RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
A1 Sułek, Małgorzata
T1 Witold Lutosławski's Radio Bohemica: A Commentary on the Musical Reception of the Manuscript of Dvůr Králové and the Manuscript of Zelená Hora in Poland
JF Musicologica Olomucensia
YR 2025
DO 10.5507/mo.2025.001
UL https://musicologica.upol.cz/artkey/mus-000000-0043.php
AB The discovery of the Manuscript of Dvůr Králové and the Manuscript of Zelená Hora in the Czech lands at the beginning of the nineteenth century aroused great interest among the Polish intellectual and artistic elite, provoking discussions on the prehistory of Slavonic culture and generating numerous more or less faithful Polish translations of the texts included in manuscripts. This article addresses the problem of the musical reception of both forgeries in Poland, which is far more modest than the Polish literary works inspired by the two Czech forgeries or the historical studies addressing the issues outlined in them. To the modest list of composers using the texts from the two manuscripts in their musical works - which so far includes only Władysław Żeleński and Ewa Fabiańska-Jelińska - we should add Witold Lutosławski, thanks to recent research on his works for radio theatre. Among the pieces composed by Lutosławski for a radio play Legenda o Walgierzu Wdałym (The Legend of Walgierz Wdały) with text by Stanisław Nadzin, broadcast on Polish Radio in 1946, a fragment of the Libussa's Judgement performed by one of the play's protagonists has recently been found. This article contains the most important information about the plot and musical setting of the radio play, as well as analysing the vocal excerpts using the Polish translation of the Libussa's Judgement.