Was Ignác Cornova’s contribution to Czech-language literature only that of a historian? In the 1770s and 1780s he also happened to be the most acclaimed poet in Bohemia. Of the many reactions to Cornova’s work from German and Czech writers, this study focuses on Nábožné písně pro katolického měšťana a sedláka k veřejným a domácím službám božím (Religious Songs for the Catholic Townsman and Countryman for Use in Public and Domestic Divine Service, 1791) by Václav Stach, with a verse dedication to Cornova. It emphasises that under the Habsburg monarchy the genre of religious songs and hymns was also a platform for forming a new readership and literary public, providing a vehicle for writers such as Michael Denis, Ignaz Cornova, Johann Peter Hofmann and Václav Stach himself for creative experimentation and a mutually beneficial communication of their work to the public. In this context, our study examines the conceptual and aesthetic links between Stach and the poetic models of Ignác Cornova.
Songs of the Czech exiles and the Catholic hymnography of the 17th and 18th century. The study examines Czech spiritual songs since the beginning of the 17th century until the end of the 18th century and deals with the connections between the non-Catholic songs of the Post-White Mountain exile and the Czech Catholic hymnography. It has been thought that these connections were almost unpossible. This study deals with the songs of the exiles in the Czech Catholic hymnbooks, broadsides and manuscripts – the aim of this study is to show the function of media in the Czech hymnography. The contacts with non-Catholic exiled and Catholic hymnbooks were mediated by orality, manuscripts and broadsides. This example shows the Czech hymnography as a media space; the study examines the position of manuscripts and primarily broadsides in this media space, both are very close to orality.