Collegium 419 is a vocal ensemble specializing in music of the 16th to 18th century, aiming at historical performance praxis of high Renaissance

High Renaissance

The expression High Renaissance, in art history, is a periodizing convention used to denote the apogee of the visual arts in the Italian Renaissance...

 as well as early and high Baroque vocal music

Vocal music

Vocal music is a genre of music performed by one or more singers, with or without instrumental accompaniment, in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which employs singing but does not feature it prominently is generally considered instrumental music Vocal music is a genre of...

 with or without instrumental accompaniment.

There are still relatively few ensembles with similar specialization in the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

. Collegium 419 therefore aims for studying and staging ensemble and choral works, which are well-known and often shown in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 but which still remain undiscovered or rare in Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

.

The ensemble puts high demands on the vocal culture of its own members; most singers study privately solo singing and have wide experience with ensemble or solo singing. Shared interest in old music and refined aesthetical taste are the main motivations for their collaboration in Collegium 419.

When interpreting works with orchestral accompaniment, Collegium 419 works with outstanding instrumental ensembles that follow historical performance praxis of early music

Early music

Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...

, e.g. Hipocondria Ensemble, La Gambetta, Ritornello

Ritornello

A ritornello is a recurring passage in Baroque music for orchestra or chorus. The first or final movement of a solo concerto or aria may be in "ritornello form", in which the ritornello is the opening theme, always played by tutti, which returns in whole or in part and in different keys throughout...

 and others.

The ensemble was founded by Marika Pečená

Marika Pecená

Marika Pečená is a Czech conductor and artistic director focused on early music.- Biography :Born in Prague, combined university studies in medicine with musicology. She started conducting in mid nineties. In 1996-98 she acted as assistant choirmaster in Bach-Collegium Praha under Vladimír Novák...

 in 1999 with the main aim of discovering German Baroque Protestant music (Schein, Schutz, Buxtehude, Bach…).

In 2004, Čeněk Svoboda started working with the ensemble and broadened the range of the repertoire with music of European high Renaissance (Victoria, Palestrina, Tallis, Lassus, Gallus…) and Italian Baroque music (Monteverdi, Lotti, Caldara, Astorga…).
In autumn 2007 he took the role of artistic leader of the whole ensemble.

Collegium 419 pays special attention to preparation of coherent dramaturgy

Dramaturgy

Dramaturgy is the art of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. Dramaturgy is a distinct practice separate from play writing and directing, although a single individual may perform any combination of the three. Some dramatists combine writing and...

, takes into consideration liturgical and thematic affinity of its programmes and tries to perform according to period praxis.

The most successful projects of Collegium 419 in the past few years were, in particular:

2003: Dietrich Buxtehude - Membra Jesu nostri

2004: Heinrich Schütz

Heinrich Schütz

Heinrich Schütz was a German composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and often considered to be one of the most important composers of the 17th century along with Claudio Monteverdi...

 - Musikalische Exequien

2005: Tomás Luis de Victoria

Tomás Luis de Victoria

Tomás Luis de Victoria, sometimes Italianised as da Vittoria , was the most famous composer of the 16th century in Spain, and one of the most important composers of the Counter-Reformation, along with Giovanni da Palestrina and Orlando di Lasso. Victoria was not only a composer, but also an...

 - Officium defunctorum

2006: Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

- Motets

2007: Dolorosi martir (Musical Inspiration in Rudolphine Prague)

2007: Richte uns, Gott! (Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy - Psalms and Te Deum)