Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Notes to the Reader
- List of Abbreviations
- Timeline of Modern Czech History
- 1 Introduction: Nationalism, Modernism, and the Social Responsibility of Art in Prague
- 2 Smetana, Hostinský, and the Aesthetic Debates of the Nineteenth Century
- 3 Legacies, Ideologies, and Responsibilities: The Polemics of the Pre-Independence Years (1900–1918)
- 4 “Archetypes Who Live, Rejoice, and Suffer”: Czech Opera in the Fin de Siècle
- 5 The Pathology of the New Society: Debates in the Early Years of the First Republic (1918–24)
- 6 Infinite Melody, Ruthless Polyphony: Czech Modernism in the Early Republic
- 7 “A Crisis of Modern Music or Audience?”: Changing Attitudes to Cultural and Stylistic Pluralism (1925–30)
- 8 “I Have Rent My Soul in Two”: Divergent Directions for Czech Opera in the Late 1920s
- 9 Heaven on Earth: Socialism, Jazz, and a New Aesthetic Focus (1930–38)
- 10 “A Sad Optimism, the Happiness of the Resigned”: Extremes of Operatic Expression in the 1930s
- 11 The Ideological Debates of Prague Within a European Context
- Appendix One Personalia
- Appendix Two Premieres and New Productions at the National Theater, 1900–1938
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - “Archetypes Who Live, Rejoice, and Suffer”: Czech Opera in the Fin de Siècle
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Notes to the Reader
- List of Abbreviations
- Timeline of Modern Czech History
- 1 Introduction: Nationalism, Modernism, and the Social Responsibility of Art in Prague
- 2 Smetana, Hostinský, and the Aesthetic Debates of the Nineteenth Century
- 3 Legacies, Ideologies, and Responsibilities: The Polemics of the Pre-Independence Years (1900–1918)
- 4 “Archetypes Who Live, Rejoice, and Suffer”: Czech Opera in the Fin de Siècle
- 5 The Pathology of the New Society: Debates in the Early Years of the First Republic (1918–24)
- 6 Infinite Melody, Ruthless Polyphony: Czech Modernism in the Early Republic
- 7 “A Crisis of Modern Music or Audience?”: Changing Attitudes to Cultural and Stylistic Pluralism (1925–30)
- 8 “I Have Rent My Soul in Two”: Divergent Directions for Czech Opera in the Late 1920s
- 9 Heaven on Earth: Socialism, Jazz, and a New Aesthetic Focus (1930–38)
- 10 “A Sad Optimism, the Happiness of the Resigned”: Extremes of Operatic Expression in the 1930s
- 11 The Ideological Debates of Prague Within a European Context
- Appendix One Personalia
- Appendix Two Premieres and New Productions at the National Theater, 1900–1938
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Introduction: Musical Life in Prague
The ideological debates discussed in chapter 3 reveal much of the vibrancy of the Prague musical community in the pre-independence era, and a discussion of the actual musical production of the day—concert life, musical styles, and the composers themselves—completes the picture. It is certainly true that the polemics of Nejedlý, Stecker, and others occasionally departed from contemporary experience, concentrating more on minutiae from decades past. As with the “Novák Affair,” however, these issues continuously had a direct effect on contemporary composition, helping to shape, for better or worse, the direction of Czech modernism and its relation to the rest of Europe. Public tastes, too, were affected by these print wars, since the programming of institutional concerts directly reflected the ideological and stylistic leanings of those in power.
If taken as a whole, concert life in turn-of-the-century Prague offered an astonishing array of choices. The possibilities were severely limited, however, if one's attendance followed national or linguistic lines, and concert and opera reviews published at the time seem to imply a strictly segregated audience, particularly with the approach of the First World War. Prague's German community, while increasingly in the minority (with the rise of Czech middle and lower classes in the suburbs), was still within the political majority of Austria-Hungary, and its programming choices reflected a desire to preserve its cultural status.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Opera and Ideology in PraguePolemics and Practice at the National Theater, 1900–1938, pp. 65 - 109Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2006