Divadelní revue (Czech Theatre Review) vol. 34 · 2023 · no 2


Summary

The second issue of 2023 Czech Theatre Review is dedicated to the Czech musicologist and theatre historian Jitka Ludvová, who celebrates her milestone anniversary this autumn. The studies in this issue are therefore devoted to themes and areas close to those that the Czech musicologist addressed in her research work. Vlasta Reittererová in her essay “From artistic Prague and Vienna of the Beginning of the 20th century” explores the artistic relations between Vienna and Prague after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The essay focuses on the differences and similarities in the reception of modern artistic movements in both cities (in music, theatre and, to some extent, the visual arts), with particular reference to the figures of Arnold Schönberg, Alexander Zemlinsky and their Prague friends. It gives the same or opposite reactions of contemporary critics and the artists themselves to the new works etc. The link is the person of the Prague photographer and music enthusiast Otto Schlosser (1880–1942), from whose studio the most famous photographs of Schönberg, Zemlinsky and other artists around the New German Theatre and Prague's cultural life come. Miroslav Lukáš's text deals with the possibilities of computer support in historiographical research of theatre and tries to point out the necessity of greater involvement of digital technologies in research processes. It then uses the example of the mobility of the Eggenberg court comedians to focus on the spatial analyses made possible by GIS (geographic information systems) technologies, which clearly track not only the movements but also the social networks of theatre companies. At the same time, however, the text highlights the pitfalls and challenges of such research, which always starts with a well-crafted database. Frank Ziegler's “The von Weber Family of Musicians and Theaters in Bohemia and Moravia – A Survey of the Current State of Research” looks at the theatre and music activities of Carl Maria von Weber's family, whose several members also worked at theaters in the territory of today's Czech Republic. The article presents the current state of knowledge, but also points out open questions. The Webers' wanderings are presented as an exemplification of the socially precarious situation of many stage artists at the beginning of the 19th century. Martin Nedbal's article explores the reception of Gluck's operas in nineteenth-century Prague and shows that it was heavily influenced by political ideologies, specifically Bohemian patriotism and both Czech and German nationalism. Czech and German Bohemian critics from the 1840s to the early 1900s stressed Gluck's reformist ideals and called for repeated performances of his works, while admitting that his style was archaic and difficult to process. In the late 19th century, critical reactions split along national lines. Whereas German Bohemian critics emphasized Gluck's relationship to Wagner and German national opera traditions, Czech critics discussed Gluck's presumed links to Czech folk songs and Czech national culture. Both Czech and German Bohemian views were also rooted in earlier beliefs that Gluck was basically a Bohemian composer. In the early twentieth century, the Bohemian interest in Gluck peaked in a German Gluck festival and influenced Antonín Dvořák's last opera, Armida. The issue concludes with an interview with Jitka Ludvová accompanied by a list of her bibliography.

analysis

Vlasta Reittererová
From artistic Prague and Vienna of the Beginning of the 20th century. [peer-reviewed article]

Miroslav Lukáš
Computer Support in Theatre Historiography with Regard to Research on the Mobility of Theatre Companies in the 17th Century. [peer-reviewed article]

Frank Ziegler
The von Weber Family of Musicians and Theaters in Bohemia and Moravia – A Survey of the Current State of Research. [peer-reviewed article]

Martin Nedbal
Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Operas and National Politics in Nineteenth-Century Prague. [peer-reviewed article]

interview

On Vladimír Lébl, the musical and theatrical culture of (not only) "German" Prague Interview with musicologist Jitka Ludvová (Václav Petrbok)

bibliography

Jitka Ludvová

new book relases (July – August 2023)


Vlasta Reittererová
From artistic Prague and Vienna of the Beginning of the 20th century. After the fall of the Habsburg monarchy and the establishment of new states, the Czechoslovak Republic and the Austrian Republic went their own political way. However, there were still artistic contacts, mutual confrontations, influences and exchanges of impulses. One of the circles in which German- and Czech-language artists who maintained a relationship with Vienna met in Prague was the New German Theatre. The essay focuses on the differences and similarities in the reception of modern artistic movements in both cities (in music, theatre and, to some extent, the visual arts), with particular reference to the figures of Arnold Schönberg, Alexander Zemlinsky and their Prague friends. It gives the same or opposite reactions of contemporary critics and the artists themselves to the new works etc. The link is the person of the Prague photographer and music enthusiast Otto Schlosser (1880–1942), from whose studio the most famous photographs of Schönberg, Zemlinsky and other artists around the New German Theatre and Prague's cultural life come.
Contact: Vlasta Reittererová | reitterer[at]seznam.cz.

Miroslav Lukáš
Miroslav Lukáš: Computer Support in Theatre Historiography with Regard to Research on the Mobility of Theatre Companies in the 17th Century. The text deals with the possibilities of computer support in historiographical research of theatre and tries to point out the necessity of greater involvement of digital technologies in research processes. It then uses the example of the mobility of the Eggenberg court comedians to focus on the spatial analyses made possible by GIS (geographic information systems) technologies, which clearly track not only the movements but also the social networks of theatre companies. At the same time, however, the text highlights the pitfalls and challenges of such research, which always starts with a well-crafted database.
Contact: Miroslav Lukáš | ORCID: 0000-0001-8518-5961 | Institut umění - Divadelní ústav | miroslav.lukas[at]idu.cz

Frank Ziegler
The von Weber Family of Musicians and Theaters in Bohemia and Moravia – A Survey of the Current State of Research. Carl Maria von Weber's activity as opera director at the Prague Estates Theater (1813–1816) has been widely studied. It is less known that several members of his family also worked at theaters in the territory of today's Czech Republic. However, due to the more or less random transmission of the widely scattered source material, the information in this regard is fragmentary and possibly incomplete. The article presents the current state of knowledge, but also points out open questions. For example, half-brother Edmund von Weber may have stayed in Prague at the beginning of his career (1796), but the references to this are contradictory. The situation was different in 1807/1808, when he directed the Karlovy Vary Theater for two summer seasons. There he was director of a rather second-rate theater company dominated by members of the von Weber family. Niece Victorine Weyrauch was engaged as a youthful performer in opera and drama at the Prague Estates Theater in 1812/1813, and half-brother Fridolin von Weber was briefly engaged in 1815 in Eger and Carlsbad, probably as music director. Half-sister Jeanette Weyrauch, a singer previously celebrated in Weimar and St. Petersburg, found one of her last jobs in Brno at the end of her career in 1816. The Webers' wanderings exemplify the socially precarious situation of many stage artists at the beginning of the 19th century.
Contact: Frank Ziegler | ORCID: 0009-0007-8165-6763 | Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin | frank.ziegler[at]sbb.spk-berlin.de

Martin Nedbal
Christoph Willibald Gluck's Operas and National Politics in Nineteenth- -Century Prague. This article explores the reception of Gluck's operas in nineteenth-century Prague and shows that it was heavily influenced by political ideologies, specifically Bohemian patriotism, and Czech and German nationalism. Czech and German Bohemian critics from the 1840s to the early 1900s stressed Gluck's reformist ideals and called for repeated performances of his works, while admitting that his style was archaic and difficult to process. In the late nineteenth century, critical reactions split along national lines. Whereas German Bohemian critics emphasized Gluck's relationship to Wagner and German national opera traditions, Czech critics discussed Gluck's presumed links to Czech folk songs and Czech national culture. Both Czech and German Bohemian views were also rooted in earlier beliefs that Gluck was basically a Bohemian composer. In the early twentieth century, the Bohemian interest in Gluck peaked in a German Gluck festival and influenced Antonín Dvořák's last opera, Armida.
Contact: Martin Nedbal | ORCID: 0000-0002-3265-5189 | University of Kansas | mnedbal[at]ku.edu