PT Journal
AU Pospisil, J
TI The Reception of Richard Wagner's Operas Tannhauser and The Mastersingers of Nuremberg in the Czech Lands
SO Musicologica Olomucensia
PY 2022
BP 342
EP 349
VL 33
IS 2
DI 10.5507/mo.2021.020
DE Richard Wagner; National Theatre; Lohengrin; Tannhauser; The Mastersingers of Nuremberg; Angelo Neumann
AB This paper introduces readers to the political and social situation in the Czech lands of the 1890s. While Moravia solved the Czech-German problem in 1905 with the Moravian pact (Moravsky pakt), Bohemia was unable to resolve the conflict between Czechs and Germans until the First World War.Richard Wagner's music started to appear in the Czech lands in the middle of the 19th century. The first example originated in 1843, when Frantisek Skroup obtained the score of the opera Bludny Holandan (The Flying Dutchman). From 1853 Wagner's music was regularly played in the Czech lands.The premieres of operas in the Czech lands emerged in two waves. The first came in the 1850s, and the second during the 1880s thanks to Angelo Neumann, director of the Estates Theatre. Czechs were interested in these operas even though they were performed in German and in German theatres.From research work into the Czech newspapers Dalibor and Narodni listy (National Papers), it was found that the premieres of Tannhauser and Mistri pevci norimbersti (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) in the National Theatre enjoyed a degree of success. The performance of the technicians and artists was precise. Both newspapers agreed that the main causes of the success were the conductor of both operas Adolf Cech and the director Frantisek Hynek.
ER