Pavel Josef Vejvanovsky was a Czech trumpeter and composer of the Baroque era known for his virtuosic chamber music and sacred choral works. His legacy includes 137 surviving compositions and an important collection of 17th century manuscripts. He was also an innovator in the field of trumpet technique. Vejvanovsky was born around 1639 in either Hukvaldy or Hlučín of the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. Not much is known about his early life, but he attended the Jesuit college in Opava from 1656 to 1660. In 1661, he was appointed as a trumpeter to the court of the Prince-Bishop of Olomouc, Leopold Wilhelm. His peers included other well-known musicians of the era, such as Phillipp Jakob Rittler, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, and Gottfried Finger. After Karl II von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn was appointed prince-bishop in 1664, Vejvanovsky was promoted to principal trumpeter, kapellmeister, and music copyist. He was the third highest-paid employee of the court, and a close friend to the prince-bishop. As a trumpeter, he was technically advanced for the time, and he could play non-diatonic pitches that were not typically accessible on the natural trumpet. The brass parts in his compositions also utilized innovative techniques that were uncharacteristically advanced. As curator of the prince-bishop's music library, Vejvanovsky created one of the most significant collections of late 17th century music. Known as the Kromeriz Music Archive, the collection is currently housed at the Olomouc Museum of Art. It contains many rare manuscripts by Vejvanovsky and those of his contemporaries such as Biber, Bertali, and Schmelzer, copied by Vejvanovsky during his appointment as kapellmeister. He led the court orchestra through its most prosperous period in the 1670s and 1680s, and his compositions were also performed outside of the Czech Republic, in Germany and Austria. He remained active as a composer and kapellmeister until his death in 1693. In modern times, his music has been featured on Ludwig Güttler's Wie schön leucht' uns der Morgenstern: Chorale zur Weihnachtszeit, the Kentucky Baroque Trumpets' Music for Trumpets, Strings and Organ from Before 1700, and Notte: Concertos and Pastorales for Christmas Night from the Illyria Consort. ~ RJ Lambert, Rovi