PT Journal
AU Charypar, J
TI A Chapter from the Reception History of Fibich's Hippodamia and Suk's Incidental Music: A Comparison of Their Styles in Melodrama
SO Musicologica Olomucensia
PY 2021
BP 231
EP 249
VL 33
IS 1
DI 10.5507/mo.2021.014
DE Josef Suk; Zdenek Fibich; melodrama
AB After the premieres of Julius Zeyer's plays with Josef Suk's incidental music (Raduz and Mahulena and Under the Apple Tree), some Czech critics contrasted Suk's manner of using melodrama in a stage work to that in Fibich's Hippodamia. This comparison resulted from different opinions about melodrama in general. According to some critics, Fibich's intention to accompany a whole drama with music resulted in the music being superfluous and disruptive in many passages, whereas Suk sensed precisely which passages of the text needed musical accompaniment and which did not. On the contrary, Fibich's supporters stated that Suk's melodramatic music was merely background, evoking a mood, without sufficient dramatic and psychological characterization of the text. This study is an attempt at an objective comparison that can help answer the question of the extent to which such disputes are justified. Above all, however, it is intended to characterise the contribution of both composers to the genre of melodrama.
ER