While observing the dynamics of the reception studies of Smetana's creative personality and his opera works, several cultural-social as well as political milestones appeared which transformed society ...as well as its aesthetic needs, provoked diverse discussions about the composer's works and its influence on Czech national music and gave a new direction to the reception studies. They included, for example, the conflict between Old Czechs and Young Czechs, the premiere of Smetana's first operas, Wagner's musical reforms, the opening of the Provisional and National Theatre, Smetana's deafness and death, the International Exhibition of Music and Theatre in Vienna, the First World War, the establishment of an independent Czechoslovak state and the celebrations of the anniversary of Smetana's birth. It is characteristic of Smetana's works that they were not received unambiguously both during his life and later and he himself did not immediately become a generally accepted and recognized personality. Although during his life he received society-wide renown from both the Czech lay public and experts and he was recognized as the reformer of Czech musical life and music and the creator of their modern forms, which has not been questioned since, the process of discovering and understanding his works to their full extent was long. The thesis provides a basic description of how the perception of Smetana's creative personality and works developed and the dynamics it acquired from the first reflections during his life until 1924, when extensive celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth took place, which are until today considered the absolute climax of the activities celebrating Smetana, which have not been surpassed in terms of intensity and quality until the present day.
Post-WWII studies of Smetana's The Brandenburgers in Bohemia view the work as an expression of the Czechs' resistance to various kinds of national oppression, by the Austrian Empire, and by Austrian ...and Bohemian Germans. This article shows that these views emerged only long after the opera was written in 1862-3 and premiered in 1866. An exploration of Czech political debates in the early 1860s, contemporaneous historical accounts of the thirteenth-century events the opera depicts, Smetana's sketches, censorship practices and records, and reviews of The Brandenburgers from the months after the premiere illustrates that the mid-nineteenth-century conceptualization of the Czechs' position within the Austrian Empire and their relationship to Germans and German Bohemians was less oppositional and binary than in later decades. This context in fact clarifies numerous ambiguous aspects of Smetana's opera, such as the main villain's characterization and the ambiguous depiction of the Brandenburgers. A brief survey of the opera's reception history shows, furthermore, that the intensely nationalistic, anti-German, and anti-Austrian perspective on The Brandenburgers, still accepted nowadays, became particularly prominent in reaction to various twentieth-century totalitarian ideologies and were strongly influenced by the opera's first post-WWII production at the former New German Theater in September 1945.
*2. März 1824 in Litomyšl (Leitomischl), †12. Mai 1884 in Prag, Komponist. Smetana wurde als elftes Kind und erster Sohn des Bierbrauers der Schloßbrauerei František Smetana (1777–1857) und seiner ...dri...
This article explores how national conflicts were defined, negotiated, and resolved (or not) during the 1892 Vienna International Exhibition of Music and Drama. Through a combination of archival ...research and reception history, I analyze the various approaches to the organization of the exhibition, which institutionalized political formations in the structure of the event and coopted preexisting institutions that straddled imperial and national lines, such as the Prague National Theater. I then go on to explore the transnational resonances of the Czech delegation’s wildly successful residency at the exhibition, and how groups both within and outside the Austro-Hungarian Empire instrumentalized the Czechs’ triumphs and recast them with an eye toward advancing their own national narratives. While approaches to nationalist issues may have differed greatly among the various stakeholders at the 1892 exhibition, they all agreed on one thing—the power of theater to potentially upend the political status quo. previous article back to index next article
Tato studie představuje výsledky projektu „Paměť zvuku: evoluční principy interpretační tradice české hudby na příkladu děl Antonína Dvořáka a Bedřicha Smetany“ (TAČR). Cílem projektu je vytvořit ...analytické nástroje pro analýzu hudebně-interpretačního výkonu. Projekt zkoumá využití výpočetních metod, strojového učení a umělé inteligence k zachycení interpretačního vývoje klavírních děl Bedřicha Smetany a Antonína Dvořáka. V rámci projektu jsme připravili open-source software „MemoVision“. Tento nástroj kombinuje uživatelsky přívětivé rozhraní a moderní metody zpracování dat. Zaměřuje se na využití metod oboru získávání hudebních informací pro účely analýzy hudebně-interpretačního výkonu. Hlavní důraz je kladen na srovnávací analýzu – výpočet a rozbor rozdílů mezi vícero verzemi stejného hudebního díla. Uživatelé mohou nahrávat zvukové nahrávky, metadata a anotace pozic taktů v podobě „základní pravdy“ a označit každou nahrávku tzv. binárním štítkem. Poté software extrahuje informace ze všech nahrávek a uživateli poskytne užitečné podněty pro kvalitativní výzkum. Uživatelé mohou přehrávat konkrétní rozsahy taktů, vytvářet vlastní sekce podle hudebního významu nebo vizualizovat data o interpretačním výkonu a rozdíly mezi nahrávkami nebo skupinami nahrávek. Nástroj MemoVision kombinuje metodu synchronizace a statistického vyhodnocení spolu s možnostmi vizualizace, aby přispěl k porozumění dat o interpretačním výkonu. Možnosti softwaru jsou prezentovány také na několika interpretacích Smyčcového kvartetu č. 13 G dur, op. 106 Antonína Dvořáka a Smyčcového kvartetu č. 2 „Listy důvěrné“ Leoše Janáčka v sekci „Smyčcové kvartety: Dvořák–Janáček“. Následující sekce „Exkurs: České tance Bedřicha Smetany“ využívá rozsáhlou hudební databázi Smetanových českých tanců. Zastoupení nahrávek zahraničních klavíristů je sice nižší, ale tvoří dostatečně reprezentativní skupinu umožňující zachytit rozdíly mezi jednou z binárních tříd (v našem případě jsme zvolili české vs. zahraniční interprety). Cílem analýzy bylo najít takty nebo úseky, ve kterých se interpretace dvou definovaných skupin nejvíce lišily.
Karel Janeček (1903–1974) was a groundbreaking figure in Czech modern music theory. Although he was active as a scholar and a composer, his place in Czech music history rests on his theoretical work. ...He was the originator of a new model for university-level music theory teaching, setting up a framework whose essence is still in use today. After a brief period of teaching at the Prague Conservatory, he spent the following three decades of his career at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (AMU), where he was head of the Department of Music Theory. His work as a teacher of players, singers, conductors, music directors and, most notably, composers served Janeček as an empirical testing ground for the premises, concepts, and systemic principles he came to formulate in his major books and essays. Viewed from a historical perspective, his most significant books include Základy moderní harmonie (Modern Harmony, 1949, published 1965), Hudební formy (Musical Forms, 1955), and Tektonika – nauka o stavbě skladeb (Tectonics: A Theory of the Structure of Compositions, 1968). Janeček´s teaching commitments at AMU were centered around two theoretical courses whose concepts he drew up and put into practice: namely, Nauka o skladbě (Theory of Composition), which was later renamed Study of Compositions. With the passage of time, as Janeček brought out his essential theoretical writings, his theory of composition came to serve as an obligatory supplement to all disciplines of music theory. It was focused on three areas: (a) modern harmony, (b) melody, and (c) tectonics. The study deals with two little-known areas of Janeček’s theoretical activity. First of all, there are early studies from the 1930s, a period in which he was teaching at the Music School in Plzeň. At this time, Janeček began to focus on the issue of modern harmony, and most of these articles are preparatory work for his first monograph, Modern Harmony, completed in 1949. Janeček created an original systematics of harmonic material using as few as two and as many as twelve notes in an equal-tempered system. Its classification and determination of dissonant or consonant characteristics apply to both the chords of traditional Classical-Romantic music and to modern music of the twentieth century. At this time, he also devoted himself to the analysis of Bedřich Smetana’s music. In these analyses we find the beginnings of his completely original concept of musical tectonics. Janeček thus created a new subdiscipline and analytical method (tectonic analysis). The second topic of the study is a critical analysis of Janeček’s completely unknown textbook Kontrapunkt (Counterpoint), which was created in the 1940s and was intended mainly for conservatory students. Unfortunately, the text remained unfinished, but testifies to his original approach to teaching counterpoint. Janeček’s main concern was to explain the essence of individual contrapuntal techniques, focusing on their practical application. Therefore, he limited the historical aspect and applied his specific analytical and compositional method to explain the basics of vocal counterpoint. Karel Janeček (1903–1974) war eine führende Persönlichkeit im Begründungsprozess einer modernen tschechischen Musiktheorie. Neben seinem Wirken als Gelehrter und als Komponist ging er in die Geschichte der tschechischen Musiktheorie als Urheber eines neuen Konzepts von Musiktheorie mit dem Anspruch einer universitären Disziplin ein, indem er Rahmenbedingungen einführte, die im Kern bis heute als Modell weiterwirken. Nach einer kurzen Phase, während der er am Prager Konservatorium lehrte, verbrachte Janeček die folgenden drei Jahrzehnte seiner Karriere an der Akademie für Darstellende Künste (AMU) in Prag, wo er die Musiktheorieabteilung leitete. Seine Arbeit als Lehrer von Musiker*innen, Dirigent*innen, Musikdirektor*innen und insbesondere Komponist*innen diente ihm als Experimentierfeld für die Grundsätze, Konzepte und systematischen Prinzipien, die er in seinen wichtigsten Büchern und Essays formulierte. Von weitreichender Bedeutung sind seine drei Hauptschriften Základy moderní harmonie Moderne Harmonie (1965), Hudební formy Musikalische Formen (1955) und Tektonika – nauka o stavbě skladeb Tektonik – Eine Theorie über die Struktur musikalischer Kompositionen (1968). Im Zentrum von Janečeks Unterrichtstätigkeit an der AMU standen zwei musiktheoretische Kurse, deren Konzepte er bündelte und in die Praxis umsetzte, darunter die Kompositionstheorie, die später in Studium von Kompositionenumbenannt wurde. Mit der Veröffentlichung seiner theoretischen Schriften diente Janečeks Kompositionstheorie zunehmend als obligatorische Ergänzung zu allen weiteren musiktheoretischen Disziplinen. Sie zielte auf drei Bereich ab: a) moderne Harmonie, b) Melodie sowie c) Tektonik. Die vorliegende Studie beschäftigt sich mit zwei wenig bekannten Aspekten von Janečeks theoretischem Wirken. Zunächst geht es um frühe Studien aus den 1930er Jahren, in denen Janeček an der Pilsener Musikschule lehrte. Frühzeitig spezialisierte er sich auf dem Gebiet der modernen Harmonik, und die meisten Arbeiten aus dieser Zeit sind Vorbereitungen der ersten Monographie Moderne Harmonik von 1949. Janeček entwickelte eine spezifische Systematik des harmonischen Materials von Zweiklängen (Intervallen) bis hin zu Zwölftonharmonien im Rahmen der gleichschwebend temperierten Stimmung. Seine Klassifizierung und Bezeichnung dissonanter sowie konsonanter Klangeigenschaften gilt sowohl für die Akkorde der traditionellen klassisch-romantischen Musik als auch für die der Moderne des 20. Jahrhunderts. In dieser Phase widmete er sich überdies der Analyse von Bedřich Smetanas Musik. Seine Analysen zeigen Ansätze eines völlig neuen Konzepts von tektonischer Analyse. Der zweite Gegenstand der Studie ist eine kritische Analyse von Janečeks unbekanntem Textbuch Kontrapunkt, das in den 1940er Jahren entstand und hauptsächlich für Studierende an Konservatorien bestimmt war. Diese leider unvollendet gebliebene Schrift dokumentiert den ursprünglichen Ansatz von Janečeks Kontrapunkt-Unterricht. Sein Hauptanliegen war, essentielle sowie individuelle kontrapunktische Techniken zu erklären und zu zeigen, ›wie es gemacht wird‹. Daher gab er historischen Gesichtspunkten nur begrenzt Raum und wandte seine eigene analytische und kompositorische Methode an, um die Grundlagen des Kontrapunkts zu erklären.
Rhythmic movements, such as peristaltic contraction, are initiated by output from central pattern generator (CPG) networks in the CNS. These oscillatory networks elicit locomotion in the absence of ...external sensory or descending inputs, but CPG circuits produce more directed and behaviorally relevant movement via peripheral nervous system (PNS) input. Drosophila melanogaster larval locomotion results from patterned muscle contractions moving stereotypically along the body segments, but without PNS feedback, contraction of body segments is uncoordinated. We have dissected the role of a subset of mechanosensory neurons in the larval PNS, the chordotonal organs (chos), in providing sensory feedback to the locomotor CPG circuit with Dias (Dynamic Image Analysis System) software. We analyzed mutants carrying cho mutations including atonal, a cho proneural gene, beethoven, a cho cilia class mutant, smetana and touch-insensitive larva B, two axonemal mutants, and 5D10, a weak cho mutant. All cho mutants have defects in gross path morphology compared to controls. These mutants exhibit increased frequency and duration of turning (decision-making) and reduced duration of linear locomotion. Furthermore, cho mutants affect locomotor parameters, including reduced average speed, direction change, and persistence. DIAS analysis of peristaltic waves indicates that mutants exhibit reduced average speed, positive flow and negative flow, and increased stride period. Thus, cho sensilla are major proprioceptive components that underlie touch sensitivity, locomotion, and peristaltic contraction by providing sensory feedback to the locomotor CPG circuit in larvae.
The second half of the 19th century is the time when in the art music created by the composers who represent conditionally small nations the efforts to prove their national identity were manifested ...stronger than ever previously. How was this process perceived by the music critics representing other, larger nations, and was the reception influenced only by purely musical factors, or also by the historically established relations between national communities? The paper is searching at least partial answer to this question researching the assessments of the Czech and Latvian music in the Riga German music critic in the late 19th and early 20th century.
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