Books and Booklets about Czech and Slovak Musical Topics
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INDEX
(A) Dvořák Society Occasional Publications Series
(B) Books from other publishers
This page is about two kinds of publications: those published by the Dvořák Society (our Occasional Publications) and those from other publishers which may be difficult to obtain from other sources. All the items shown on this page are new copies.
How to buy
Sales are not restricted to members. Postage and packing cost depends on size of item and destination. Subject to availability, copies may be purchased from the Society’s Sales Manager:
Antony Gordon
6 Summercourt Drive
Ravenshead
Nottingham
NG15 9FT
United Kingdom
telephone number: +44 (0)1623 794530
e-mail: sales@dvorak-society.org
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(A) Dvořák Society Occasional Publications
Dvořák Society Occasional Publications provide in-depth information on selected topics.
All Dvořák Society Occasional Publications titles are A5 size.
(A.1) Rudolf Firkušný (1912 – 1994)
By Richard Beith and Graham Melville-Mason
Rudolf Firkušný was one of the most distinguished and esteemed Czech pianists of the 20th century. A pupil of Janáček and closely associated with Martinů, his recordings of works by those composers remain among the best ever made (some would argue that they are the best).
The booklet contains 28 pages, including a biographical sketch by Graham Melville-Mason and the first complete discography of recordings made by Rudolf Firkušný, compiled by Richard Beith. It was published in 1999.
There are photographic portraits of Firkušný at the age of nine (taken in Brno) and from 1950. A third photograph dates from 1990 and shows the pianist with violinist Josef Suk and Graham Melville-Mason at the Edinburgh International Festival of that year.
Soft covers only, ISBN 0 9532769 0 2
| price (plus postage and packing): |
| £3.75 (members/trade) | £5 (non-members) |
(A.2) A Tribute to Petr Eben to mark his 70th Birthday Year
Edited by Graham Melville-Mason
Edited by Graham Melville-Mason of The Dvořák Society, the Petr Eben tribute contains 239 pages and 8 plates and was published in 2000. Apart from many shorter tributes and a very full discography, there are major contributions by several other of the world’s leading musicologists and organists—
- Music as Message and the Ruling Principles of Petr Eben’s Music-making: by Johannes Landgren
- Petr Eben—A “Romanticist” with a Modern Language: by Martin Sander
- Petr Eben—The Symphonic Works: by Milan Slavický
- The Organ Concertos of Petr Eben: by John Browne
- Thoughts on Laudes: by Claude Hermitte
- Okna—Chagall’s Windows According to Petr Eben: by David Titterington
- Petr Eben’s Works for Organ with Other Instruments: by Susan Landale
- God’s Gesamtkunstwerk—Petr Eben’s Faust: by Janette Fishell
- Construction on Improvisation—Eben’s Job: by Andreas Jacob
- Voices from the Whirlwind—Perspectives on Petr Eben’s Job: by Michael Bauer
- Petr Eben’s Church Opera Jeremias: by Ruth Forsbach
Soft covers, ISBN 0 9532769 1 0
| price (plus postage and packing): |
| £7.50 (members/trade) | £10 (non-members) |
Hard bound, ISBN to be advised
| price (plus postage and packing): |
| £15.00 (members/trade) | £20 (non-members) |
(A.3) Václav Talich (1883 – 1961)
edited by Graham Slater
Published in 2003 and edited by Graham Slater, this tribute to the great conductor Václav Talich has 170 pages, more than two dozen photographs and other illustrations. The first part of the book (72 pages) is devoted to his career and consists of:
- Antonín Dvořák and Václav Talich: by Víta Dejmalová
- Letters to Charles Mackerras: by Václav Talich
- Memories of my Teacher: by Jiří Stárek
- Václav Talich Remembered: by Miloslav Zdražil
- Reminiscences of Talich: by Zdeněk Bílek
- Recording with Talich: by Josef Shejbal
- Talich’s Recording of Suk’s Zrání: by Zdeněk Bílek
- Biographical Chronology: by Patrick Lambert
- Defence of Activity During the Nazi Occupation: by Václav Talich
and the second part is a discography.
Soft covers, ISBN 0 9532769 2 9
| price (plus postage and packing): |
| £10.00 (members/trade) | £12.50 (non-members) |
Hard bound, ISBN 0 9532769 3 7
| price (plus postage and packing): |
| £18.75 (members/trade) | £25 (non-members) |
(A.4) Antonín Dvořák – Complete Catalogue of Works
compiled by Peter J F Herbert
Compiled by Peter Herbert, this 144 page illustrated book lists all of Dvořák’s works in “Burghauser” order [see below] along with short informative notes on each piece. Dates of composition and first performance, Opus numbers, “Burghauser” numbers, full names or titles of works in English and their original language etc are included. A comprehensive index and cross reference section (between “Burghauser” numbers and Opus numbers) allows easy location of each work. This is the fourth edition, published in 2004.
Soft covers, ISBN 0 9532769 4 5
| price (plus postage and packing): |
| £10.00 (members/trade) | £12.50 (non-members) |
Hard bound, ISBN 0 9532769 5 3
| price (plus postage and packing): |
| £18.75 (members/trade) | £25 (non-members) |
(A.5) Bohumil Fidler: “My Life and Memories”
translated by Eva Szabo and edited by Sonya Szabo Reynolds
Originally published in 1935 by Ant. Pelz, Příbram, as Můj život a vzpomínky, this first English language edition of Bohumil Fidler’s autobiography was translated by by Fidler’s granddaughter Eva Szabo and edited his great granddaughter Sonya Szabo Reynolds. There is a preface by Michael Beckerman of New York University.
The composer, choirmaster, choral conductor and music teacher Bohumil Fidler (1860 – 1944), was born in Příbram, southern Bohemia, where he spent his working life. The town is close to Dvořák’s summer home at Vysoká and a friendship developed between the two men. Containing 144 pages including numerous photographs and other graphic material, the book includes valuable reminiscences of Dvořák’s domestic life at Vysoká and the relationship of the internationally renowned figure with the provincial musical life of his country. Fidler himself was a remarkably talented man who devoted his career to the musical life of Příbram, which is brought to life in the other parts of his autobiography.
Soft covers: ISBN 978-095327696-7
Price (plus postage and packing): | £10.00 (members/trade) | £12.50 (non-members)
Hard bound: ISBN 978-095327697-4
Price (plus postage and packing): | £18.75 (members/trade) | £25 (non-members)
(A.6) Vilém Tauský CBE FGSM 1910 – 2004
compiled and edited by Richard Beith
Sub-titled “A celebration of his life and achievements published with affectionate remembrance in his centenary year”, this 296 page illustrated book is a tribute to the composer, conductor and teacher Vilém Tauský CBE FGSM. Born in Moravia and trained at the Brno Conservatoire he arrived in the United Kingdom in 1940 with the Free Czechoslovak Army. After WWII he became a naturalised British citizen and was well known as an opera conductor at Sadler’s Wells and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. After 10 years with the BBC Concert Orchestra he joined the staff at the Guildhall School of Music eventually heading Opera Studies and the advanced Conducting course.
The contents of the book are as follows:
- Foreword: by the late Sir Charles Mackerras CH AC CBE
- Leoš Janáček – a recollection: by Vilém Tauský
- Dvořák’s Rusalka: Vilém Tauský
- The Conductor: Vilém Tauský
- Vilém Tauský – A personal memoir: by Fraser Goulding
- Vilém Tauský – A recollection by Philip Hesketh
- The Life and Times of Vilém Tauský —
- Tauský at home, 1910-1939: by Karel Janovický
- The Military Career of Private Tauský, 1929-1945: by Richard Beith
- Tauský in Great Britain, 1945-2004: by Karel Janovický
- Three Letters to Vilém: by Graham Melville-Mason
- The Repertoire of Vilém Tauský: by Graham Melville-Mason
- Vilém Tauský and the history of Rusalka in the British Isles between 1939 and 1969: by Peter Herbert
- 2005 – A Year of Commemoration: by Brenda Rayson
- A Vilém Tauský Discography: by Richard Beith
- References to Vilém Tauský in the British Library National Sound Archive (NSA)
- Compositions by Vilém Tauský, an annotated list
Number & type of illustrations: colour cover (front and back) + 63 black and white photographs, musical notations, and reproductions of postcards and musical ephemera.
Soft covers: ISBN 978-09532769-8-1
Price (plus postage and packing): | £6.00 (members/trade) | £8.00 (non-members)
Hard bound: ISBN 978-09532769-9-8-4
Price (plus postage and packing): | £15.00 (members/trade) | £20.00 (non-members)
(B) Books from Other Publishers
(B.1) “Intimate Letters” – Leoš Janáček to Kamila Stösslová
edited and translated by John Tyrrell
In 1917 Janáček met Kamila Stösslová, the wife of an antique dealer, in the Moravian spa resort of Luhačovice. In spite of the huge difference in their ages — the composer was 63 years old and she only 26 — he began writing to her regularly after the holiday. Although she was uninterested in Janáček’s music and replied only spasmodically to his letters, she became the inspiration for many of the masterpieces produced by him in that extraordinary late outburst of creativity, at a time of life when many creative figures have lapsed into routine. That is why his marvellous Second String Quartet bears the title Intimate Letters (Listy důvěné).
John Tyrrell has edited and translated a comprehensive selection of these letters. This book is an invaluable companion for anyone interested in Janáček’s creative psyche. When first published this hardback edition cost £25, but it is available new from the Dvořák Society at a “paperback” price.
Hard bound with dust jacket: ISBN 0-571-14466-7 | Price: £12.50 plus postage and packing | Publisher: Faber & Faber — 397 pages, 37 plates | Published: 1994
(B.2) Antonín Dvořák – Life and Work
by Jarmil Burghauser (edited by Milan Pospíšil, translated by David R Beveridge)
Jarmil Burghauser, 1921 – 1997, was a Czech composer, conductor, choirmaster, musicologist, writer and organiser. Today he is perhaps best known for his work in the cataloguing of Dvořák’s compositions, most notably the preparation of the monumental Thematic Catalogue (1960, 2nd edition 1996). Like many composers, Dvořák gave his works opus numbers, but in his case these can be an unreliable guide to the date of composition. Due to the composer’s complicated relationship with his publisher, early works were sometimes given late opus numbers and vice versa. Burghauser paid great attention to this aspect of cataloguing and that is why in many modern catalogues of Dvořák’s works you will find that each composition is allocated a B(urghauser) number. For example the wonderful D minor Wind Serenade is Op 44 (B 77). That is the method Peter Herbert of The Dvořák Society used in preparing our own publication Antonín Dvořák – Complete Catalogue of Works … more >>.
Burghauser found time to write two short biographies of Dvořák, in 1966 and 1985. Both were intended for a broader musical public than his more specialised publications. The 1985 book was published in an English translation for the first time in 2007, and that is the version that we offer here.
The Czech Music Information Centre has an English language page dedicated to Burghauser, his compositions and studies, at www.musica.cz/comp/burghauser.htm#engl.
Soft covers: ISBN 80-86791-49-1 & 978-80-86791-49-4 | Price: £10.00 plus postage & packing | Publisher: Koniasch Latin Press – 174 pages,illustrated | Published: 2007, Prague
(B.3) Dvořák – Symphonies and Concertos
by Robert Layton
BBC Music Guides are a series planned to give the layman an overall view of the subject, showing how particular works came to be written, their significance in the general history of the genre, and how the form was developed by the composer in question.
In this Guide, Robert Layton (a former Senior Music Producer for BBC Radio) examines the growth of Dvořák’s symphonic personality and discusses each of the nine symphonies. He also considers the achievement of the three concertos — for cello, violin and piano. From the author’s introduction …
“… he [Dvořák] must be numbered after Schubert and along with his friend and contemporary Tchaikovsky as the most natural melodist of the nineteenth century. The fund of melodic invention on which he could call seems inexhaustible …”
Soft covers: ISBN 0-563-20554-7 | Price: £1.50 plus postage & packing | Publisher BBC Music — 71 pages | Published: this edition 1987. London (first published 1978)
