Viktor Velek at the conference on 19th–century popular song in Lucca, Italy

Viktor Velek attended the international conference Popular Songs in the 19th Century, organized in Lucca, Italy on 30. 11.–2. 12. 2019. In his paper, Master Jan Hus and Hussitism as the Subject of Czech Social Songs in the 19th Century, he focused on song texts, censorship, and paradigm changes in the reception of Hussite history. Reflections on the second life of medieval historical events as well as the 19th-century political and nationalistic backround gripped the audience. From a selection of compositions with Hussite themes, he presented Krova's Husitská píseň. One of the main goals was to draw attention to the fact that compositions from the first half of the 19th century were not yet dominated by the Hussite war song Ktož jsú Boží bojovníci. The text of the song was not unfamiliar in the period of the 19th-century National Revival, but it was not until 1860 when it was published along with its melody that the song captured attentions.