Jan Dismas Zelenka, the brilliant but elusive contemporary of Bach, musically served the Catholic chapel of the dazzling Dresden court during the first half of the eighteenth century. Research has uncovered biographical information, and reveals the remarkable music of a major figure of the Baroque era.

Only in the latter half of the twentieth century did the star of Jan Dismas Zelenka begin to ascend. Why did this major Bohemian composer of the Baroque era - who was known to, and esteemed by Johann Sebastian Bach - remain in the shadows for so long? Although most of Zelenka's music was composed to serve the Catholic liturgy, he left a handful of secular compositions, including six remarkable chamber sonatas. When these were first published in the 1960s, the resurrection of the almost-forgotten Zelenka was heralded. Drawing upon surviving musical materials, contemporary accounts, and Jesuit documentation, this volume presents insights into Zelenka's life and his music and the brilliant context in which he worked - the Dresden court during the reigns of the Kings of Poland and Electors of Saxony, Friedrich August I and II. A catalogue of Zelenka's compositions is also included.