Presentations on the research topic given during the course of the project
Radio Interview with Jiří Kopecký
On the 9th of August 2022, doc. PhDr. Jiří Kopecký (Department of Musicology, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc) gave an interview in the morning session of Proglas Radio. Moderated by Radka Rozkovcová, the Czech musicologist offered an insight into The Traveling of Opera Singers of the Olomouc Theatre during the 19th-century [Cesty operních pěvců olomouckého divadla v 19. století] by exploring the period’s theatre and opera industry, the position and task of a theatre director and opera singer, respectively the repertory and musical dramaturgy. As he states, “At that time, people did not have so many opportunities to express themselves about politics for example and of course censorship flourished. So oftentimes opera served as the only platform for freedom of speech.” As part of the Monarchy, the study concerning Olomouc Theatre is examined within the framework of a Visegrad Grant Project as well which, in collaboration with researchers from Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, aims to rebuild the network of the Musical Theatres in the reign of the Habsburg dynasty. The radio interview can be accessed through the audio archive on the following link: Dopoledne s Proglasem - Radio Proglas
Presentation of the Project and archival research Wien
23-25 May, 2022, ÖNB Heldenplatz, Musiksammlung; Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien
The archival research in Vienna, Austria was of primary importance in our project. The younger generation of researchers had to get to know the source material there, especially the research possibilities and methods of Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Heldenplatz and Musiksammlung.
The Hungarian and Slovak members of our research group and the guest lecturers of the project (Tatjana Markovič, Vienna, Institute for Art and Music History of the Austrian Academy of Sciences) processed archival research in Vienna with a public lecture presenting this project at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. The educational lecture introducing the project and its subtopics was held by Katalin Kim, Jana Laslavíková, Tatjana Marković and Tomasz Pudłocki. The event took place at the former university on 25 May, 2022, from 6 P.M.
Lecture recital and book presentation in Bratislava, in the Slovak National Theatre
The second lecture recital of the Visegrad Grant project took place on May 4, 2022 at 5 pm in the Opera Chamber of the Slovak National Theater in Bratislava. In addition to the lecture recital, a volume presentation was held, too, in line with the theme of the project and in which several participants of the Grant had a publication, entitled Cultural and Artistic Transfers in Theater and Music: Past, Present, and Perspectives (Vydavateľstvo VEDA in ÚDFV CVU SAV, 2021).
The repertoire of the lecture recital was performed by the Liszt Ferenc Prize winner soprano Ingrid Kertesi, and her current student in the Liszt Academy Budapest, the soprano singer Júlia Mária Kovács, with the participation of conductor Gergely Kaposi on the piano. The recital was complemented by the soloist mezzo-soprano of the Slovak National Theater Katarína Flórová with the participation by Branko Ladič on the piano.
For the lecture recital, the experts (Jana Laslavíková, Tomasz Pudłocki, Kim Katalin, Lenka Křupková and Jiři Kopecký) selected arias that were the most characteristic representatives of the nation-building traditions of each nation under study in some of the countries’ musical theaters. The text by Tomasz Pudłocki and Katalin Kim was read by Lili Veronika Békéssy, and the text by Lenka Křupková and Jiři Kopecký was read by Jana Magdaléna Májeková PhD students also participating in the project.
The president of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the Director of the Slovak National Theater were also members of the audience.
The event on the website of the Slovak National Theater: https://snd.sk/en/performance/14012/divadelni-riaditelia-a-hudobnici-na-cestach-1870-1920/2022-05-04/17-00
The report of the Slovak Academy of Sciences can be read here: https://www.sav.sk/?lang=sk&doc=services-news&source_no=20&news_no=10347
The program notes can be download here.
Photo: Klára Madunická, ÚDFV CVU SAV, v. v. i.
Project presentation in Olomouc, at Palacký University
The presentation of the Visegrad Grant project took place at the Palacký University Olomouc on May 3, 2022, starting at 15:30. The roundtable discussion for the PhD students of the Department with a project presentation was moderated by Jiři Kopecký. Representing Katalin Kim, Lili Veronika Békéssy, and Jana Laslavíková and Tomasz Pudłocki summarized the project’s past and former results, and the current objectives of the grant entitled Towards a common regional history of our nation building strategies. Traveling directors, musicians. After the discussion and presentation, a brief history of the arias for the lecture recital was also presented in an intercultural context, detailing why the selected repertoire played an important role in the V4 countries ’own nation-building strategies.
Jana Laslavíková's Book and an Interview
On Monday, 28 June 2021, the presentation of Jana Laslavíková's book entitled Mestské divadlo v Prešporku na sklonku 19. storočia s podtitulom Medzi provinciou a metropolou. (The Municipal Theatre of Prešpork at the End of the 19th Century, subtitled Between Province and Metropolis), took place in the garden of the Albrecht House in Bratislava. The publication, which deals with the history of the theatre building from 1886 to 1899, has been nominated for the 2020 Prize of the Slovak Academy of Sciences – reported operaslovakia.sk.
Co-authored by the Department of Musicology at the Faculty of Humanities of Comenius University in Bratislava, the book, produced by the Music Centre and the Institute of History of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, sheds light on the establishment and early years of the Municipal Theatre of Prešpork (since 1920 the seat of the Slovak National Theatre) and presents previously unknown data on the theatre's operation between 1886 and 1899, when two directors, Max Kmentt and Emanuel Raul, worked in Prešpork.
To mark the publication of the book, the musicologist was interviewed in a podcast by one of Slovakia's leading newspapers, SME. The interview, conducted by Jaroslav Valent, can be heard on the SME website.
