HMR Project: History of Music & Modern Recording

Jan Krtitel Kuchar

Mandolinist and keyboard player, Jan Křtitel (kri-ti-tel) Kuchař (Johann Baptist Kuchařz in German), was born on 5 March 1751 in the Czech region of Hradec Králové (now Czech Republic, its northern border Poland). Though not a major composer and become obscure since his times, Kuchar was nevertheless notable among his contemporaries. Kuchar was a Jesuit seminarian who studied under Josef Seger in Prague before becoming an organist at the Church of St. Jindrich. He also began teaching. Meeting Mozart in 1787, Kuchař played mandolin for works composed and conducted by Mozart, the pair on friendly terms. Kuchar became a Freemason about that time.

Up to this era music in Europe had witnessed the schism between the sacred and secular as of the arrival of troubadours in France during the 11th century, as well as the Catholic and Protestant ever since Luther in Germany in the 16th century. Schools and academies had long since arrived since Oxford University, the University of Paris and Notre Dame in the 12th century. Now enter another brand of institutional influence in society and music, that Freemasonry. Freemasonry which originated in the 15th century in England began to notably appear in association with music during the classical period, especially in the Czech vicinity of Europe allied with England [see Frederick II, Leopold Koželuch, et al]. As for Kuchař, in 1790 he traded his position in Prague for a monastery in Strahov. The next year he began conducting in Prague, from which he resigned in 1800. There is no verseichnis or other directory of works by Kuchař. He is otherwise known to have composed fugues, toccatas, concert fantasias, pastorales and two organ concertos. Keys can be compared in samples below which are stacked alphabetically, in no way representing a chronology since his works cannot be dated.