Tschechisches und deutsches musikalisches Prag vor dem 1. Weltkrieg. Persönlichkeit des Musikkritikers und -schriftstellers Richard Batkas
Czech and German Music in Prague before the First World War. The Personality of Music Critic and Historian Richard Batka

Summary/Abstract: Richard Batka (1868-1922) was one of the most important Prague music critics, historiographers and organizers of cultural life. He worked as a translator and wrote librettos and theoretical pieces. He was also a supervisor of several cultural editorial roles and contributed to periodicals such as Bohemia, Prager Tagblatt, Der Merker, Kunstwart etc., but he belonged to the German-speaking burghers of Prague, which had to mean sharp criticism from the Czech intelligence. Later, on ethnic grounds, he even finally left the Czech country. This paper summarizes biographical data and merits of Richard Batka and focuses on his historic publication, Die Musik in Böhmen. It seeks to evaluate this work and it adverts to the discrepancy between the work of Batka and contemporary publications by Czech writers, especially Zdeněk Nejedlý. A part of the paper consists of critical judgments about Batka's work and its evaluation.

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