Jiří Kopecký
Czech musicology and Czech music: unwanted coexistence?
The actual work of 19th century Czech composers can be perceived from a present-day view as a falsification of reality if it involves the use of exotic, folkloric or archaic elements. However, often these approaches, which were quite legitimate in their day, did not primarily involve an interest in deceiving the listener, and if the author did commit fraud, as a rule he was quickly discovered. More serious transgressions against reality were ultimately committed by the nascent musicology represented e.g. by Otakar Hostinský and Zdeněk Nejedlý, which intentionally created an image of distinguished personalities in line with the national aims of society. The recovery of events from beneath their literary accretions leads to the question of whether we have a history of Czech music at all.
Otakar Hostinský – Zdeněk Nejedlý – Czech musicology
design by Bedřich Vémola
