Page 283 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2017. Glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti - Musical Migrations: Crossroads of European Musical Diversity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 1
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music and migration: contribution to the history of czech modern music (1870–1945)
certain non-negligible advantage. Within aesthetic modernism, being dif-
ferent was identic with having an exceptional position and the attribute of
distinction became an undeniable advantage. Everyone without exception
in talent and social preconditions could seek a new status. Novelty and dis-
tinctiveness have morphed into criteria which brought the participants of
the joint project together.
Prague became desired emotional destination in the early 20th centu-
ry and in between the two wars. Likewise, young musicians travelled to the
Prague Conservatory to improve their ability of composition.
The Czech school of composition was professionally institutionalized
for the first time by Antonín Dvořák. He began his pedagogical activity
at the Prague Conservatory in 1891 and after returning from the United
States, continued to work here until his death in 1904. His student, Vítězslav
Novák, became the second most acknowledged native teacher after Dvořák.
Initially a private tutor and from September 1909 a teacher at the Prague
Conservatory, he raised a whole generation of Slovak national music com-
posers (Alexander Moyzes, Eugen Suchoň, Ján Cikker, Ladislav Holoubek,
Dezider Kardoš, Jozef Kresánek). Janáček’s students were also leaving Brno
in droves to perfect their craft of composition in Prague. Furthermore, we
also know a few composers from Germany, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Yugosla-
via from Southern Slavic countries (Erich Kleiber, Bedřich Wiedermann,
Assen Dimitrov, Pavel Stefanov, Mikola Kolessa, Antun Dobronič, Josip
Štolcer-Slavenski).
One of the influential educators of the Prague Conservatory in be-
tween the World Wars was Alois Hába. He raised not only students who at-
tempted to create microtonal and athematic compositions, but mostly au-
thors who in future abandoned these practices. A characteristic attribute of
Hába’s pedagogical activities is the open approach to the processing of mu-
sical material and the adoption of aesthetic premises. Among the graduates
of Hába’s courses we can find not only students from the ranks of compos-
ers who constantly attended the department of quarter-tone music and who
graduated by musical composition, but also performers who didn’t com-
pose, but significantly contributed to the propagation of his music. In ad-
dition to Czechs and Slovaks, Hába’s classes were attended by Germans,
Poles, Turks, Egyptians, Ukrainians, Southern Slavs (Serbians, Croats and
Slovenes), Bulgarians, Lithuanians and Danes. The list of major figures is
extended by Hába’s private students. We have often only fragments of in-
formation about their visits.
281
certain non-negligible advantage. Within aesthetic modernism, being dif-
ferent was identic with having an exceptional position and the attribute of
distinction became an undeniable advantage. Everyone without exception
in talent and social preconditions could seek a new status. Novelty and dis-
tinctiveness have morphed into criteria which brought the participants of
the joint project together.
Prague became desired emotional destination in the early 20th centu-
ry and in between the two wars. Likewise, young musicians travelled to the
Prague Conservatory to improve their ability of composition.
The Czech school of composition was professionally institutionalized
for the first time by Antonín Dvořák. He began his pedagogical activity
at the Prague Conservatory in 1891 and after returning from the United
States, continued to work here until his death in 1904. His student, Vítězslav
Novák, became the second most acknowledged native teacher after Dvořák.
Initially a private tutor and from September 1909 a teacher at the Prague
Conservatory, he raised a whole generation of Slovak national music com-
posers (Alexander Moyzes, Eugen Suchoň, Ján Cikker, Ladislav Holoubek,
Dezider Kardoš, Jozef Kresánek). Janáček’s students were also leaving Brno
in droves to perfect their craft of composition in Prague. Furthermore, we
also know a few composers from Germany, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Yugosla-
via from Southern Slavic countries (Erich Kleiber, Bedřich Wiedermann,
Assen Dimitrov, Pavel Stefanov, Mikola Kolessa, Antun Dobronič, Josip
Štolcer-Slavenski).
One of the influential educators of the Prague Conservatory in be-
tween the World Wars was Alois Hába. He raised not only students who at-
tempted to create microtonal and athematic compositions, but mostly au-
thors who in future abandoned these practices. A characteristic attribute of
Hába’s pedagogical activities is the open approach to the processing of mu-
sical material and the adoption of aesthetic premises. Among the graduates
of Hába’s courses we can find not only students from the ranks of compos-
ers who constantly attended the department of quarter-tone music and who
graduated by musical composition, but also performers who didn’t com-
pose, but significantly contributed to the propagation of his music. In ad-
dition to Czechs and Slovaks, Hába’s classes were attended by Germans,
Poles, Turks, Egyptians, Ukrainians, Southern Slavs (Serbians, Croats and
Slovenes), Bulgarians, Lithuanians and Danes. The list of major figures is
extended by Hába’s private students. We have often only fragments of in-
formation about their visits.
281
