Partimento – the supreme form of basso continuo playing – significantly influenced the musical thinking of the European composers from the beginning of the 17^th century till the end of the 19^th century.

The rules of partimento form part of the theory of harmony and voice-leading after the Neapolitan tradition, and it is necessary to deal with them not only from the theoretical point of view but also practically. The variety and non-uniformity of preserved collections of exercises and rules were brought about by individual approach and contribution of each of the masters who many decades ago instructed their disciples in the method. Although many years have passed partimento has not lost its currency.

A publication dealing with the issue of partimento has not been published in Slovakia nor Bohemia yet. The writer’s goal was to present partimento not only from the theoretical point of view, but also to demonstrate it to practical musicians, above all to keyboard instrument players, conductors and contemporary composers.

In the 17^th century Juraj Tranovský’s Cithara Sanctorum enjoyed 12 printed editions, including all the notated editions of the monument (1636, 1653, 1674, 1684, 1696), printed in Brewer’s printing office in Levoča. Speaking about their content, repertory, and above all typography each of the notated editions possesses its own characteristics. Progressive features are observed in the notation, however, we should not generalize when speaking about modernization; despite new elements used in the notography there are also instances of regress found. Although the notated print was still feasible in our territory, no printed notated edition of Cithara Sanctorum appeared in the 18^th century.

Musical life in the town of Spišská Belá up to the 19^th century is the main subject of the presented contribution. It deals with the history of the town focusing on the musical production as this subject has not been surveyed in detail so far. The study brings a present state of the register of Spišská Belá school rectors (those being probably also cantors) compiled from the information acquired from various sources and on the basis of the writer’s own field research. In Spišská Belá many important exponents were active in the past: e.g. Ján Fabri, who copied the music-theoretical treatises of Leonard Stöckel; Benedikt Schimrag, father of Ján Šimbracký/Šimrák (they lived here for 7 years, thus it is highly probable that Šimbracký/Šimrák attended the school in Spišská Belá). The study points to a newly discovered but yet unexamined Hymnbook from Spišská Belá coming from 1753 deposited in the Library of the Evangelical Church of Augsburg Confession in Levoča; we have succeeded in presenting new findings regarding the name added later on the hymnbook’s title page.

The contribution offers the survey of the piano music development in the first half of the 19^th century in the territory of the present Slovakia. The piano music is scrutinised from the aspects of development of the European history of music, namely in the Central-European region. We briefly outline the period music trends and components influencing the piano music creation in Slovakia. The development of musical instruments is considered in the context of the expansion of instrument builders’ production and boom of piano composition. We demonstrate the interest in piano playing through the presentation of the educational system and usage of piano playing instruction books. The period repertory is presented from the point of view of development tendencies, as well as of composers’, performers’ and teachers’ activities. We survey the piano work of the time with regard to the compositions’ functions and intentions, musical styles, genres and forms of art music. The subject is interpreted in accordance with the formation of piano music and musical thinking in the context of cultural and social events in the multinational state of the Habsburg monarchy (Austrian Empire after 1804) and Kingdom of Hungary.

[The contribution is available only in Slovak language in the printed version of the revue.]