August 2006 News Archive

  Page last updated October 24 2006

On-line petition for re-print of Brendan Carroll’s definitive biography of Korngold, The Last Prodigy

Page first posted August 26 2006

     The 50th anniversary of the death of the composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold will fall on 29th November 2007. Although not a ‘Czech composer’ in the usually accepted sense of that term, he was born in Brno and of course he will forever be associated with the great Brno-born soprano Maria Jeritza (Marie Jedličková). The Dvořák Society has long considered him to be within our wider area of interest.

It is generally held that the definitive biography of the composer is Brendan G Carroll’s The Last Prodigy. It was published in 1997 by Amadeus Press (ISBN: 1574670298) but is now out of print. Depending on condition, second-hand copies change hands on the internet for between £150 – £250, which indicates the stature of the author’s work.

With the approach of the anniversary — and at a time when there is a greater interest in Korngold’s music than at any time since his death — it is particularly unfortunate that The Last Prodigy is not more easily accessible. However, through the web site www.korngold-society.org it is possible to ‘sign’ an on-line petition to the publisher, seeking a re-print.

It should be noted that www.korngold-society.org is not the official site of the International Korngold Society, of which Mr Carroll is the distinguished president. But it is well worth visiting, since it contains much interesting information and is regularly updated. Mr Carroll himself regularly contributes to the on-line forums. In fact the International Korngold Society does not have its own web site.   www.dvorak-society.org  

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The Dvořák Society welcomes a new Vice-President, Míla Smetáčková

First posted August 12 2006

     The Dvořák Society has recently appointed a new Vice-President. Our Chairman has published the following notice in our Newsletter —

Welcome to a new Vice-President

It is with very great pleasure that we welcome Míla Smetáčková as our newest Vice-President. The Dvořák Society confers Vice- Presidencies on those who have contributed to Czech musical life as well as supporting our Society. Since the death of her husband, the distinguished conductor Václav Smetáček in 1986, Míla Smetáčková has devoted herself to the support of the smaller but important music organisations and music education at home, especially through her valuable presidency of the Česká hudební společnost. Members will know her through her contributions to our Newsletter and some will remember her from her visits to the Society on her occasional visits to Britain. We are very pleased that she has agreed to honour us with becoming a Vice-President.

Graham Melville-Mason
Chairman
The Dvořák Society for Czech and Slovak Music

  www.dvorak-society.org  

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Ian Horsburgh, author of first full-length study of Janáček to be written in the English language, dies

First posted August 8 2006

     With great sadness, the Dvořák Society records the death, at the relatively early age of 64, of our long-time member Ian Horsbrugh. Born in London on 16th September 1941 and educated at St Paul's School and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he was subsequently a repetiteur at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. After a variety of jobs in the field of musical education, he became principal of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, a position he held with distinction from 1988 to 2002.

It is as a writer however that he will perhaps best be remembered by the musical public. He was an authority on the music of Janáček and was the first English-language author to write a full-length study of the composer, Leoš Janáček — The Field That Prospered (David & Charles, Newton Abbot/London | Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York | 1981, ISBN 0-684-17443-X, Library of Congress Catalog Card No 81-52928). This marked an important point in the international progress of Janáček’s art.

Our sympathy goes to his wife Caroline and his children.

• On-line obituaries of Ian Horsbrugh in the British press

There are on-line obituaries in The Daily Telegraph and The Independent newspapers.   www.dvorak-society.org  

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