The Importance of Perspective : Piesničky (1529) as an Unsuccesful Solitaire and a Remarkable Part of central European Efforts to Reform Christian Hymnography
Abstract
The paper offer an interpretation of the anonymous, previously unexplored Czech hymnbokk Piesničky (1529) as a unique hymnographic source, both in Bohemian and central European contexts. Its value lies in the fact that, firstly, it is probably the ooldest preserved son postil not only in Bohemian but in (Western) Christian hymnography.
The hymnbook contains three cycle of Czech hymns paraphrasing evangelical and epistle pericopes and convincingly demonstrates the pre-Lutheran origin of this hymnographis genre. Secondly, the work contains the oldest printed hymnary in Czech.
The deliberate confessional uncertainity of Piesničky does not preclude the reform-oriented efforts of its unknown creator, who sought to interpret biblical passages used in mass liturgy, as well as old chants of the Liturgy of the Hours in the vernacular languade. Indeed, Piesničky may have been actively used in various confessional milieus of 16th-century Bohemia.