Songs about St. John of Nepomuk from the 17th to the 19th century (especially broadside ballads)

Abstract

This paper focuses on St. John of Nepomuk, the most popular saint of the Czech Baroque period, and his hymnography, which constitutes the largest group of songs in the entire Baroque hymnography from the Czech lands, whether in Czech or German. The study is dedicated not only to analysing the song material from the perspective of literary history (leitmotifs, other frequent motifs, metaphors and terms, song genres, forms of narration) but also to seeking relations between the songs and piety itself. Songs about St. John of Nepomuk, preserved mainly as broadside ballads, were in fact closely connected to the religious services performed during the May feasts in Prague and in front of his statues and chapels, which were spreading across the country from the beginning of the 18th and far into the 19th century. My research is based on 328 gathered songs, of which 201 have so far been analysed in more detail.