CZECH MUSIC GUIDE CZECH MUSIC GUIDE Supported by Ministry of Culture Czech Republic © 2011 Arts and Theatre Institute Second modified edition First printing ISBN 978-80-7008-269-0 No: 625 All rights reserved CONTENT ABOUT THE CZECH REPUBLIC 12 A SHORT HISTORY OF MUSIC 13 THE MIDDLE AGES (CA 850–1440) 13 THE RENAISSANCE 13 THE BAROQUE 13 CLASSICISM 14 ROMANTICISM/NATIONAL MUSIC 14 THE PERIOD 1890–1945 16 CZECH MUSIC AFTER 1945 19 THE SIXTIES/AVANT-GARDE, NEW MUSIC 22 THE SEVENTIES AND EIGHTIES 25 CONTEMPORARY MUSICAL LIFE 29 CURRENT CULTURE POLICY 37 MUSIC INSTITUTIONS 38 THE MUSIC EDUCATION SYSTEM 50 ARCHIVES, LIBRARIES, SCIENCE AND RESEARCH CENTRES 51 JOURNALS AND INFORMATION CENTRES 52 REGIONAL PANORAMA OF CZECH MUSIC CULTURE 53 LINKS (SELECTION) 66 EDITORIAL NOTE The Czech Music Guide presents an actual panorama of contemporary Czech music life with a short overview of history. It has been produced for everyone who is interested - from the specialist and scholarly to the active and practical - to understand Czech music culture and its milieu. 12 ABOUT CZECH REPUBLIC CZECH MUSIC GUIDE 13 ABOUT THE CZECH REPUBLIC The Czech Republic is a landlocked country with The cultural sector is administered by the Minis- a territory of 78 865 m2 lying in the centre of try of Culture, and non-profi t organisations play Europe. The country has borders with Poland, an important role. Since 1989 the latter have Germany, Austria and Slovakia, and is currently taken the form of civil associations, non-profi t divided into 14 regions. Since 2004 the CR has companies, endowment funds, and church legal been a member of the EU. At the end of 2009, entities involved in the provision of educational there were 10. 5 million people living in the CR and cultural services, the majority of them are aged 0-14: ca. 1 488 thousand, 15-64: 7 425 thou- civil associations. In 1996, The Forum 2000 was sand, 65+: 1 578 thousand. The capital is Prague founded as a joint initiative of Czech President with a population of approximately 1 249 thou- Václav Havel, Japanese philanthropist Yohei sand. A resident is a person who has a place of Sasakawa, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie abode in the CR for 183 days or more during the Wiesel in Prague. Since 2000, the Forum 2000 year; residents have a full duty status in the CR. Foundation has been supporting the internatio- The history of the Czech state goes back to nal NGO Market. the 9th Century (Greater Moravia) and the 10th Approximately 15% of the population has a uni- Century (the fi rst Bohemian State). Historically, versity education and the proportion is growing. its periods of greatest political infl uence and The number of households directly connected to cultural fl owering were in the 13th and 14th Cen- the Internet is rising dramatically. In 2010, it was turies (the last Premyslids, Charles IV) and in the 49,2%; 94,6% of households use mobile phones 16th Century (Rudolf II). After centuries of rule as (active SIM cards). provinces of the Habsburg Empire (from 1620), Bohemia and Moravia became an independent national state (with Slovakia) in 1918 as Czecho- Note: slovakia. Between the two world wars Czecho- Recommended information sources: www.czso.cz, http://www.culturalpolicies.net, slovakia was a democratic state with a highly www.economywatch.com, www.worldwide-tax.com developed economy. The communist period started in 1948. In 1989 Czechoslovakia changed its political regime. In 1993 the country was pea- cefully divided into two independent states: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Václav Havel was the fi rst president of the new Czech state. The current (i.e. 2011) president is Václav Klaus. The GDP per capita in CZK was 361 986 in 2010 (exchange rate EUR 1 = 24.5 CZK), the infl ation rate was 1.5% in 2010. The Czech income tax rate for individual‘s income in 2010 was a fl at 15% rate. The corporate tax was 19% in 2010. Pension and investment funds pay 5% corporate tax, the rate of corporation tax was 45% in 1992 as compared to the present rate of 19%. The minimum wage was 8,000 CZK in 2010, the average monthly wage was 25. 803 CZK, but only 22, 233 in the cultural sector. The rate of unemployment was ca 9,6% in 2010. 14 A SHORT HISTORY OF MUSIC A SHORT HISTORY THE RENAISSANCE The period of the Renaissance in the Bohemian OF MUSIC Lands (ca 1440–1620) was marked by religious reform and the controversies surrounding it, and brought various changes in liturgical and sacred singing (in the Czech language). The musical styles of Renaissance reached the country from the middle of 15th Century. The best known Czech composer of this period was the nobleman and Rudolfi ne courtier and THE MIDDLE AGES (CA 850–1440) Protestant convert Kryštof Harant of Polžice and Bezdružice (executed 1621) with his motet Maria In the period of the Middle Ages (ca 850–1440) Kron and Missa super Dolorosi martyr. the liturgical Gregorian Chant began to spread Many graduals and hymnbooks have survived into the region in the later 9th Century. In 1363 from the period, for example the Franus Hymn- the fi rst Prague Archbishop Arnošt of Pardu- book, the Gradual from Chrudim, the Szamotuly bice (+1364) ordered the compilation of existing Hymnbook, the Strahov Codex and the Codex plainchant repertory (the Gradual of Arnošt of Specialník. Pardubice). The best known Czech songs of this period were Hospodine, pomiluj ny/Lord, Have Mercy on us originally based on an old Slavo- THE BAROQUE nic text and from the 10/11th Centuries, Svatý Václave, vévodo české země/Saint Wenceslas, The Baroque period in the Bohemian Lands Duke of the Bohemian Land, Buóh všemohúcí/ (ca 1620–1740) was moulded by the political God Almighty and Jezu kriste, ščedrý kněže/ and social changes that followed the defeat of Jesu Christ, Generous Prince. Latin sacred the Revolt of the Estates at the Battle of the cantiones were translated into Czech; lays were White Mountain in 1620. There were large-scale a well-known form of strophic song, for example confi scations of property and the forced re-ca- O Maria, Matko Božie/Oh, Mary, Mother of God. tholicisation of the population resulted in mass The existence of secular music has been docu- emigration, including the departure of many mented from the 13th Century. Many German intellectuals (such as Jan Ámos Komenský/Co- minnesingers were present at the royal court of menius) and artists. The royal court was moved the last Premyslid monarchs and their successors to Vienna. the Luxembourgs (13th and 14th centuries). The The new musical style began to penetrate into the famous French composer and poet Guillaume de Bohemian Lands at the end of the 17th Century, Machaut (+1377) spent some time in the service especially through the import of Italian music. of King John of Luxemburg. Only the texts of the The fi rst important Czech composer of the Ba- celebrated love songs of courtly type – Dřevo se roque era was Adam Michna of Otradovice listem odievá/Trees Are Putting on leaves and (+ 1676, Česká mariánská muzika/Czech Music what is known as the Song of Záviš Jišť mne vše in Honour of the Virgin, Loutna česká/The Czech radost ostává/All My Joy is Waning have come Lute e.o.), and he was followed by the trum- down to us. Liturgical polyphony and polytex- pet player and Kapellmeister in Olomouc Pavel tual motets were performed in 13th and 14th Cen- Josef Vejvanovský (+1693). The most important turies. The fi fteen-year Hussite Period (1419–34) composers of the Bohemian Baroque were Jan of religious confl ict and civil war had a serious Dismas Zelenka, who lived in Prague and Dres- impact on musical culture in the Bohemian den (+1745, Latin school drama Sub olea pacis Lands. The Gregorian Chant was translated into et palma virtutis, six Lamentationes Jeremiae Czech (Jistebnice Hymnbook, ca 1420) and there prophetae e.o.) and Bohuslav Matěj Černohorský were many monophonic songs about current (+1742) who lived in Prague and later in Italy. political events. Opera reached the Bohemian Lands from Italy at the beginning of the 17th Century. The Prague production of court composer Johann J. Fux´s Constanza e Fortezza presented for the coronation of the Emperor Charles VI as King of Bohemia in 1723, was considered to be an extra- CZECH MUSIC GUIDE 15 ordinary event involving more than 300 perfor- Operatic Life mers. In 1713, the Prague burghers founded the Music Academy. At the beginning of 1720s J. A. Josef Mysliveček (1737–81) composed for leading Questenberg established and cultivated an opera Italian opera theatres in Milan, Rome and Naples. in his castle in Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou. The His operas and oratorio works were very popular fi rst known Czech opera (originally sung in Italian and much admired. Mozart’s operas Die Ent- but afterwards in Czech) L´origine di Jaromeriz führung aus dem Serail, La nozze di Figaro, in Moravia, by František Václav Míča (1694–1744) Don Giovanni and Tito were staged in The Esta- was performed here in 1730. Opera was cultiva- tes Theatre. The fi rst opera performed in Czech ted in many other noble and Episcopal residen- translation was the Magic Flute at the Theatre ces (in Kroměříž, Jánský Vrch by Javorník, Roud- U Hybernů in 1794. Starting in 1780 the German nice nad Labem, Kuks). The Prague impresarios theatre companies presented Italian repertoire expanded their activities to other centres such as in German translation or original singspiels and Dresden, Leipzig, and Hamburg.