Contents of this Volume
- A note about the cover photograph ►
- Recent interviews with Czech women composers, part 1 ►
- Antonín Dvořák and the concept of Czechness ►
- Musica Antiqua Bohemica ►
- Zdeněk Fibich as viewed by Leoš Janáček ►
- Petr Eben’s Lidové písnĕ a koledy [Folk Songs and Carols] ►
- The many loves of Antonín Dvořák: A personal voyage of discovery ►
- Joseph Küttel (c1809–1857), leading flautist in Prague ►
A note about the cover photograph
David R. Beveridge
Journal of Czech and Slovak Music 30 (2021), pp4–11
The front cover of the volume includes a photograph, allegedly of Antonín Dvořák as a boy, and in this article David Beveridge assembles the extant evidence to present both sides of the debate. Among the images he refers to are the earliest undisputed photographs of the composer, dating from 1868 and 1870 (when Dvořák was 27 and 29 respectively). The article is one of three in the volume devoted to the composer, of whom this year marks the 180th anniversary of his birth.
Recent interviews with Czech women composers, part 1
Štĕpán Filípek
Journal of Czech and Slovak Music 30 (2021), pp12–41
This is the first of a two-part series of interviews between the Czech cellist and composer Štěpán Filípek and a number of Czech women composers in the last two years. The interviews were originally published in Czech for the portal for classical music KlasikaPlus and subsequently translated into English by Tom Moore. The interviewees are Jana Vöröšová, Markéta Brothánková, Petra Šuško, Soňa Vetchá, Lenka Nota and Petra Čtveráčková.
Antonín Dvořák and the concept of Czechness
David R. Beveridge
Journal of Czech and Slovak Music 30 (2021), pp42–68
Here the subject of Dvořák and his Czechness is addressed comprehensively and in a systematic way. After a study of the earliest publications which emerged after the composer’s death in 1904 the author proceeds to identify the range of non-Czech music with which Dvořák became familiar and whose influence he acknowledged. Then the composer’s reported statements about elements of Czechness and Slavicness in his music are examined. The core of the article is devoted to those compositions which bear the terms ‘Czech’ and ‘Slavonic’ in their titles and the extent, if any, to which Dvořák was responsible for these descriptions. Finally the composer’s roles as a patriot and as an ambassador of the Czech cause abroad are considered.
Musica Antiqua Bohemica
Patrick Lambert
Journal of Czech and Slovak Music 30 (2021), pp69–97
Another article in the series entitled ‘Czech music through the eyes (and ears) of an Englishman’, this survey of the Czech company Supraphon situates its origins and early expansion in the personal journey of the author’s gradual engagement with Czech music through its recordings. The focus is on a series which was launched in the early 1960s and which experienced a rapid development, especially in the export market. Richly illustrated with many of Supraphon’s colourful covers and with quotations from contemporary critical reception, the article introduces the reader to the full range of principal Czech performing musicians and refers to some of the major technological changes which took place in the recording industry over the last three quarters of a century.
Zdeněk Fibich as viewed by Leoš Janáček
Veronika Vejvodová
Journal of Czech and Slovak Music 30 (2021), pp98–106
In this article the author presents all of the available evidence of the connections between the two Czech composers in sections which treat of references to Fibich in Janáček’s professional correspondence, the older composer’s part in Janáček’s (unsuccessful) bid to have Amarus published, comments about Fibich and his lover Anežka Schulzová in the correspondence between Janáček and his ‘muse’ Kamila Stösslová, copies of Fibich’s music in Janáček’s possession, compositions by Fibich which Janáček heard and conducted, and references to his compatriot in Janáček’s critical writings and in his lectures.
Petr Eben’s Lidové písnĕ a koledy [Folk Songs and Carols]
Sonya Szabo-Reynolds
Journal of Czech and Slovak Music 30 (2021), pp107–117
Eben’s work is a collection of over one hundred Czech, Moravian and Slovak Folk Songs and Carols, arranged for piano ‘in an easy style’. The author draws on her experience as a music teacher as she identifies a number of pedagogical benefits which may be derived from the individual pieces. Among the more important of these is an acknowledgement of Eben’s care with articulation in the arrangements; this aspect underscores the issues of accentuation and inflection in the folksong lyrics. The author’s descriptions of the music are reinforced by music examples, and the article incorporates a translation of Eben’s original preface to the collection, also a list of titles with translations.
The many loves of Antonín Dvořák: A personal voyage of discovery
Patrick Lambert
Journal of Czech and Slovak Music 30 (2021), pp118–146
The genesis of this article was a challenge to devise a sequence of music which would reflect Dvořák’s ‘Czech soul’. This sequence is achieved by the author’s selecting representative examples from Supraphon’s extensive archive of Dvořák recordings stretching back to the early 1950s. The complete project is a set of CDs bearing the above title, and its appearance in September 2021 celebrates the 180th anniversary of the composer’s birth. By way of introduction to this activity the author charts his own discovery and deepening admiration for Dvořák’s music. The latter part of the article explains the choices of music made and how these correspond to the author’s ‘many loves’, which are given subheadings such as ‘Slav soul’, ‘Nation and homeland’, ‘Family’, ‘Young love recalled’, ‘Nature’ and ‘God and religion’.
Joseph Küttel (c1809–1857), leading flautist in Prague
Tom Moore
Journal of Czech and Slovak Music 30 (2021), pp147–169
Although his name may be forgotten today, Joseph Küttel had a successful international career during the 1830s and 1840s, including a position as professor of flute at the Kinderfreund Music Institute in Prague. He was born in Halle and began musical study at the age of fourteen. The author charts the course of Küttel’s career with a trawl of year-by-year accounts of concerts, press reports and biographical information. Contemporary sources unite in praising his technical prowess as a flautist, and his influence as a teacher in Prague is implied by favourable comments on performances by his students. Interesting details of then-popular compositions, also the layout and content of programmes, add to our knowledge of aspects of performance practice.