Reflexe oper Tannhäuser a Mistři pěvci norimberští Richarda Wagnera v devadesátých letech 19. století v českém dobovém tisku
The Reception of Richard Wagner’s Operas Tannhäuser and The Mastersingers of Nuremberg in the Czech Lands

Summary/Abstract: 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 (Moravský 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 František Škroup obtained the score of the opera Bludný Holanďan (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 Národní listy (National Papers), it was found that the premieres of Tannhäuser and Mistři pěvci norimberští (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 Čech and the director František Hynek.

• Details
• Contents