The Influence of Folklore on the Modern Czech School of Composition

BORIS KREMENLIEV

The influences which shaped musical growth in European countries such as , , and Germany, played a part in the development of Czech music as a major cultural achievement. But in addition, the Czech people shared the rich heritage of the Slavs, whose cultural resources had begun forming in primitive societies at the start of the Christian era, or even earlier. When Cyril and Methodius went to in the 9th century 1 at the invitation of Prince Rostislav, the culture of Byzantium was at a much higher level than that of the Moravians. Thus, the Gospel passages which Cyril translated into Slavic dialects in preparation for his trip 2 can be said to mark the very beginning of Slavic literature. It is not equally clear, however, to what extent Byzantine music influenced that of the Western Slavs in general, and of the Moravians in particular, since the earliest musical records we have go back only to the 12th century.3 After the Great Moravian Empire collapsed in the 10th century, the Roman liturgy emerged victorious in its bitter struggle with the Slavonic liturgy, but the seeds had already been sown so deeply that some Slavonic liturgical tunes lingered long after the 10th and 11th centuries half as sacred tunes, half as folk songs. One of them, for instance, Lord

1 Cyril and Methodius arrived in Moravia in the spring of 863, although, ac- cording to Samuel Hazzard Cross, Rostislav seems to have requested Slavic- speaking missionaries three years earlier (Slavic Civilization Through the Ages, pp. 56-7). And although intrigue was finally successful in driving out of Moravia Methodius' disciples, and by 885 and Moravians, together with the Slo- vaks, gave in under pressure from , the legacy of the Macedonian brothers was nevertheless instrumental in stabilizing Slavic in the Balkans; less than 100 years later, conversion took place in . 2 There seems to be some doubt whether these translations were written in the already-existing Glagolitic alphabet or in the Cyrillic alphabet which bears the name of its inventor. 3 Ivan Kamburov: Cehoslovaska muzika (, 1948), p. 14 ff. 1320 Boris Kremenliev Have Mercy On Us, became so popular that it was used during the coronation ceremonies of Czech kings.4 In the succeeding years, Czech musical art fell under the spell of Western Europe: minnesingers and trouvères came to the royal court, bringing secular music with them, as did France's foremost poet- , Guillaume de Machaut, during the time of John of Luxem- bourg, King of Bohemia. When became the seat of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles IV founded Prague University (1348), now recognized to be not only among the oldest, but also among the most important universities in Europe. As a cultural center, the university presented many musical performances, especially of Easter Passion Mysteries, which combined national and liturgical elements. The Hussite movement in the early part of the 15th century left a permanent imprint on the aspirations of the Czech nation. In the process of fortifying themselves against foreign ideologies, and in the attempt to resolve the conflicts among various religious factions, the regrouping of emotional forces resulted in a strong national consciousness and a musical outpouring whose influence lasted for generations.5 Hussite revolutionary songs (Rise Thou City of Prague, Ye Warriors of God, Children Let Us Meet Together) are among the earliest examples of such types in any European country. The Brethren -Book, which furnished an impetus for many other hymnals, is thought by Czech musicologists to be the first such publication anywhere in the world.0 Thus, Hussite church music exercised great influence not only on the development of Czech church music until the 17th century, but also on the music used in Lutheran services in Germany. Czech folklore is enriched by records of her struggle against political and religious oppression, domestic and foreign, much as Russian folklore reflects conflicts with the Tartars, and the folklore of the Balkan Slavs and the Ukrainians shows the mark of the Turkish invader. Czech music, however, continued to be affected by stylistic changes in the

4 Vladimir Stëpânek and Bohumil Karâsek: An Outline of Czech and Slovak Music. Part I, Czech Music (Prague, 1964), p. 10 ff. 5 There emerged three religious groups, in addition to the Hussite: Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and the Czech Brethren. 6 While the Czech reformation of the 15th century provided the people with religious music, however, it did not necessarily preserve the authentic folk tradi- tion; in cases where traditional melodic types were used, new religious texts were added. The latest research has shown that old Czech and Slovak melodies were similar to those of the pre-Christian Slavs, certain genre still being present in Russia and in the Balkans. The Modern Czech School of Composition 1321 music which was sweeping Europe. During the reign of Rudolf II (1576- 1612), Prague became one of the most important musical centers in Europe,7 and Philippe de Monte, the Flemish master of polyphony, took over musical activities in the Czech capital. The Czech defeat at White Mountain (1620) and, later, the Thirty Years' War were detrimental to creative work. And while Bohemia had the reputation of being the "conservatory of Europe", many native musicians had to go abroad to make a living. Those who stayed home played in the orchestras of the nobility, where Italian and German influences were dominant. But used native elements in their compositions, both secular and religious; in addition, Hussite singing preserved the folk tradition. But when, in the 18th century, instrumental music gained popularity among the Czechs, it was inspired largely by the modest school teachers in the rural areas. There followed the development of a first-rate instrumental tradition to train many native musicians, who then invaded the European capitals in the middle of the 18th century, making their homeland famous.8 Unable to practice their art at home, many leading musicians left just as Prague was becoming one of the important musical centers of Europe. Prominent European musicians gave concerts there and important works were presented for the first time, among them Mozart's masterpiece, Don Giovanni, which was commissioned in Prague while Mozart was performing his "Prague" Symphony there. The com- poser's , La Clemenza di Tito, was also premiered in the Czech capital.9 Czech musicians moved out in all directions: to France, Russia, Ger- many, Italy, and .10 In Mannheim, for example, Jan Vaclav

7 Prague maintained its cultural importance until the 18th century. 8 The composer-clarinetist, Frantisek Tadeus Blatt (b. Prague, 1793), was among those responsible for the brilliant clarinet playing which made such an impression on Fetis and Berlioz. He was a professor at the and wrote for his instrument. Some of his studies advocating the singing quality of the clarinet are still in use. Thus, of Bohemia was strongly in- fluenced in its melodic contour by Baroque instrumental music, while the music of and southern Moravia seem to have remained more faithful to Eastern patterns. 9 The were performed in Prague in 1878 and 1791 respectively, the latter for the coronation of Leopold II, King of Bohemia. 10 To France: J. L. Dusik, A. Rejcha; to Russia: J. A. MareS, J. Prac; to Germany: the Benda brothers, Jan Vaclav Stamic (1717-1757), F. X. Richter, A. Fils; to Italy: H. A. Jelinek, V. PichI, J. Myslivecek; to Vienna: J. Vanhal, L. Kozeluh, V. Jirovec, J. Vorisek, and others. 1322 Boris Kremenliev Stamic 11 became known to his contemporaries (and to history) as the founder of the German school of violin-playing and also, together with Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, as one of the architects of the symphony as a form. But the creative Czech musician was not entirely engulfed by the wave of Europeanism. He carried the memory of his country's suffering with him wherever he went, so that, as early as 1793, Pavel Vranicky (1756-1808) composed his Symphony in C, subtitled Grande symphonie caractéristique pour la paix avec la République Française, whose per- formance was suppressed because the work was found to be "sub- versive".12 The compositions of many other Czech composers later were similarly found to be politically unacceptable. The fall of the Bastille (July 14, 1789) marked a turning point, not only in politics, but in the arts as well. It was the time of the French and American Revolutions; the masses were on the move, and it seemed that the individual might finally be entering an era that belonged to him, when he might reëvaluate his position in the community and in the country. Music, which since the Middle Ages had belonged either to the church or to the court, emerged as a vital force. The music of the people aroused new interest, music which since the time of tribal society had reflected everyday events, such as work, hunting, celebrations, putting the baby to sleep - or merely sadness or unrest, exuberance or vehe- mence. Against such a background as this, 19th-century Czech music began to develop: an art deeply rooted in its Slav history and tradition, but affected by the music of Rome and Byzantium on one hand, and by Italian, French, and German currents on the other. It would seem, how- ever, that the influence of Gregorian chant had diminished with time, especially in Slovak folk songs, where skips, for instance, predominate. But inasmuch as this music had previously belonged either to the aristocracy or to the church, it was mostly void of national expression. The music which belonged to the people was distinctive in many ways. It grew with them and changed, either slowly or rapidly, responding not only to circumstances within the community, but also to outside forces. This was the music which interested the Czech composers of the 19th

11 Stamic first attracted attention as a violin virtuoso in Frankfurt during the coronation of Emperor Charles VII, later becoming concertmaster and Director of Chamber Music for Karl Theodore. By then, Stamic was already known as a composer and his works had been performed with success in Paris as early as 1751. 12 Stëpânek and Karâsek, op. cit., p. 31. The Modern Czech School of Composition 1323 century: the music of the people themselves. Such folk music is as- sociated with the everyday life of the peasant, from morning till night; it goes wherever he goes. Together with story-telling, wood-carving, embroidering, and dancing, it satisfies his need for self-expression. The folk tune thus is an expression of the spirit of the entire nation, and the composer who grows among the people absorbs it subconsciously. His musical thinking naturally reflects the aesthetic impact of such cultural experiences, which carry with them emotional and intellectual depth. There are many ways in which a composer employs folk elements: he may either use actual folk melodies, or write in the style or spirit of the country's folk songs; he may use subject matter inspired by national legend or history; he may express in sound the sentiments which the beauty of his homeland arouses. Perhaps the simplest, but by no means the easiest, treatment of a folk melody consists of the addition of an accompaniment or of other voices to the original. The three volumes of folk-song arrangements by the contemporary English composer, Benjamin Britten, show how the piano can enhance the simple folk melody by providing it with unpretentious but appropriate accompaniment; and yet, in my opinion, the result is of a sophistication which is closer to the concert hall than to either the countryside or the inner meaning of the music. Bartok's settings of Slovak traditional folk songs (two sets of "Slovak Folksongs" and "Village Scenes") are in a class by themselves and do not fall within the scope of the present survey. The case is much different with the folk-song settings of Leos Janacek (1854-1928), one of the most original composers not only in Czech but in all European music. Like Dvorak and Suk, his first musical impressions came from the music of his native village. "Folk song", Janacek wrote, "I have lived in the heart of it ever since childhood. ..". With deep understanding, he set over a hundred secular songs, among them Twenty-Six Popular Ballads, in which he demonstrates very convincingly that both the external as well as the intrinsic content of a song must be assimilated before a composer can handle it with any degree of authority. Dvorak, too, shows how sensitively folk elements must be treated, in his 3 Slavonic Folksongs, Op. 43. A much younger composer, Vitezslav Novak (1870-1949), also provided settings to many Slovak folk songs, but his technique differed from Dvorak's not only in the inevitably more advanced harmonic idiom, but also in the fact that the accompaniment frequently is derived from the melody of the folk tune. This desire to inject originality in the handling of simple melodic materials is also 1324 Boris Kremenliev apparent in Novak's treatment of his Moravian material. Among those who have done imaginative work in arranging folk melodies are Frantisek Picha, Professor at the Prague Conservatory, Radim Drejsl, artistic manager of the Vit Nejedly Army Ensemble, and many others. Dezider Kardos, Chairman of the Union of Slovak composers, wrote an ambitious work, Songs and Dances from East Slovakia, for chorus, soloist, and orchestra (1947); Eugen Suchon (1908- ), Professor of Composition at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Bratislava, (composer of the most sensational Czechoslovak opera of the postwar era, Kruthava, [The Whirlpool]), produced a beautiful work for chorus and orchestra, entitled Slovak Folk Songs. Another method of using folk melodies is to make them part of a work in the variation form, in which the tune is announced at the outset and later undergoes various technical changes: rhythmic, melodic, formal, and textural. The Orchestral Variations on the Folk Song "Good Night" by the contemporary Czech composer, Isa Krejci (1904- ), is a good example of such a procedure. (Mr. Krejci is currently Artistic Director of Opera at the National Theater in Prague.) Direct quotation of a folk melody may sometimes lend realism and authenticity to a musical composition. The American composer, Roy Harris, has used this device successfully in his orchestral work, When Johnny Comes Marching Home-, the Englishman, Ralph Vaughan Williams, in his Fantasia on "Greensleeves"; Brahms in his famous Academic Festival Overture, which closes with the well known Gaudeamus Igitur. Frequently, such direct quotations are made to establish the feeling of past eras with special significance for the hearers, as, in many cases, Hussite which have been used by Czech composers. In the symphonic cycle, Ma vlast, for instance, Smetana uses the Hussite chorale, "All Ye Who Are Warriors of God", as the basis for Tabor, reaching a climax in Blanik. (Here, of course, the use of the hymn is also symbolic of the struggle for liberty.) Otakar Jeremias, who died in 1962 at the age of 72, was a conductor of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, later conductor at the National Theater, and at one time chairman of the Union of Czecho- slovak Composers. When Hitler invaded his country, Jeremias composed what is considered one of his most powerful works, the Fantasy for Orchestra, with the subtitle "The Lord Bids Us Fear Not - 1938", in which he, too, resorts to the old Hussite musical tradition. The Modern Czech School of Composition 1325 At the time of the Nazi terror, Novak sought courage in the national anthem, which he uses for the end of his South Bohemian Suite that portrays the brave Hussite armies. Dvorak's pupil and son-in-law, (1874-1935), found in- spiration in his difficulties as an artist and as a human being in the ancient chorales, for his noble work, Meditation on the Chorale St. Wenceslaus, Op. 35a, for (or orchestra). With many years as a member of the famous Bohemian Quartet behind him, the composer achieves remarkable sonorities. But the motivating force behind this work was the experience of the composer's country during the First World War. It is considered one of the composer's most mature works, and has been compared to a Bach chorale-prelude in which "the decora- tive fantasia texture is assimilated perfectly into the broad spacious meter of the chorale".13 Such compositions as rhapsodies, fantasias, etc., make free use of the melodic ideas of folk tunes, but are limited neither by the form nor by the actual melodic content of the original. Smetana's Concert Fantasy on Czech Folk Songs, Op. 17, Dvorak's 3 Slavonic Rhapsodies, and Vaclav Trojan's Wind Quintet based on folk tunes (1937) belong to this category. A composer may take one or more aspects which typify folk tunes and use them as devices in his composition; this may be in conjunction with a folk melody, or separately. a) He may, for instance, abandon development for the sake of repetition as a means of heightening intensity. This very device, in fact, is one of the distinguishing features of Janàcek's style. Noteworthy in this respect is the treatment of the main theme of the fourth movement of his Sinfonietta (1926):

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13 Howard Hartog, ed., European Music in the Twentieth Century (New York, 1957), p„ 297-8. 1326 Boris Kremenliev

Janacek creates music which is bold and effective; only when all possi- bilities of the small fragment are exhausted does he bring in new material. The above melody (Ex. 1), incidentally, is not a folksong. b) A composer may use established forms in folk music for artistic purposes. The Mazurkas and Polonaises of Chopin, for instance, cannot be mistaken for anything but Polish music; they are known by and familiar to Poles of all social strata. Smetana's and furiants and Dvorak's dumkas, polkas, and the two sets of Slavonic Dances (Op. 46 of 1878 and Op. 72 eight years later) are equally recognizable every- where as Czech music. The contemporary Czech composer, Vaclav Dobias, has used the spirit of the Czech very effectively in his cantata, Build Your Country to Strengthen Peace (1950), wherein the polka rhythm is used to symbolize traditional joy and patriotism.14 Miroslav Istvan's Czecho- slovak Suite for Orchestra, Oldrich Flosman's Jeseniky Suite for viola and piano, and Tibor Andrasovan's Slovak Dances for orchestra are so closely related in spirit to authentic folk music that the difference be- comes academic and unimportant. c) A composer may choose to write in the idiom of folk music, with- out necessarily quoting actual material. One of the best known examples of this method is the slow movement of Dvorak's Symphony in E Minor, Op. 95, "From the New World", where the famous melody is given to the English horn. It is apparent that Dvorak had in mind the idiom of the Negro spiritual, but we have the composer's own often-quoted statement concerning the use of Negro or Indian melodies in this symphony:

Omit the nonsense about my having made use of 'Indian' and 'American' motives, he writes to conductor Nedbal in Berlin.15 That is a lie. I tried to write only in the spirit of those national American melodies.

The melody (Example 2), has become one of the most celebrated symphonic themes in the Romantic repertoire:

14 Stepanek and Karasek, op. cit., p. 123ff. 15 Oscar Nedbal (1874-1930), a pupil of Dvorak and Josef Foerster, and a member of the "Dvorak school" of composition. He started as a violist with the Bohemian String Quartet and later conducted the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as appearing as guest conductor in London, Paris, Vienna, , and Berlin, performing the work of Czech and Slovak composers. In 1924 he per- formed Smetana's Prodana nevesta and Dvorak's Rusalka in Barcelona, with great success. The Modern Czech School of Composition 1327

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So successfully did Dvorak capture the spirit of the Negro spiritual that, like many of Stephen Foster's melodies, the tune was adopted by the people whose emotions it mirrored. Thus, the melody is more familiar to Americans as "Goin' Home" than as part of the New World Symphony. In Act III of his famous opera, Jenufa (Jeji pastorkyha — Her Foster Daughter), Janacek achieves a similar effect.16 The story is of simple peasant folk and the setting is unsophisticated; thus the use of the folk idiom is both appropriate and dramatically effective. A brief retelling of the plot will demonstrate the propriety of Janacek's folk treatment and its impact on audiences. Act I. Jenufa, a Moravian peasant girl, is in love with her cousin Steva, who has seduced her. They discuss his chances of exemption from military service in the mill of his grandmother Buryovka, who keeps the mill with her grandson Steva and her stepson Laca. Then Steva, having learned that he is not going into the army, enters with a noisy and drunken group of friends. When the two are alone, Jenufa begs him to give up drinking and bad company for the sake of their unborn child. As Steva leaves, mouthing empty promises, Laca enters and declares his

16 This observation is also made by Jaroslav Seda in his book, Leos Janacek (Prague 1956) p. 50. The Soldier's Song in Act I has also been mistaken for a folk song. 1328 Boris Krementíev love for Jenufa. He asks Jenufa for a kiss, and when she rebuffs him, he slashes her across the cheek with a knife. Act II. The baby is born in secret and Jenufa's foster-mother sends for Steva, hoping he will marry Jenufa. But he won't, because he claims he now loves Karolka, the mayor's daughter. As he leaves, Laca enters and is so moved that he offers to marry Jenufa. When he is gone, the foster-mother drowns the baby, telling Jenufa that while she was un- conscious with fever, the baby died. Jenufa then agrees to marry Laca, who is standing faithfully by. Act III. The wedding guests have assembled, among them Karolka and Steva, whom Jenufa has forgiven. All of a sudden, the baby's body is found and the crowd, assuming that Jenufa had killed her own baby, threatens her. The foster-mother confesses and is taken away; Karolka no longer wants Steva. The unhappy Jenufa, doubly disgraced, bids good-bye to Laca, but he won't let her go. In the last act, before the wedding ceremony which is interrupted by the discovery of the baby's body, Janacek composed the wedding song "Oh, Mother, Mother", which is "entirely in the spirit of a Moravian folk song": 17

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Ej, mam.ko, mam.ko, ma_mèn_ko mo. ja!

ÉÉ f r c'jjif J if Zjed _ nej_ t<2 mi no _ W §a _ pÉeE w^m * i I i.O já se bu _ du vy_dá_va _ ti. Ej!

Ej, mamko, mamko, maménko moja! Zjednejte mi nové saty, Já se budu vydávati. Ej! Ej, dcerko, dcerko, dceruíko moja! Nechaj toho vydáváha, Vsak si esce hrubé mladá! Ej! Ej, mamko, mamko, maménko moja! (2) Také jste vy mladá byly, Ráda jste se vydavály. Ej!18 " lbid., p. 58. !8 Mother, mother, dear mother! X s U 2

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The Modern Czech School of Composition 1329 Among the many contemporary Czech composers who have successfully made use of distinctive national dance forms are Bohuslav Martinu, Vitézslava Kapràlovà, Jaromir Weinberger, Alois Hàba, Vaclav Kaslik, and Vitézslav Novak.19 The creative impulse of a composer may be also stimulated by extra- musical elements: history, legend, tale, or myth; custom, superstition, or village life; the beauty of his homeland - elements which may as readily appeal to the painter or to the dramatist. Because past history has always fascinated the masses as well as the intellectuals, and because of its dramatic potential, composers have drawn on it as a basis for opera, ballet, choral, or instrumental works. It is important that Smetana's first opera dealt with a subject close to the hearts of the Czech people. The Brandenburgers in Bohemia (1863) treats the invasion of Bohemia in the 13th century. Historically, this opera is as much a milestone in Czech national music as Glinka's A Life for the Czar (1836) is in Russian music, and Halka (1858) by Stanislaw Moniuszko is in Polish music. And while Smetana's story follows the plots of the traitor Tausendmark as he conspires with the invader, underneath it runs the thread of a love story with a happy ending. The opera also served as a proving-ground for both composer and librettist (Karel Sabina), who were to combine forces again for the most success- ful of all Czech operas, Prodanà nevésta. Only fifteen years after Smetana's historic The Brandenburgers, Zdenék Fibich, the third member of the group who founded the modern Czech national school of composition (the others, of course, being Smetana and Dvorak), composed the grand opera, Blanik (1878), whose libretto by Eliska Kràsnohorskà deals with the Thirty Years' War of the 17th century. Jaroslav Jeremiàs (1889-1919) and Milos Sokola (b. 1913) wrote an oratorio and an opera, respectively, on Jan Hus; Jiri Pauer, Artistic

You must get me new clothes So I can be a bride. Hey! Daughter, daughter, dear daughter! Do not think such thoughts For you are still too young. Hey! Mother, mother, dear mother! When you were young like me You, too, married young. Hey! 19 See Martinu's Ceska rapsodie (1919), Kapralova's Suite Rustica, Weinberger's Bohemian Dances for violin and piano, Haba's Wallachian Suite (1952), Kaslik's ballet, Janosik, and Novak's Slovak Suite, Op. 32. 1330 Boris Kremenliev Director of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and a pupil of Haba, combines advanced twentieth-century techniques in the musical fibre of his historical opera, Zuzana Vojirova (1957); Eugen Suchon (b. 1908), one of the three most important Slovak composers today, wrote a historical opera, Svatopluk. Nor are culturally important events neglected by the composer. Considered to be the first significant composer from Slovakia, Jan Levoslav Bella (1843-1936) composed a four-part chorus, Our Father, for the 1000th anniversary of the arrival of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Slovakia, while the contemporary composer, Pavel Bofkovec (b. 1894), wrote a comic opera, Palecek, set in mediaeval Prague, to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the founding of Prague's famous Charles Univer- sity. Smetana chose the story of a semilegendary knight for his tragic opera, Dalibor, and the equally legendary heroes who slumber in Blanik Mountain, ready to defend their country in time of need, for the final poem in his symphonic cycle, Ma vlast. But it isn't necessarily past history which interests the composer; the impact of the dramatic events of this century which have affected not only , but mankind in general, have been faithfully recorded by the composer, who may thus be a reporter of his times. Verchovina (1951) is an opera by Zdenek Blazek, about an uprising in prewar Czechoslovakia; during the Nazi occupation, Ladislav Vycpalek was moved to compose A Czech Requiem. Although thousands of miles away from his native country, Martinu, shocked by the atrocities at Lidice, composed in New York City his Memorias to Lidice. The same year, 1943, twenty-four year old Miroslav Barvik and Karel Janecek, Professor at the Prague Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, also wrote works inspired by the Lidice tragedy.20 Among the many works of art which commemorate the end of the war, the cantata, Stalingrad (1945) of Dobias and Foerster's Cantata 1945 deserve special mention. Josef Bohuslav Foerster (1859-1951) was a writer, critic, and philosopher as well as a composer. In his vocal compositions he showed an individuality in handling vocal sonorities which established a new style of Czech school of choral composition.21 Folk poetry has also given an impetus to many compositions: Dvorak wrote many beautiful songs on Czech folk poetry: thirteen vocal pieces,

20 Barvik, Piano Sonata, Op. 20; Janecek, Symphonic Variations. 21 Gracian Cernusak in Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed. (1955). The Modern Czech School of Composition 1331 for soprano and alto with piano accompaniment, called Moravian Duets, Op. 32, and 3 Slavonic Folk Songs for chorus and piano, Op. 43. Martinu used Czech legends for his Madrigals, and folk texts for Pisne o Marii (Songs of Mary) for women's voices and for his cantata Bouquet (1937). Of the younger generation, Jan Hanus has done interesting work for children; Ilya Hurnik uses effectively the folk poetry of his native Silesia; Petr Eben's impressive cycle for choir, Love and Death, is considered one of his finest works. The idyllic setting of the village, with its simple people, has provided a background for Czech writers and composers. Otakar Ostrcil (1879- 1935) chose a religious occasion for his Czech Christmas Legend for men's voices; Julius Kalas, a series of humorous situations for his The Wallachian Bride; while Suchon portrays the plight of hard-working Slovak women in a small village high in the mountains after World War I, in his opera Kruthava, in which jealousy, hatred, and murder are the chief ingredients. By contrast, Dvorak's three-act opera Rusalka takes place in the realm of the make-believe and imposes no strain on the listener; the tragic end is easier to bear:

The water nymph Rusalka falls in love with a Prince who comes frequently to bathe in the lake. The old witch Jezibaba transforms Rusalka into a beautiful mute girl with whom the Prince falls in love. When he takes her to his castle, however, and discovers her secret, he is no longer interested in her, but seeks the affection of a Princess who is a part of his own world. Jezibaba advises Rusalka that, for the blood of her faithless lover, Rusalka might be saved, but the nymph rejects that solution and prefers to suffer, as long as the Prince is happy. As luck would have it, however, he is not happy, having been betrayed by the Princess. He wishes to see Rusalka again and goes to the lake, only to find her transformed into a will-o'-the-wisp. Never can will-o'- the-wisp be made flesh again; as Rusalka kisses the Prince, he falls dead.

Rusalka is Dvorak's most popular dramatic work, second only to Prodana nevesta in frequency of performance throughout Czecho- slovakia. And what Czech child has not delighted in hearing, over and over, the adventures of Plavacek in Tri zlate vlasy Deda Vseveda how the lost King, spending the night in a woodcutter's hayloft, overhears that the boy who is being born there that night will one day marry his own daughter, born also the same evening. The King's men, instead of drowning the woodcutter's son as in- structed by the King, let him float down the river in a basket, until a fisherman rescues him; twenty years later, the King discovers that his would-be son-in-law is alive and sends him to the palace with sealed 1332 Boris Kremenliev orders that he be executed. Unsuspecting, Plavacek gets lost in the woods and is offered shelter for the night by his fairy godmother, who substitutes for the fatal message one in the King's own handwriting, ordering that Plavacek marry the princess at once, which he does. Being unable to do much about the wedding, the King demands that the groom, in lieu of dowry, bring his bride three golden hairs of Ded Vseved. Not only does the resourceful hero succeed in achieving his objective, but he manages to return with magnificent gifts for having solved the twenty-year old mystery of the hard-working boatman, the barren youth-giving apple tree, and the dry living-water well. "And so", the folktale concludes, "the woodcutter's son became the King's son-in-law, and as for the King, perhaps he is still hard at work ferrying people across the Black Sea".22 Rudolf Karel, one of Dvorak's last pupils, who lost his life in a Nazi concentration camp, composed an opera on the Three Hairs of Grand- father Know-A11. Other fairy-tale motifs have been used - by Suk: Summer Fairy-Tale, symphonic cycle; by Ostrcil: The Legend of the White Horse, for orchestra, and the cantata, Legend of St. Zita; and by Nedbal: the ballets, Pohadka o Honzovi and Z pohadky do pohadky. The mythical times when pagan Slavs struggled against Christianity provided Fibich with an idea for his opera, Pad Arkuna (1898). The Robin Hood of Slovakia, Juro Janosik, is the hero of operas by Karel Haba and Jan Cikker, the latter, one of the major Slovak composers today; his is a brilliant work, with decorative additions to the melodic line, deriving no doubt from Slovak folk song. Compositions of a strictly programmatic nature have been the rule, rather than the exception, with these composers. Of all natural phenomena, the beauty of their native country seems to have most attracted Czech composers, as is evident from the following titles: Ma vlast, (Smetana); My Native Land (cantata by Dezider Kardos); Psalm of the Subcarpathian Lands (Suchon); Down the Vah (Moyzes); Song of My Homeland (cantata by Jan Kapr); Prague Songs, (Dobias); To My Native Land (Jaroslav Ridky); Recreation Park, Summer in the Giant Mountains, Wallachian Village, Spring in the Prague Gardens (Emil Hlobil); Stories of My Native Land (Andrej Ocenas );Krasna zeme (Jan Zdenek Bartos); Pictures of My Native Land (Otto Ferenczy), and Janacek's ballet, Rakos Rakoczy, which is "a picture of Moravian Slovakia with original songs and dances.. ." 82 W. W. Strickland, Panslavonic Folk-Lore (New York, 1930). The Modern Czech School of Composition 1333

Finally, a composer may be influenced in his craft by the rhythm and melodic contour of the words of his native tongue. Such integration of the various elements of speech is apparent in the works of Janacek, who collected, edited, and studied Moravian folk music, but who was also fascinated by the Lachian dialect of his native district:

"The melodic curves of speech are an expression of the complete organism and of all phases of its spiritual activities," Janacek wrote: "They demonstrate whether a man is stupid or intelligent, sleepy or awake, tired or alert. They tell us whether he is a child or an old man, whether it is morning or evening, light or dark, heat or frost, and disclose whether a person is alone or in company . . ,".23 Janacek constantly jotted down speech patterns and spoke, at one time, of the need for a musical dictionary of the , whose pur- pose it would be to record "ordinary melodic curves of speech in order to preserve the sound of the Czech language for future generations . . ." Such a dictionary might have such entries as, under dobry vecer: a. Familiar (to a girl carrying a pail of water): my

P=P DcLbry v<2_ccr! b. More formal, as a student to a former professor:

DcLbry ve_c<2r!

Or, under Jâ mâm hlad it dom: % Ja' mam hlad! it dom

And, both together: I must go home, I'm hungry!24 7nf

* f Ja mu-sim it dom ja mâm hlad! '' B. Stèdron: LeoS Janacek, (Prague 1956), p. 42-43. Ibid., p. 90 ff. 1334 Boris Kremenliev Thus Janacek became a student of the "melodic curves of speech", a principle which he applied in his dramatic works, especially, and which influenced his general style. Together with what he learned from Dvorak, from Smetana, and from folk music, this responsiveness to Czech speech patterns makes Janacek an entirely Czech composer. And to be a Czech composer means to stand in the line which has been traced on the accompanying chart.25 This chart graphically shows that, since the establishment of the modern Czech school of composition, under the influence of Smetana, Dvorak, and Fibich, there has been an un- interrupted tradition drawing its vitality from folkloristic roots. In retrospect, one may view the modern Czech school of composition as an art movement which has slowly matured over the past hundred years. It has produced works of genuine national and artistic importance equal to those of other European countries. A mere handful of Czech composers, through their influence and teaching, has developed a dis- tinguished roster of composers many times the original number, with an impressive output in all musical genres. Such composers as Suk, Novak, Karel Boleslav Jirak, Ostrcil, Moyzes, and Cikker have joined their predecessors, Smetana, Dvorak, and Fibich in distinguished contributions to the concert repertoire of their own country and of Western Europe. As Sibelius, Grieg, and Szymanowski have served their respective countries, so these Czech composers have introduced their own national idiom to European audiences. Janacek, like Bartok, already stands apart, with his remarkable achievement of an integrated folk art; Martinu has become an inter- national figure through his success in fusing national elements with cosmopolitan elegance. Alois Haba has come a long way from his village origins when he abstracts decorative devices from Moravian and Slovak folksongs which he utilizes in connection with Schoenbergian atonalities, as well as in his works in quarter-tone and sixth-tone systems. The use of micro-tones alone places Haba among the avant garde composers.

25 Selection of names for inclusion has been made, not only on the basis of clearly defined relationships between schools and individuals, but also on that of the availability of scores, records, and information outside Czechoslovakia. Com- posers who studied with more than one teacher are listed only once. Jirak, for instance, studied with Foerster and Novak; OcenaS, KardoS, and Krejii were pupils of Novak's at one time or another, in addition to studying with Moyzes or Jirak, etc. Although Jaroslav Kricka never studied with Novak, he was so much under his influence that I have placed him in the Novak camp. Such composers as Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942), on the other hand, who have been influenced more by jazz and the music of Schoenberg, fall outside the scope of this study. The Modern Czech School of Composition 1335 Some of the compositions of Jiri Pauer, also in the micro-tone system, have attracted considerable attention and comment. Ever since he won a prize for his Quartet at the Bartok International Competition in Budapest in 1948, Oto Ferenczy has been an established figure in modern music. Among Czech composers in the , Ridky's pupil, Karel Husa, continues to draw on the rich resources of Moravian, Slovak, and Czech folklore (Eight Czech Duets, Evocations of Slovakia, etc.). Thus, the tradition of the national spirit continues with the younger generation, in whose works the cultural heritage of the composer comes through, despite the modern methods and devices employed.

It is obvious that a composer is molded by the many social, intellectual, and emotional facets of his environment, and by his physical and economic surroundings. He may love mankind with compassion, but, in the case of the mature national artist, such love is genuine only when it starts from the cradle and is continuously fortified by experience. If an artist is constantly aware of the tensions and aspirations of his people; if he listens to the noises from the streets, to the sounds of the trees and brooks; if he listens to the human voice in anger or in song; if he studies legends and myths - these will live in his music, and preserve its folk flavor. Because in folklore one finds depicted the entire range of human problems. "Folk song", wrote Janacek, "I have lived in the heart of it ever since my childhood. A folk melody contains the whole of man - his body, his soul, his environment, everything about him. He who is brought up on national music grows to full manhood. A folk song is single-hearted because it has within it the pure man whose culture has been endowed by God, and not merely injected from without." "I think, therefore", he continues, "that when all our written music springs from the same national source, we shall all participate in such music - it will be common to us all, it will link us together. The folk song binds the nation, binds nations - the whole of mankind - into one spirit, one happiness, one weal." 26

26 Jaroslav Seda, Leos Janacek, (Prague, 1956), p. 42-43.