Blahoslav's redaction of the dialogue "On the Day of the Lord's Fury" in the context of the use of performative liturgical genres within the Unity of Brethren
Abstract
Research into Czech church singing in the second half of the 15th century shows more and more clearly that the liturgical repertoire of the Unity of Brethren was created in close connection with the trends observed in the introduction of the Czech language into the services of the Utraquist Church. In particular, the formation of new liturgical functions of strophic compositions and their adoption by the lay community.
However, a specific - and from the point of view of vernacular singing in the Utraquist Church extremely important - part of the common repertoire, namely compositions related to liturgical performance, has remained in the background of attention. The redaction of the dialogue "On the Day of the Lord's Fury", which is the main focus of this paper, is the most extensive part of this repertoire within the hymnographic production of the Unity of Brethren.
The dialogical form is used here to amplify the exemplary effect of the text on the judgment of God and to affirm the role of God's elect. Because editor Jan Blahoslav weakens the essence of performance as present, fully experienced action with his opening summary, the dialogue in his redaction becomes rather dramatized sermon.