It has been written by at least one scholar from the 1800s (Frstenau) that Zelenka was dissatisfied and subject to melancholy. Is this true, and did it influence his music?
A. There are no personal letters which might have given us a clue as to his true personality. The obsequious petitions to his employer may give this impression, but they may only have been the result of sheer financial frustration. His music, however, shows no sign of bitterness, and in fact much of it portrays happiness, e.g. many of the movements from the late Masses (ZWV 17 – ZWV 21) which were written after the time that Zelenka was said to be aggrieved by his failure to secure the post of Kapellmeister. Some of his music even portrays real fun (e.g. parts of the works for orchestra, ZWV 182 – ZWV 190). As with all great composers, his music could, of course, be contemplative.
A. There are no personal letters that might have given us a clue as to his true personality, so we are largely in the dark concerning Zelenka’s true nature as a person. The obsequious petitions to his employer may give this impression, but they may only have been the result of sheer financial frustration.
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