Musicologica Olomucensia vol. 37(2), (2025):53-105 | DOI: 10.5507/mo.2025.009
"…dieser genaue Kenner und wärmste Verehrer der Smetana'schen Werke…" Ludwig Hartmann (1836-1910), Smetana-Textautor und Opernübersetzer
- Independent scholar, Dresden, Germany
According to current knowledge, the music writer Ludwig Hartmann (1836-1910), who came from the Rhineland, was Smetana's most important promoter in Germany before and after the composer's death. Trained at the Leipzig Conservatory, he lived in Dresden from 1859 onwards. From there, he worked as a music critic throughout Europe and championed contemporary music. He paid particular attention to Smetana's operas and instrumental works, not only making the composer known in Germany through his writings, but also lobbying the relevant institutions for performances and sheet music publications. He contacted Smetana and his pupil Ludevít Procházka, who was temporarily living in Dresden, extended his commitment to other representatives of Bohemian-Czech music, and traveled to Prague to attend performances. In addition to articles about Smetana in Dresden daily newspapers, he published opera guides on Prodaná nevìsta and Hubièka in Leipzig. He translated Smetana's operas Hubièka and Libu¹e. In addition to letters from and to Hartmann about Smetana's work, texts from Dresden daily newspapers about the composer are included (Appendices I and II).
Keywords: Smetana reception; Germany; Dresden Court Opera; Dresden Residenztheater; Saxon State Orchestra; Leipzig Conservatory; Prague; music criticism; opera guide; opera libretti in German
…this expert connoisseur and warmest admirer of Smetana's works…" Ludwig Hartmann (1836-1910), author of texts about Smetana and opera translator
According to current knowledge, the music writer Ludwig Hartmann (1836-1910), who came from the Rhineland, was Smetana's most important promoter in Germany before and after the composer's death. Trained at the Leipzig Conservatory, he lived in Dresden from 1859 onwards. From there, he worked as a music critic throughout Europe and championed contemporary music. He paid particular attention to Smetana's operas and instrumental works, not only making the composer known in Germany through his writings, but also lobbying the relevant institutions for performances and sheet music publications. He contacted Smetana and his pupil Ludevít Procházka, who was temporarily living in Dresden, extended his commitment to other representatives of Bohemian-Czech music, and traveled to Prague to attend performances. In addition to articles about Smetana in Dresden daily newspapers, he published opera guides on Prodaná nevìsta and Hubièka in Leipzig. He translated Smetana's operas Hubièka and Libu¹e. In addition to letters from and to Hartmann about Smetana's work, texts from Dresden daily newspapers about the composer are included (Appendices I and II).
Accepted: January 23, 2026; Published: March 1, 2026 Show citation
| ACS | AIP | APA | ASA | Harvard | Chicago | Chicago Notes | IEEE | ISO690 | MLA | NLM | Turabian | Vancouver |
Selected references
- Moj¾í¹ová, Olga. "Smetana, Bedøich, Friedrich." In MGG 2 Personenteil, Bd. 15, Kassel, Stuttgart, 2006, Sp. 925-951.Fránek, Michal, Ladislav Futter, Jiøí Kopecký, and Jana Spáèilová, eds. Libu¹e. Edice libret / Edition of Libretti. Olomouc, 2024.
- Moj¾í¹ová, Olga, and Milan Pospí¹il. Bedøich Smetana a jeho korespondence / and his correspondence. Praha: Národní muzeum, 2011.Reittererová, Vlasta, and Hubert Reitterer. Vier Dutzend rothe Strümpfe … Zur Rezeptionsgeschichte der Verkauften Braut von Bedøich Smetana in Wien am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts. Theatergeschichte Österreichs Bd. III: Wien, H. 4. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2004.
- Smetana, Bedøich. Korespondence / Correspondence II, 1863-1874. Edited by Olga Moj¾í¹ová, Milan Pospí¹il, Jana Vojtì¹ková, a Jiøí K. Kroupa. Praha: Národní muzeum, 2020.
- Schuler, Sigrid. Ludwig Hartmann (1836-1910) - Gedenkschrift zum 100. Todestag am 14. 2. 2010. Baden-Baden, 2010.
- Vojtì¹ová, Jana, ed. Album Jana Ludevíta Procházky z let 1860-1888. The Procházka Album (1860-1888). Praha: KLP - Koniasch Latin Press / National Museum, 2013.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.