Matěj Kratochvíl
Unreliable recorders – Collectors of folk songs as inventors of tradition
From the end of the 18th century folk music increasingly came to be an object of interest among collectors and researchers. The development of folksong collecting raised questions over the authenticity and credibility of the recordings. During the 19th century collectors applied various measures to form an image of folk music culture, which was always to some extent an invention and a fiction, whether it involved the alteration of song lyrics to achieve a more acceptable form by omitting vulgar expressions, or the deletion from the repertoire of entire items which the collectors did not deem suitable for inclusion. Authors of important collections such as František Ladislav Čelakovský and Karel Jaromír Erben often altered the recorded material to make it fit their ideas of correct national culture. Folksong acquired a special role in the disputes over the authenticity of the Dvůr Králové and Zelená Hora manuscripts. Collector František Bartoš and historian František Dvorský, each in their own way, used folk songs as an argument in favour of the view that the manuscripts were authentic.
Collections of folk songs – Dvůr Králové and Zelená Hora manuscripts – authenticity
design by Bedřich Vémola
