Jan Dismas Zelenka and a Prague performance of Sant'Elena al Calvario by Leonardo Leo (1734)

Abstract

In 1734 Leonardo Leo's oratorio Sant'Elena al Calvario was performed at the Clementinum College, Prague. Inserted into a Latin version of Metastasio's were two alto arias whose texts are associated with Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745): Sollicitus fossor (ZWV 209) and Barbara dira effera (ZWV 164). The insertion of these arias into the Latin version of Leo's oratorio supports the theory proposed by Wolfgang Horn and Emery Snyder that Zelenka's motets are connected with the Invention of the Cross (inventio crucis), and therefore, to the Legenda aurea and the related Elena oratorios.