Origin of the work:
1633 – 1640 Leszno, 1645 Elbląg
Editions:
1891 Prague, in: Časopis Musea království českého 65, pp2l5-224
1936 Přerov, in: J. A. Komenský, Písně některé nábožné, (part from the year 1633)
1974 Prague, Vybrané spisy J. A. Komenského, vol. VII, (part from the year 1633)
Contents:
Advice on the improvement of the Brethren’s hymnal, from the years 1633, 1640 and 1645.
In the case that liberation would come and the Church again have the chance to educate in the nation and the language, Comenius recommends that the Brethren’s hymnal not be published in its present state, but that it be renewed. To this end he requests that shortcomings be removed, i.e. that unused songs be excised so that an appropriate number of songs might be added for married couples, landowners and domestics, the nobility and the subject, priests, old people, youths and maidens, about war, the high cost of living and hunger, harvest and the grape harvest, as well as of the death of the Lord, that there might be songs not only for the spring but also for the summer, autumn and winter. He requests that the language used in them be something similar, powerful and alive, the rhymes always of at least two syllables, the quantity (the syllabic length and shortness) befitting, the tune matching the content, beautiful and affecting.
The Annotata of 1633 are complemented by further notes from the years 1640 and 1645, containing proposals for the technical improvement of the future hymnal, such as the division of the songs, their labelling, amendment of the melodies etc. Most of this was achieved by Comenius in his Hymnbook, published in 1659.
For further study, see also:
Vybrané spisy J. A. Komenského, vol. VII. Prague 1974, pp18-21
J. V. Novák & J. Hendrich, Jan Amos Komenský, jeho život a spisy. Prague 1932, pp231-232