This study is an attempt at a preliminary classification of Czech plainchant from the sixteenth century based on differentiation among different selections and adaptations thereof that substantially changed the chants over the course of time. This classification and the transformations effected in various adaptations are illustrated using the example of the Alleluia for the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. In the second half of the article the author attempts to sketch an interpretation of the observed changes in text and melody in relation to the context of liturgical singing in the Czech Utraquist church during the sixteenth century.
An investigation of the relationship between the earliest Czech plainchant of the Jistebnický Kancionál (ca. 1420/1430) and the Czech plainchant of the following century shows that the latter is not always a direct adaption of Latin models. A comparison of the texts and music shows that some of the chants most likely depend on the earlier Czech plainchant, but updated, with the texts edited for grammatical or theological clarity, or with syllables added to the melismata. It is thus reasonable to speak of a continuous tradition of Czech plainchant from the 15th through the 16th centuries. Furthermore, watermarks and paleography can often date the later sources to several decades earlier than previously thought.