The Czech Museum of Music acquired its papers from the estate of the composer Alois Hába (1893–1973) in several stages from 1984 to 1992. They constitute an important source not only for knowledge of the life and work of the composer himself but also for documenting the development of Czech…

For Alois Hába’s conception of microtonal music to be implemented in practice it was necessary to produce some special musical instruments. The first of them, presented in Prague in 1924, was a quarter-tone grand piano. Subsequent years saw the building of quarter-tone and sixth-tone harmoniums…

This article was written on the occasion of the two hundredth anniversary of Carl Maria von Weber’s assumption of the post of chief conductor and head of opera for theEstates Theatre in Prague. He served in that position from 1813 to 1815, during which time he greatly improved the quality of opera…

This article presents an unknown aquarelle portrait of the composer Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) deposited in the National Museum in Prague under inventory number H2-61 001/28. The artist is identified as Antonio d’Aquino, duca di Casarano, a Neapolitan nobleman and friend of the composer. It…

Materials preserved from the estate of Bedřich Smetana include a set of small pencil drawings which have so far attracted relatively little attention. They do not comprise any systematic body of art, nor do they reflect a special hobby of Smetana’s. Rather, he generally made them spontaneously,…

This article presents findings from study of and research concerning musical instruments and rich iconographic materials from the estate of the world-renowned Czech violinist František Ondříček. Violins held by the Czech Museum of Music’s Musical Instruments Division were analysed and the…

This article presents findings from work on a catalogue of the compositions of Otakar Ostrčil (1879–1935), and focuses on autograph musical sources deposited in the Music History Division of the Czech Museum of Music. This institution is the main repository of sources for research concerning…