A Garland of Slovak National Songs I.

Liptov native Karol Ruppeldt (1840 – 1909) became a pillar of the contemporary folk revival movement, and the Tatran choir was the main advocate of his revitalization ideas and ambitions, with him serving as the conductor for over thirty years. Just one year after the release of the first children's songbook in the Slovak language, "Malý spevák" by Ján Kadavý (1873), Karol Ruppeldt published his "Venček slovenských národných piesní" (Garland of Slovak National Songs) in Prague in 1874. The aim of Ruppeldt's ambitions was to establish the foundations of a hitherto nonexistent Slovak national musical culture. Ruppeldt's "Venček" was published in four main editions (1874, 1884, 1897, and 1927), representing an entry into the building of Slovak national musical culture for several generations in the 19th and 20th centuries. When publishing the "Venček," we decided to respect the entirety of the first edition from 1874 (Venček I.) and compile the songs that appeared later in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th editions into a separate publication (Venček II.).