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Vítězslava Kaprálová: a remarkable voice in 20th-century Czech Music

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2016

Eugene Gates  and
Karla Hartl
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Extract

It was with enormous pride in the achievements of his 23-year-old protégé Vítězslava Kaprálová that Bohuslav Martinů wrote the following in his review of the 1938 International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) Festival, held in London:

The very first item on the programme of the Festival was Military Sinfouictta by Vitězslava Kaprálová – an opening with great promise for both the festival and the composer. Her performance was awaited with interest as well as some curiosity – a girl with a baton is quite an unusual phenomenon – and when our ‘little girl conductor’ (as the English newspapers called her) appeared before the orchestra, she was welcomed by a supportive audience. She stood before the orchestra with great courage and both her composition and performance earned her respect and applause from the excellent BBC orchestra, the audience, and the critics. … Kaprálová's international debut is a success, promising and encouraging.

Type
Research Article
Information
Tempo , Issue 213 , July 2000 , pp. 23 - 25
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2000

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References

1 Martinů, Bohuslav, ‘Mezinárodni festival v Londýně’, Lidové noviny, 28 06 1938, p.7 Google Scholar. Translations from Czech sources are by Karla Hartl.

2 The symptoms of this form of tuberculosis do not match those exhibited by Kaprálová during the last six weeks of her life. Unlike tuberculosis miliaris, which is associated with tiredness, low-grade fever, weakness, anemia, and profound weight loss, her illness was of an acute nature and involved severe abdominal pain resembling appendicitis – a symptom associated with tuberculosis peritonitis. We wish to thank Nadia Hembling for this interesting theory about the cause of Kaprálová's death.

3 The score of Military Sinfonietta was published in Prague in Edition Melantrich in 1938; it was republished in Prague by Czech Music Fund in 1958. A CD recording of the work is available on the Czech label Studio Matous, MK 0049–2011.

4 1938 ISCM Festival brochure, p.12.

5 Ibid.

6 Macek, Jiří, Vitězslava Kapralová (Prague: Svaz čs. skladatelfu, 1958), pp.133–34Google Scholar.

7 Musical Opinion, July 1938, p.858.

8 The Smetana Award was granted by the Bedfich Smetana Foundation – a large foundation established in Brno in 1924 to mark Smetana's centennial anniversary. Its mandate was to provide financial assistance to Czech composers. The foundation administered about one million Czechoslovakia!! Krones in funds, from which it provided qualified composers with support and stipends. Beginning in 1928, the foundation also granted an award every three years for the best composition. The Smetana Foundatio n was abolished during World War II and during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, by a decree of 18 January 1943. It was briefly revived in 1945, but ceased to exist after the communist takeover in 1948. We are indebted to Dr Jindra Bartova for providing detailed infonna-tion on the history of the Smetana Foundation and its award.

9 For a detailed account of Martinu's efforts to help Kapralová secure a renewal of her French government scholarship, see Houtchens, Alan, ‘Love's Labour's Lost: Martinů, Kaprálová and Hitler,’ in Devine, Patrick F. and White, Harry, eds., Irish Musical Studies 4 (Dublin; Four Courts Press, 1996), pp.128–29Google Scholar. This issue is also discussed briefly in Milos Safránek's reminiscences of Kapralová, in Pražák, Přemysl, Vitežslat'a Kaprálová, Sltidie a vzpontmky (Prague; HMUB, 1949), p.110 Google Scholar.

10 Macek, p. 129–132.

11 Henderson, Michael, ‘Bohuslav Martinů and Vitězslava Kaprálová’, Czech Music 20 (1997/1998): 76 Google Scholar.

12 Macek, p.129.

13 Letter from Martinu to Kaprálová, [4 Nov. ?], 1938.

14 Kaprálová's diary, 5 May 1939.

15 It was a clandestine affair that caused many heartaches for both of them. Eventually Kaprálová realized the futility of the relationship and married Jífi Mucha, but she and Martinů remained devoted friends and respected colleagues until her untimely death. For a discussion of their relationship, see Henderson, pp.71–84. Despite some factual inaccuracies, Henderson's article does provide an insight into their relationship.

16 Large, Brian, Martinů (London: Duckworth, 1975), p.71 Google Scholar.

17 Kapusta, Jan, ‘Bolmslav Martinů v roce 1938,’ Huticbní véda 19, no.2 (1982): 172 Google Scholar. See also Safránek, Milos, Bohuslav Mtirtinů: His Life ami Works, trans. Finlayson-Samsourova, Roberta (London: Allan Wingate, 1962), p.184 Google Scholar.

18 Šafránek, p. 189.

19 In Pra'zak, pp. 122–25.