May 2005 News Archive
Page last updated December 1 2005
Score of Vítězslava Kaprálová’s Military Sinfonietta (Vojenská symfonieta) available again
We have just heard from our good friends in the Kaprálová Society about an important news item. Czech Radio Publishing House (Vydavatelstvi a nakladatelstvi Českeho rozhlasu) has made available again the score of Vítězslava Kaprálová’s most popular orchestral composition, the Military Sinfonietta (Vojenská symfonieta). We quote here from the Kaprálová Society’s message:
‘The Sinfonietta has an interesting history: composed in 1937 and dedicated to the then President of the Czechoslovak Republic, Edvard Beneš, it was blacklisted by the Nazis. The work was premiered in 1937 by the Czech Philharmonic, under the baton of the composer, in the presence of Beneš. A year later, it was chosen to represent Czech contemporary music at the ISCM Festival in London. The work, again conducted by Kaprálová but this time performed by the BBC Symphony, opened the festival. Havergal Brian wrote the following about the work in Musical Opinion (July 1938): “The first work played and broadcast at the recent festival, a Military Sinfonietta, by Miss Vítězslava Kaprálová of Czechoslovakia proved an amazing piece of orchestral writing.” (p. 858). In 1946, Artur Rodzinski fell in love with the work and was determined to give it its North American première in 1947—and he would, had it not been for an abrupt end to his conducting career with the New York Philharmonic during the very year.’
The Kaprálová Society hope that the renewed availability of the previously out-of-print score will now spark interest in securing the long delayed North American première. We understand that financial assistance may be available to professional North American orchestras in appropriate circumstances (although we obviously cannot commit the Kaprálová Society in any way). For more information about the work and how to obtain it, please visit their website at: www.kapralova.org/RESEARCH2.htm#sinfonietta. www.dvorak-society.org