Smetana’s Prague Carnival Arranged by Václav Talich
| Pages | 81–109 |
|---|---|
| DOI | 10.37520/muscz.2024.003 |
| Keywords | Bedřich Smetana, Pražský karneval (Prague Carnival), orchestral music, reception, Karel Kovařovic, Václav Talich |
| Citation | EHLOVÁ, Hana. Smetana’s Prague Carnival Arranged by Václav Talich. Musicalia. Journal of the Czech Museum of Music / Časopis Českého muzea hudby . Prague: National Museum, 2024, 16(1-2), 81–109. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37520/muscz.2024.003. ISSN 1803-7828 (Print), 2533-5634 (Online). Also available from: https://publikace.nm.cz/en/periodicals/musicalia-journal-of-the-czech-museum-of-music-casopis-ceskeho-muzea-hudby/16-1-2/smetanas-prague-carnival-arranged-by-vaclav-talich |
From the very beginning, Smetana’s last completed orchestral composition Prague Carnival was misunderstood as being evidence of the decline of the composer’s creative powers. Although this opinion was gradually changing, thanks in particular to the efforts of Josef Theurer from the end of the 1890s, the work rarely appeared on concert stages, and when it did, it was almost always in an arrangement by Karel Kovařovic. As is shown by the random discovery of a copy of the score of Prague Carnival in the archive of Czech Radio, besides Kovařovic’s revisions, there were also significant changes made to the work by Václav Talich, who performer it in an arrangement of his own and even recorded it with the Czech Philharmonic and with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. Besides attempting to introduce Talich’s heretofore unknown arrangement, the text also outlines the genesis and problematic reception of what is an interesting composition in many respects.
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