Die Weihnachtslieder im Gesangbuch Jesličky (1658) zwischen deutscher Hymnographie und übernationalem Repertoire

The songbook Jesličky (1658) has tended to be cited primarily as an example of direct contacts between Czech and German hymnography of the 17th century. Opening the door to consideration of a broader context was the presence of certain tunes in Latin-Slovak and Latin-Croatian printed material as well. An entire set of identical tunes has subsequently been confirmed in Latin, German, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, and Croatian hymnography. The situation outlined above has thus shifted the original issue – the “new” songs printed in Jesličky are not just a new layer of the Czech Christmas repertoire with proven German sources, but also an attempt at creating Czech versions of a supranational repertoire. The search for source models is thus growing into research surveying the new repertoire of Christmas songs that was spreading its way around Central Europe near the middle of the 17th century.