RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
A1 Reittererová, Vlasta
T1 "… A strange work of which little can be said, and little good." Reception of the chamber works of Zdeněk Fibich and his Czech contemporaries in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century
JF Musicologica Olomucensia
YR 2021
VO 33
IS 1
SP 11
OP 26
DO 10.5507/mo.2021.001
UL https://musicologica.upol.cz/artkey/mus-202101-0001.php
AB In the 1890s, Zdeněk Fibich returned to smaller forms and chamber ensembles after a period in which he devoted himself mainly to symphonic works and opera. In the 1870s he completed two string quartets and a piano quartet, and in 1894 - after a 20-year break - a chamber work of unusual instrumentation was created: the Quintet for piano, violin, clarinet, horn and cello op. 42. This paper characterizes the situation for the creation of music for chamber ensembles in the given period and tries to justify in its context what led Fibich, after works for a large instrumental apparatus, to reduce to a chamber dimension and to choose a unique cast. It summarizes the critical response to the presentation of his work in Bohemia and in the German-speaking area with an emphasis on Vienna and by comparing the reaction there with the local acceptance of the works of some of Fibich's (not only Czech) contemporaries.