Jan Dismas Zelenka (16 October 1679 – 23 December 1745), baptised Jan Lukáš Zelenka was a Czech composer and musician of the Baroque period. His music is admired for its harmonic inventiveness and mastery of counterpoint. Zelenka was raised in Central Bohemia, educated in Prague and Vienna, and spent his professional life in Dresden. The greatest success during his career was the performance of the extensive composition Sub olea pacis et palma virtutis in the presence of the Emperor Charles VI, shortly after his coronation as king of Bohemia in 1723. Life Early life Zelenka was born in Louňovice pod Blaníkem, a market town southeast of Prague, in Bohemia. He was the eldest of eight children born to Marie Magdalena (née Hájek) and Jiří Zelenka. The middle name Dismas is probably his confirmation name. Zelenka's father Jiří was a schoolmaster and organist in Louňovice, and was likely his first music teacher. Nothing more is known with certainty about Zelenka's early years, but it is known that he received his musical training at the Jesuit college Clementinum in Prague and that his instrument was the violone (bass viol). His first works were probably written in Prague. His earliest known work is the school drama Via laureta (ZWV 245), composed in 1704, from which only the libretto has been preserved. In 1709 in Prague, Zelenka served Baron von Johann Hubert von Hartig before his appointment as a violone player in Dresden's royal orchestra. Baron von Hartig was a well-known connoisseur of music and a virtuoso musician. He corresponded with many important Italian composers, and amassed a great music library which Zelenka would later have access to, notably including Antonio Lotti's Missa Sapientiae. Zelenka copied this work from Hartig's collection around 1729, and later in the 1730s Johann Sebastian Bach acquired a copy of it from Zelenka's library. George Frideric Handel's copy of the same Mass might also have been acquired through Zelenka. When Johann Hubert died in Prague in 1741, Zelenka dedicated his Litaniae Lauretanae 'Salus infirmorum (ZWV 152) to his old patron. Baron von Hartig may have recommended Zelenka to the Dresden Hofkapelle (court orchestra) as a double bass player. In any event, he entered the service of the Dresden court with a salary of 300 thalers in 1710/11. The conditions for music making there added impetus to his creativity, particularly with respect to the composition of sacred music for the