Divadelní revue (Czech Theatre Review) 2016 · no 2
vol. 27 · Octobre 2016 · no 2Summary
The second issue of 2016's Czech Theatre Review brings forward a thematic section dedicated to the history of 19th century Czech theatre and drama. Petra Ježková and Jan Jiřík’s essay “Czech-Polish Theatrical Mutuality. Up to the First World War” looks at the Czech-Polish theatrical contacts in the Habsburg Empire of the 19th century. The author’s argument is that the mutual theatrical relationships provided the necessary confrontation of both cultures, which opens a new perspective for the Czech theater historiography. Barbara Mazáčová's “‘Swell Homecoming’: On one Normalization Transformation of Josef Kajetán Tyl” analyzes the film musical Hvězda padá vzhůru (The Star Falls Up, dir. Ladislav Rychman, prem. 1974), in which the main role was enacted by Karel Gott, the most popular Czech pop-singer of past 50 years, and whose screenplay was created as an adaptation of Czech 19th century inveterate classic fairy tale play by J. K. Tyl – Bagpiper of Strakonice. The author examines the transposition of the original prototext and identifies the ideological manipulations symptomatic to the upcoming normalization. Martin Nedbal's article “František Šír's First Czech Translation of Mozart's Final Opera Buffa and the Reception of Così fan tutte in Prague 1791–1831” discusses the first Czech translation of Mozart and Da Ponte's Così fan tutte as well as the reception of the opera in Prague in the late eighteenth and throughout the nineteenth centuries. In his essay “Václav Thám’s Last Prague Stage Characters at the Patriotic and Nostitz Theatres” Martin Hanoušek examines last Prague year (1798) of Václav Thám – Czech playwright, actor and translator. It focuses both on Thám's extra-theatrical activities, due to which he virtually withdrew from the Prague stages in the second half of 1798, and in particular on the first half of 1798, during which – as a member of Karl Guolfinger von Steinsberg's company – he performed at the Nostitz and Patriotic Theatres and portrayed several roles of the drama, as well as musical-dramatic repertoire. Jitka Ludvová's “On the Events at the Estates Theatre between 1801–1806” focuses on the yet-untapped documents on the history of the Estates Theatre in Prague from between 1801–1806 period. In her essay “One Season of Castle Theater in Chyše” Berenika Zemanová Urbanová describes the activities of the Castle Theater in Chyše (Gräfliches Schloss-Theater in Chiesch), the town located in western Bohemia, which operated in the years 1879–1880, i.e. at the time when the existence of castle theaters was rather rare. The 19th century Czech theatre section accompanies Magdaléna Jacková's analysis “Three Jesuit Plays about Three Christian Brothers and One Turkish Princess” in which she discusses three Jesuit plays from the first half of the 18th century, which share a common theme. The primary objective of the study is to detect the extent to which the Jesuits approached one topic differently, while comparing the pretext, as well as their works. The issue includes an interview with the theatre scholar, classical philologist and translator Eva Stehlíková, as well as three reviews of recently published books.
editorial : reviews19th century Czech theatre
Petra Ježková – Jan JiříkCzech-Polish Theatrical Mutuality. Up to the First World War [article]
Barbara Topolová
“Swell Homecoming”: On one Normalization Transformation of Josef Kajetán Tyl [article]
Martin Nedbal
František Šír’s First Czech Translation of Mozart’s Final Opera Buffa and the Reception of Così fan tutte in Prague 1791–1831 [article]
[edition of Šír’s Czech translation]
Martin Hanoušek
Václav Thám’s Last Prague Stage Characters at the Patriotic and Nostitz Theatres [article]
Jitka Ludvová
On the Events at the Estates Theatre between 1801–1806 [article]
Berenika Zemanová Urbanová
One Season of Castle Theater in Chyše [article]
analyses
Magdaléna JackováThree Jesuit Plays about Three Christian Brothers and One Turkish Princess [article]
interview
“I entered the theatre studies through the servant’s back door.” interview with the theatre scholar, classical philologist and translator Eva Stehlíková (Petra Ježková)reviews
Dalibor TurečekBreathtaking and Impeccable Monograph (Petra Ježková: Obležen národem dramatiků. Jan Lier [1853–1917])
Eva Šormová
How we used to write in Bohemia (Antonín Veselý: Dramatik František Adolf Šubert)
Jan Císař
Beauty of Encyclopaedias (Česká činohra 19. a začátku 20. stoleti: Osobnosti)
new book releases (May—September 2016)
Resumes of peer-reviewed articles
Petra Ježková—Jan JiříkCzech-Polish Theatrical Mutuality. Up to the First World War.
The relationship between the cultural elites of Slavic nations in the Habsburg Empire of the 19th century significantly illustrate the Czech-Polish theatrical contacts. In the drama theatre, we trace their substantive activities since the last quarter of the 19th century. However, the majority of Polish drama that had been performed on the Czech stages represented the mainstream production. Lively and stimulating Czech-Polish exchange was brought about by the visiting performances of Polish actors. Mutual theatrical relationships provided the necessary confrontation of both cultures, which opens a new perspective for the Czech theater historiography. It is not a surprise that Czech dramatic art and namely acting was belated: thanks to Polish stars, the Prague audiences, reviewers, actors, and directors encountered possible dimensions and proportions of actors’ mastery. On the other hand, the contact with a foreign theater reveals some progressive and constitutive specificities of Czech theatre culture, such as the institution of dramaturge or the autonomy of stage director.
Contact: Petra Ježková (Theatre Institute, Prague) — petra.jezkova(at)divadlo.cz
Contact: Jan Jiřík (Theatre Institute, Prague) — jan.jirik(at)divadlo.cz
Barbara Topolová
“Swell Homecoming”: On one Normalization Transformation of Josef Kajetán Tyl.
The essay analyzes the film musical Hvězda padá vzhůru (The Star Falls Up, dir. Ladislav Rychman, prem. 1974), in which the main role was enacted by Karel Gott (1939), the most popular Czech pop-singer of past 50 years, and whose screenplay was created as an adaptation of Czech 19th century inveterate classic fairy tale play by J. K. Tyl – Bagpiper of Strakonice. The author examines the transposition of the original prototext (re-localization of the story to the present day, changes in the composition of characters, as well as on the plot composition), and identifies the ideological manipulations (including also the utilization of the most popular singer), symptomatic to the arts and cultural policy of upcoming normalization. The film, simplifying the classic and turning it into anti-emigration propaganda, is then compared with the adaptation of the same play which premiered in České Budějovice a year after the communist February coup d’état in 1948. The comparison reveals the similar adaptation strategies and affirms the fact that the normalization resuscitated political and artistic ideograms of the 1950s.
Contact: Barbara Topolová (Theatre Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague) — barbara.topolova(at)divadlo.cz
Martin Nedbal
František Šír’s First Czech Translation of Mozart’s Final Opera Buffa and the Reception of Così fan tutte in Prague 1791—1831.
This article discusses the first Czech translation of Mozart and Da Ponte’s Così fan tutte as well as the reception of the opera in Prague in the late eighteenth and throughout the nineteenth centuries. The Czech adaptation was created in 1824/5 by František Šír and produced in 1831 at Prague’s Estates Theater. The translation was preserved in two manuscript scores that also document earlier Italian and German productions of the opera in Prague. In particular, the manuscripts preserve the Italian version of the work produced in 1791 by Domenico Guardasoni and two German adaptations based on Viennese models and produced by Wenzel Müller in 1808 and Carl Maria von Weber in 1815.
[edition of Šír’s Czech translation]
Contact: Martin Nedbal (University of Kansas, U.S.A.) — mnedbal(at)ku.edu
Martin Hanoušek
Václav Thám’s Last Prague Stage Characters at the Patriotic and Nostitz Theatres.
The study examines last Prague year (1798) of Václav Thám – Czech playwright, actor and translator. It focuses both on Thám’s extra-theatrical activities, due to which he virtually withdrew from the Prague stages in the second half of 1798, and in particular on the first half of 1798, during which – as a member of Karl Guolfinger von Steinsberg’s company – he performed at the Nostitz and Patriotic Theatres and portrayed several roles of the drama, as well as musical-dramatic repertoire. The analysis of plays, roles and their comparison seeks to delineate the typology of Thám’s characters. Important source for the reconstruction of Prague theatre scene were provided by the Gotha theatre calendars, as well as theatre periodicals from Prague, Brno and Pressburg (Bratislava).
Contact: Martin Hanoušek (Theatre Institute, Prague) — martin.hanousek(at)divadlo.cz
Jitka Ludvová
On the Events at the Estates Theatre between 1801—1806.
The study focuses on the yet-untapped documents on the history of the Estates Theatre in Prague from between 1801–1806 period. It is the unknown news about the theater in the periodicals Zeitung für die elegante Welt – Mode, Unterhaltung, Kunst, Theater (Leipzig) and K. k. privilegierte Prager Oberpostamtszeitung. There are also three reprinted theater signboards (Paisiello: I Zingari in Fiero 17/10, 1803 Paër: L'Amoroso Intriga 10/3, 1802, and Achille 16/2, 1803), the most important document is the announcement of the premiere of Paër’s opera Sargino, published in the Prager Oberpostamtszeitung, which documents its premiere in Prague on 26/2, 1803 (not in Dresden, 26/5, 1803).
Contact: Jitka Ludvová (Theatre Institute, Prague) — jitka.ludvova(at)divadlo.cz
Berenika Zemanová Urbanová
One Season of Castle Theater in Chyše.
The Castle Theater in Chyše (Gräfliches Schloss-Theater in Chiesch), the town located in western Bohemia, operated in the years 1879–1880, i.e. at the time when the existence of castle theaters was rather rare. Its leading figure was Count Leopold II. Lažanský of Buková (1854–1891), who formed the troupe of twenty professional and amateur actors to which he invited visiting actors. The stage language was German and the repertoire consisted of entertainment pieces, although there were also staged classic German dramas (Goethe, Schiller). Thanks to the free sale of tickets, the theater was open to the wide spectrum of audience. Moreover, the Chyše castle theatre company (Das Gesellschaft des Gräflichen Schlosstheaters in Chiesch) was even touring to adjacent towns, and thereby also operated as a regular touring company. Since the operation of theatre was facilitated by Lažanský’s bestowed concession, the organization ceased its activities in less than a year of its existence.
Contact: Berenika Zemanová Urbanová (Theatre Institute, Prague) — berenika.zemanova(at)divadlo.cz
Magdaléna Jacková
Three Jesuit Plays about Three Christian Brothers and One Turkish Princess.
The study analyzes three Jesuit plays from the first half of the 18th century, which share a common theme: the story of three brothers who – imprisoned by the Turkish sultan – were supposedly forced by the sultan's daughter to adopt Islam but – at the end – it is she who in turn converted to the Christianity. The primary objective of the study is to detect the extent to which the Jesuits approached one topic differently, while comparing the pretext, as well as their works. Since the two selected plays were written for the educational purposes, whereas the third one as a prototype drama, the author questions whether and how the texts written for the educational purposes differ from that whose author had higher literary goals; the author also seeks to answer the question if it is possible to find – even among normal production – a work whose quality would match the quality of prototype drama.
Contact: Magdaléna Jacková (Institute of Czech Literature of the CAS, Prague) — jackova(at)ucl.cas.cz