Krystof Harant

Like Gesualdo, Krystof Harant was of noble birth but chose to write music . . . certainly not with the skill, genius and dedication of the Italian, but two of the few surviving works of Harant are of sufficient quality to be part of our CD, ‘From Bohemia’s Castles and Chapels’.

He was born in 1564 at Klenové Castle in SW Bohemia and executed in Prague in 1621 for treason against the Hapsburg Empire . . . perhaps the only musician in this collection to share that fate.

For most of his life Krystof Harant was closely associated with the Empire. He spent his teens at the court of Archduke Ferdinand II in Innsbruck. 1593-97 he fought in the Turkish wars for the Empire. In 1597 he went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and on his return served as valet to Rudolph II and Emperor Matthias until 1615 when he retired to his castle at Pecka. Away from the influence of the Empire Harant sided with the Czech Estates headed by the Calvinist Friedrich V of the Palatine and in 1619 found himself commanding artillery bombarding Ferdinand II at the Imperial Palace in Vienna. In March 1621 after the defeat of the Czech Estates at the Battle of White Mountain Krystof Harant was arrested at his castle and condemned.