Adam Michna z Otradovic (c. 1600–1676), the most prominent figure of Czech music of the 17th century, studied at a Jesuit school in his home town, Jindrichuv Hradec in southern Bohemia. Around the year 1633 he was nominated organist of the provost's church, a position he held until his death. Until lately, Michna was known only as a great Czech Baroque poet – the creator of church songs set to his own texts. For the first time in the modern age, the Adam Michna z Otradovic – Compositiones critical edition series, established in 1989, presents Michna as the excellent author of liturgical forms. Missa pro defunctis (Requiem) concludes the last and largest collection of Michna's sacred works Sacra et litaniae, published in Prague in 1654 (containing five Masses, Requiem, Te Deum and two litanies). Requiem represents a composition of quiet, serene sorrow. Unlike Michna's previous works it is almost free of Baroque rhetoric and flows rather in the polyphonic stile antico. The current edition was prepared by Prof. V. Belský and J. Sehnal, and includes their detailed Preface and Editor's Notes (Czech, German, English).