PRAGUE AND CZECH REPUBLIC – Travel guide for opera, classical music and culture

Acquaintance with Liszt

The Bohemian composer was born Friedrich Smetana in the Bohemian province in 1824. Educated in the German language in the tradition of the time, he did not learn the Czech language until he was an adult. His musical awakening, however, came as a teenager in Prague, when he heard Franz Liszt, with whom he later became friends. In his young adult years, he wrote minor works and he earned a living as a music teacher, partly as an employee of the court. In 1856, he left for Gothenburg with his wife and children because he was unhappy with the autocratic government in his homeland. Within a few years, two children died, and on the return trip from Gothenburg in 1859, his wife died of tuberculosis.

A life full of conflict

In 1860, the “Bartered Bride” was performed with good success at the Prague Interim Theater, the forerunner of the National Theater, where Smetana held the post of Kapellmeister. He actually wanted to become director of the theater, but because he was a supporter of the New Germans around Liszt and Wagner, he was denied. This feud dragged on during his tenure with many intrigues and quarrels, which ruined Smetana’s health. A tinnitus (according to him, an A-flat major sex chord) made itself felt and by 1873 Smetana was completely deaf and he retired from his post. Nevertheless, in the following years he composed his best-known work, “Ma Vlast” (“My Fatherland”). He wrote it in the countryside, where he had moved out with his second wife and children to live with his sister. The first piece of this 6-part cycle is called Vyšehrad, it is about the castle on the Vltava River, at the foot of which he was buried 10 years later.

Late discovery by Brahms

Born in 1841 in rural Bohemia, Prague became the center of his life from the beginning of his music studies in 1857. For 20 years he lived in the Czech capital as a mouse-poor student and orchestral musician. Alongside this, he composed smaller works, but it was not until he received a scholarship in 1874 that he was able to devote sufficient time to larger works.

In 1877 the breakthrough came with the honorable mentions first by the famous critic Hanslick and then mainly by the encouragement of Johannes Brahms. However, it was also during this period that the tragedies of the two child deaths occurred, which shook him while he was working on the Stabat Mater.

Triumph in the USA

In the 80’s concert tours to England helped him to prosperity and in the beginning of the 90’s the 2-year stay in the USA took place with the acclaimed premiere of his 9th symphony in New York, which helped him to fame. Dvořák died in Prague in 1904.

Life focus in Brno

Janáček kam als Jugendlicher ins mährische Brünn. Nach einem kurzen Musik-Studium in Prag liess er sich im Brünn nieder. Er heiratete eine ehemalige Klavierschülerin und wurde Leiter einer Musikschule. Er komponierte neben seinem Beruf, sein erstes Meisterwerk, die Oper «Jenufa», begann er 1894, beendete es aber erst 1904 mit einer Uraufführung im Nationaltheater Brünn. Es blieb aber weitgehend unbeachtet, erst eine 1916er Fassung machte das Werk (zusammen mit einem Aufsatz Max Brods in Deutschland) bekannt und der mittlerweile 62-jährige bekam zum ersten Mal breitere Aufmerksamkeit.

Late breakthrough as 62-year-old in Prague

Janáček spent his artistically active life in Prague. Nevertheless, Prague was fateful for his career in 1916. Finally, after an agonizingly long 12 years, Prague decided to perform “Jenufa,” which had already premiered in Brno in 1904. Although some changes were made to the work, thanks to the performance and an article by Max Brod published in Germany, the work became famous and Janáček, at the age of 62, became known to a wider public for the first time.

A star in Prague

Mozart was the acclaimed star in Prague, something he had never been granted in Vienna. He felt understood and enjoyed his triumphs and composed many famous pieces, such as Don Giovanni (in collaboration with Da Ponte) for the Bohemian capital. He visited Prague five times, most recently in the year of his death for the premiere of “Clemenza di Tito.”

TO THE COMPLETE MOZART BIOGRAPHY

The construction of the Czech National Theater was a national act, financed by donations from all over the country. The laying of the foundation stone was attended by 100,000 people, but it took an agonizing 13 years before it was opened in 1883, shortly before completion a fire raged. It is the most important musical theater in Czechoslovakia.

National theater Prague:

The premiere of the opera “Rusalka” (next to the “Bartered Bride” the most famous Czech opera) was perhaps the most glamorous moment of this house, which saw the light of day in this theater in 1901 to great acclaim. Listen to the most famous piece from this opera, the Moon Aria sung by Anna Netrebko:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwuNqcKUxto

The premiere of his 8th Symphony had taken place in this theater 11 years earlier.

In this concert hall Dvořák conducted the first performance of the newly founded Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, which originally consisted of the musicians of the National Theater. The building served as a parliament building for a few years and also houses an art museum. The large hall is named after Dvořák. The Rudolfinum features high quality classical music.

Dvořák hall:

https://www.rudolfinum.cz/

The theater opened in 1888 as the “Neues Deutsches Theater,” financed by German industrialists (not to be confused with the Estates Theater). Artistically it was run by Angelo Neumann, a great Wagner devotee, opening with the “Meistersinger”. Today, as the State Opera, it belongs to the public theaters. The building has been renovated and reopened gloriously in 2020. Tours are made possible.

State Opera:

https://www.narodni-divadlo.cz/en

Where Mozart celebrated his triumphs

In 1887 Mozart celebrated one of the greatest triumphs of his career at the Estates Theatre with the premiere of Don Giovanni. The jubilation knew no bounds when the curtain fell. As with the Nozze di figaro, the Prague audience loved him. The “Clemenza di Tito” also premiered in the Estates Theater, was well received, but the empress is said to have dismissed the work as a “German mess”.

The theater has been preserved almost in its original state and can be experienced with performances and tours. It is now part of the National Theater complex.

https://www.narodni-divadlo.cz/en

Estates theater around 1830:

Estates theater today:

For Smetana fans, a museum was established in his honor. At the end of Novotného lávka, in front of the Museum of Bedřich Smetana, a monument to the composer was unveiled in 1984.

This small museum, just outside the center of Prague, is housed in a beautiful villa and brings the life and work of the composer closer.

Dvorak Museum:

https://www.nm.cz/en

His house (from 1910) and the attached music school form the memorial of the Moravian composer. The house is in original condition, the study and his piano where he wrote his most important works after 1910 are part of the tour.

Janacek’s study:

At the end of Novotného lávka, in front of the Museum of Bedřich Smetana, a monument to the composer was unveiled in 1984.

Smetana monument:

https://www.nm.cz/en/visit-us/buildings/bedrich-smetana-museum

Cemetery Vyšehrad

Smetana was buried in this cemetery on the grounds of the castle. His physical and mental health deteriorated in the last years of his life and he had to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where he died.

Smetana’s Tomb:

A beautiful Hotel

It was here in this beautiful Art Nouveau hotel, built in 1914, that Janáček descended during his visits to Prague. Franz Kafka was also a regular visitor to the beautiful Café Imperial (Na Poříčí 15, Prague 1).

Restaurant Hotel Imperial:

https://www.cafeimperial.cz/en/homepage/

At the age of thirteen, Wagner visited Prague and fell unhappily in love with the daughter of a music-loving nobleman and acquaintance of the family, where he was allowed to live. A year later he came once again on foot from Dresden because he had no money for transportation. Two more times he visited the Pachtas later, each time accompanied by his wife. This palace still exists and the beautiful romantic courtyard still charms today. The building is occupied by the beautiful boutique hotel Smetana.

Palais Pachta (historic picture):

Smetana Hotel:

https://www.smetanahotel.com/

A website (currently only available in Czech and German) is available on the Internet with a path through Brno in the footsteps of Janacek:

https://www.leosjanacek.eu/de/pfad/

Historic Brno: