{"id":691,"date":"2020-06-18T08:57:51","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T07:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dvorak-society.org\/New\/?page_id=691"},"modified":"2020-06-18T08:57:51","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T07:57:51","slug":"journal-czech-music-volume-17-no-2-abstract","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.dvorak-society.org\/?page_id=691","title":{"rendered":"Journal \u201cCzech Music\u201d Volume 17 No. 2 (Abstract)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"top_of_page\"><\/a>Contents of this page<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"#dvorak_einstein\">The Na\u00efve Composer and the Sophisticated Professor<\/a>&nbsp;(Dvo\u0159\u00e1k &amp; Alfred Einstein)<\/li><li><a href=\"#mozart_czech_contemporaries\">Prague, Mozart and his Czech Contemporaries<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#vodnik\">Vodn\u00edk in Tale and Opera: The Story of a Czech Spirit<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#martinu_julietta_chords\">Desperately Seeking Julietta<\/a>&nbsp;(Martin\u016f)<\/li><li><a href=\"#gazdina_roba\">The Farmer\u2019s Woman<\/a>&nbsp;(<em>Gazdina Roba<\/em>, Preissov\u00e1, Jan\u00e1\u010dek &amp; Foerster)<\/li><li><a href=\"#beecham_dvorak\">Sir Thomas Beecham and Anton\u00edn Dvo\u0159\u00e1k<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a name=\"dvorak_einstein\"><\/a>The Na\u00efve Composer and the Sophisticated Professor<br><small><em>by Jaroslav Mihule<\/em><br>[Czech Music: Journal of the Dvo\u0159\u00e1k Society, Vol. 17, No.2 (1992), pp. 3-7.]<\/small><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Alfred Einstein\u2019s study,&nbsp;<em>Music in the Romantic Era<\/em>, displays many misconceptions about Czech music, and that of Dvo\u0159\u00e1k in particular. The author\u2019s contention that Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s compositions belonged to a category of \u2018absolute\u2019 rather than \u2018romantic\u2019 or \u2018programme\u2019 music is questioned, as also are the author\u201as stereotypes of Dvo\u0159\u00e1k as \u2018na\u00efve\u2019, \u2018guileless\u2019, and lacking literary taste and intellectual quality, in which context his music is compared unfavourably with that of Brahms. While complimentary about some aspects of Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s music, Einstein shocks by asserting that his best work is to be found in his songs and choruses. Finally, his claim that Dvo\u0159\u00e1k did not leave behind a musical legacy of younger composers is fiercely denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u25b2\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"#top_of_page\">top of page<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a name=\"mozart_czech_contemporaries\"><\/a>Prague, Mozart and his Czech Contemporaries<br><small><em>by Zdenka Pilkov\u00e1<\/em><br>[Czech Music: Journal of the Dvo\u0159\u00e1k Society, Vol. 17, No.2 (1992), pp. 7-20.]<\/small><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mozart was regularly in contact with composers from the Czech lands. The Czech musicians with the greatest influence on Mozart were Ji\u0159\u00ed Benda and Myslive\u010dek, but other acquaintances included Fiala, the Du\u0161eks, Va\u0148hal, Vranick\u00fd, and others, all of whose work he admired. He was on less friendly terms, however, with Ko\u017eeluh. Mozart\u2019s music was already popular in Prague prior to the first of his four visits. The premi\u00e8re of Don Giovanni was received with great enthusiasm. Hundreds of arrangements of excerpts from his operas spread Mozart\u2019s music throughout the Czech lands, continuing after his death. His popularity also resulted from affinities between his musical style and that of pre-existing Czech composers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u25b2\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"#top_of_page\">top of page<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a name=\"vodnik\"><\/a>Vodn\u00edk in Tale and Opera: The Story of a Czech Spirit<br><small><em>by Karel Janovick\u00fd<\/em><br>[Czech Music: Journal of the Dvo\u0159\u00e1k Society, Vol. 17, No.2 (1992), pp. 21-32.]<\/small><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Czech preoccupation with the vodn\u00edk or water sprite is part of a wider responsiveness to rivers, nymphs and water demons in Slav folklore. The particular Czech slant is anthropomorphic, and was an aspect of the movement to enhance the status of Czech culture. Special credit is due to K.J. Erben for collecting and recording this culture, and for his publications of folk ballads, nursery rhymes, myths and legends. Dvo\u0159\u00e1k was compulsively drawn to his Kytice collection in his The Spectre\u2019s Bride and four late symphonic poems, while&nbsp;<em>Rusalka<\/em>, though based on Kvapil and not Erben, was similarly inspired. Fibich set Erben\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Vodn\u00edk<\/em>&nbsp;as a melodrama and it lives on in Nov\u00e1k\u2019s opera setting of Jir\u00e1sek\u2019s play&nbsp;<em>Lucerna<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u25b2\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"#top_of_page\">top of page<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a name=\"martinu_julietta_chords\"><\/a>Desperately Seeking Julietta<br><small><em>by Patrick Lambert<\/em><br>[Czech Music: Journal of the Dvo\u0159\u00e1k Society, Vol. 17, No.2 (1992), pp. 33-40.]<\/small><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Julietta<\/em>&nbsp;can be considered as the key work in Martin\u016f\u2019s output. The composer identified himself with the main character Michel, the travelling book-seller, the urban setting of the opera with his home town Poli\u010dka, and the heroine with V\u00edt\u011bslava Kapralov\u00e1. The so-called Julietta chords and the fantasy element of the opera were repeatedly revisited in Martin\u016f\u2019s later work. They can be found, for example, in his first and sixth symphonies, the Piano Concerto No. 4, the ballet&nbsp;<em>\u0160pali\u010dek<\/em>, in&nbsp;<em>The Opening of the Wells<\/em>, and in&nbsp;<em>The Greek Passion<\/em>. Towards the end of his life, the chords came to symbolise an \u2018unspoken, unattainable ideal\u2019 of almost religious intensity for the composer, reflecting his absorption with \u2018the often irrational world of the imagination\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u25b2\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"#top_of_page\">top of page<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a name=\"gazdina_roba\"><\/a>The Farmer\u2019s Woman<br><small><em>by V\u00e1clav Pinkava<\/em><br>[Czech Music: Journal of the Dvo\u0159\u00e1k Society, Vol. 17, No.2 (1992), pp. 40-44.]<\/small><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Gazdina Roba<\/em>, a rustic drama by Preissov\u00e1, has frequently been mentioned by musicologists in its connection with Jan\u00e1\u010dek\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Jen\u016ffa<\/em>, and Foerster\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Eva<\/em>. Usually rendered in English as \u2018The Farmer\u2019s Woman\u201d or \u2018The Farm Manager\u2019s Woman\u2019, these are mis-translations, based on an imperfect grasp of complicated Czech grammar, and also of regional differences in meaning. The actual connotation is of a lower status female, so that a more accurate title would use a term such as \u2018wench\u2019 rather than \u2018woman\u2019, i.e. someone not the boss\u2019s wedded wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Karel Janovick\u00fd<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;adds\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>In translations by various English musicologists of gazda and gazdina, the terms \u2018maid\u2019, \u2018housewife\u2019 and \u2018wench\u2019 have all been applied. But though a more accurate translation of \u2018Gazdina Roba\u2019 might well refer to \u2018Mistress\/Servant Girl\u2019, this would not reflect the true gist of the story in question, and the title The Farmer\u2019s Woman is more generally acceptable in this sense.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u25b2\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"#top_of_page\">top of page<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sir Thomas Beecham and Anton\u00edn Dvo\u0159\u00e1k<br><small><em>by Graham Melville-Mason<\/em><br>[Czech Music: Journal of the Dvo\u0159\u00e1k Society, Vol. 17, No.2 (1992), pp. 44-48.]<\/small><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beecham had a special affection for Czech music. This was specially the case with Dvo\u0159\u00e1k and Smetana, whose works he performed frequently. His interpretations of these composers were widely praised, not least by Czech musicians. For Beecham, Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s most popular compositions, on the evidence of his programming and recordings, were the&nbsp;<em>Symphony No. 8<\/em>, the&nbsp;<em>Symphonic Variations<\/em>, the&nbsp;<em>Cello Concerto (No. 2)<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>Carnaval Overture<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>Slavonic Rhapsody No. 3<\/em>, and the&nbsp;<em>Stabat Mater<\/em>. Less favoured by Sir Thomas, surprisingly, were the&nbsp;<em>Slavonic Dances<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u25b2\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"#top_of_page\">top of page<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contents of this page The Na\u00efve Composer and the Sophisticated Professor&nbsp;(Dvo\u0159\u00e1k &amp; Alfred Einstein) Prague, Mozart and his Czech Contemporaries Vodn\u00edk in Tale and Opera: The Story of a Czech Spirit Desperately Seeking Julietta&nbsp;(Martin\u016f) The Farmer\u2019s Woman&nbsp;(Gazdina Roba, Preissov\u00e1, Jan\u00e1\u010dek &amp; Foerster) Sir Thomas Beecham and Anton\u00edn Dvo\u0159\u00e1k The Na\u00efve Composer and the Sophisticated Professorby &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvorak-society.org\/?page_id=691\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Journal \u201cCzech Music\u201d Volume 17 No. 2 (Abstract)<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-691","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dvorak-society.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dvorak-society.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dvorak-society.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dvorak-society.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dvorak-society.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=691"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dvorak-society.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":692,"href":"https:\/\/www.dvorak-society.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/691\/revisions\/692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dvorak-society.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}