Perspectives (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2013), 55–70.
Lenka Hlávková, “Motet Style and Structure in Central Europe around 1490: Some Remarks on Selected Pieces from the Codex Speciálník”, Thomas Schmidt-Beste (ed.), The motet around 1500: On the Relationship of Imitation and Text Treatment? (Turnhout: Brepols, 2012), 447–454.
Lenka Hlávková, “Guillaume de Machaut, Lucemburkové a ars nova v českých zemích [Guillaume de Machaut, the Luxembourgs Dynasty and ars nova in the Bohemian Lands]”, in David Majer (ed.), Král, který létal (Ostrava: Ostravské muzeum, 2011), 939–941.
Lenka Mráčková, “Lanoy, Lannoy, Launay, Lanoys, Lannoys? Thoughts on the Aqribution of a Mass Fragment in the Codex Speciálník”, in Jan Baťa, Jiří K. Kroupa, and Lenka Mráčková (eds.), Littera Nigro scripta manet: In honorem Jaromír Černý (Prague: KLP, 2009), 105–109.
Lenka Mráčková, “Die Kompositionen Johannes Tourouts in Böhmischen Musikhandschriften”, in Eva Schlotheuber and Hubertus Seibert (eds.), Böhmen und das Deutsche Reich. Ideen- und Kulturtransfer im Vergleich (13. – 16. Jahrhundert) (München: Oldenbourg, 2009), 103–111.
Lenka Mráčková, “Hudební kultura významných evropských dvorů a její recepce v českých pramenech 2. poloviny 15. století [Musical Culture of Important European Courts and its Reception in Czech Sources of the Second half of the Fifteenth Century]”, Dana Dvořáčková-Malá and Jan Zelenka (eds.), Dvory a rezidence ve středověku, ii (Prague: Historický ústav, 2008), 453–458.
Lenka Mráčková, “Kodex Speciálník a Evropa. Příspěvek ke studiu kulturního života v Čechách na konci 15. Století [Codex Speciálník and Europe. A Contribution to the Study of Cultural Life in Bohemia at the End of the Fifteenth Century]”, in Eva Doležalová, Robert Novotný, and Pavel Soukup (eds.), Evropa a Čechy na konci středověku. Sborník příspěvků věnovaných Františku Šmahelovi (Prague: Filosofia, 2004), 125–131.
Book reviews
Lenka Hlávková, “Ludwig Senfl (c. 1490–1543). A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works and Sources, vol. 1: Catalogue of the Works. 682 pp., vol. 2: Catalogue of the Sources. Abbreviations, Bibliography, Indexes. 412 pp., Turnhout: Brepols, 2019–2020”, Musik in Bayern, 86 (2021), 157–158.
Lenka Hlávková, “Eric Jas, Piety and Polyphony in Sixteenth-Century Holland: The Choirbooks of St Peter’s Church, Leiden. By Eric Jas, Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2018, 432 pp.” BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review, 135 (2020), Book reviews, review No. 46.
Lenka Hlávková, “Ian Rumbold & Peter Wright, Hermann Pötzlinger’s Music Book. The St Emmeram Codex and its Contexts, Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2009, 348 pp.”, Hudební věda, 51, 3-4 (2014), 388–389.
Lenka Mráčková, “Jaromír Černý a kolektiv, Historická antologie hudby v českých zemích (do cca 1530) = Historical Anthology of Music in the Bohemian Lands (up to ca 1530), Prague: KLP, 2005, 320 pp.” Hudební věda 42, 3-4 (2005), 401–402.
Lenka Mráčková, “Paweł Gancarczyk, Musica scripto. Kodeksy menzuralne II połowy XV wieku na wschodzie Europy Łacińskiej. Warszawa: Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 2001, 296 pp.”, Hudební věda, 39, 1 (2002), 74–75.
Organisation of conferences
Musical Interactions, 1400–1650. Prague, Czech Museum of Music, 2022, Lenka Hlávková and David Burn.
45th International Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference. Prague, Convent of St Agnes, 2017. Lenka Hlávková, Jan Baťa, and Jiří K. Kroupa.
Charles IV (1316–1378) and the Musical Legacy of His Era. Prague, Department of Music History, Ethnological Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, 2016. Lenka Hlávková, Jarmila Procházková.
The Musical Culture of Silesia before 1742. New Contexts – New Perspectives. Wrocław, Uniwersytet Wrocławski, 2011. Lenka Hlávková Mráčková, Paweł Gancarczyk, Remigiusz Pośpiech.
Musical Culture of the Bohemian Lands and Central Europe before 1620. Prague, Clam-Gallas Palace, 2006. Jan Baťa, Jiří K. Kroupa, Lenka Mráčková.
Collaboration on music recordings
Jan Ciglbauer (ed.), Septem Dies. Music at Prague University 1360–1460. (Prague: Supraphon, 2021), selection of polyphonic pieces and producing.
Cappella Mariana – Vojtěch Semerád: Codex Speciálník [Etcetera, KTC 1571, 2017].
Varia
Lenka Hlávková – Renáta Modráková, “… a slovo se stalo hudbou = …and the Word Became Music” Virtual exhibition of manuscripts. Prague, 2017. https://www.manuscriptorium.com/and-the-word-became-music.
Lenka Hlávková, “Sources of Polyphony in the Bohemian lands c. 1470–c. 1500” (2016), in Musikleben des Spätmittelalters in der Region Österreich. Birgit Lodes, Reinhard Strohm, Marc Lewon (eds.). https://musical-life.net/essays/sources-polyphony-bohemian-lands-c-1470-c-1500.
Lenka Hlávková, “Paměť a tradice v evropské hudební kultuře pozdního středověku a raného novověku = Memory and Tradition within the European Music Culture of the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Times”, Harmonie 2018, 11 (November) – 2019, 8 (August). Editorship of a series of Czech-English articles. https://www.casopisharmonie.cz/serialy/(last access 20th February 2024).