Milada Horáková: A Symbol of Democracy and Freedom - People in Prague #4

If you look back through Czech history the majority of the characters you encounter are male. Indeed, if you look at Jiri Votruba’s hero’s of Prague poster the only female is the legendary Princess Libuse. The remaining characters are all male, apart from the Golem! 

This year, amidst the lockdowns and restriction of movement, the people and city of Prague did celebrate a national heroine on the 70th anniversary of her death. Her name is Milada Horáková and she was born in Prague on Christmas Day, 1901. She was executed by the Czechoslovakian communist regime on 27th June1950, the only female politician to suffer that fate.

Posters were put up on many public buildings.
The caption means 'murdered by communists'

Milada Horáková was an extraordinary woman, who, like many of her era suffered as a result of the injustice of two nightmares; first the Nazi invasion and occupation, and subsequently the communist takeover in 1948. 

She grew up during the first world war, and her first action led to her expulsion from school in 1917 for taking part in an anti-war rally. Despite that early setback, she received a law degree from the Charles University in 1926 and joined the ČSNS (Democratic Socialist Party) that same year. As the second world war broke out she joined the underground resistance and was arrested by the Gestapo in 1940 and interred in Terezín transit camp where she was tortured. Four years later she was sentenced to a further eight years imprisonment by a German court for her political activities and sent to the concentration camp at Ainach in Bavaria, narrowly escaping the death penalty which the Nazi prosecutor had demanded. She was released in April 1945 by US troops.

After the war, she rejoined ČSNS and served as a Member of Parliament until resigning in 1948 as the communists seized power. Under constant surveillance by the secret police, she was arrested in September 1949 along with twelve of her colleagues. They were all charged with treason and conspiracy, and subjected to intense interrogation and torture. On 31st May 1950,  a massive show trial was kicked off with the assistance of prosecutors from Moscow. There was only ever going to be one outcome.

She was sentenced to death on the 8th June 1950 along with three co-defendants and despite petitions from Churchill, Einstein, and Eleanor Roosevelt amongst other prominent people, the sentence was not changed. She was hanged in Pankrác prison in Prague, aged 48. Her remains were never returned to her family, and have since vanished.

An empty grave marker in Vysehrad cemetery

In 1968, during the Prague Spring, the verdict from the trial was annulled but Milada Horáková was not completely exonerated until after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The street Milady Horákové in Letna, Prague 6 was renamed in her honour in 1990 and in 1991 she was posthumously awarded the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1st Class). A film of her life was released in 2017, called simply “Milada”. Since 2004 the Czech Republic has used the date of her execution as “Commemoration Day for the Victims of the Communist Regime” across the whole country.  

A small monument was also built in Pětikostelní square
near the Czech parliament building in 2018

In her final letter to her daughter Jana, on the eve of her execution, Milada wrote: “Life is hard, it does not pamper anybody … but don’t let it defeat you. Decide to fight. Have courage and clear goals, and you will win over life”. 

Queen Libuše - People In Prague #3

I've written a little about the old citadel of Vyšehrad and Queen Libuše in a previous post. As a lifelong fan of mythology and legend, I was immediately drawn to the tale of how Prague became the city it is now, and it's only fitting to revisit Libuše's story as part of the People of Prague series. It's also an opportunity to showcase some new photos that I took in the summer!

Libuše and Přemysl

The statue shown in these photographs is of Libuše and her peasant husband, Přemysl, and is one of four great statues in the grounds of the Vyšehrad fort, sculpted by Josef Myslbek in the late 1890s. Originally they were situated at the four corners of Palacky Bridge but were badly damaged in 1944 during a US bombing raid over southern Prague. The original was too badly damaged to be retained and this is a copy.

According to legend, Libuše was one of the three daughters of old king Krok. She was the wisest of the three sisters. Her sister Kazi was a healer, Teta was a magician, but Libuše had the gift of prophecy, and was chosen by her father as his successor, to judge over the people.

Although regarded as a wise and just leader, Libuše was unmarried which was a problem in a largely male-dominated society. To appease the tribe, she agreed to take a husband but was in love with a peasant ploughman. In order to marry the man she desired, she told of a vision in which she saw the man she would marry eating from an iron table, wearing a broken sandal, and her horse would be able to lead her to this man. The animal was duly dispatched where it came across the ploughman called ‘Přemysl’ (his name means thoughtful, or studious). He was brought back to Vyšehrad and became the father of the great Přemyslid dynasty.

Libuše and Přemysl

Inspired by her prophetic success, Libuše went into a further trance. This time her horse took her in a quite different direction, towards the area where Prague Castle now stands. ‘Go until you reach a man making a lintel for his house’, the vision had said, ‘and there you will found a city whose fame will reach the stars.’ She did, and she named it ‘Prah’, the old Czech word for a lintel.

Libuše

Přemysl

Legend aside, the Přemyslid dynasty ruled Bohemia from the 8th century- the first historical Přemyslid was Duke Bořivoj I, baptised in 874 by Saint Methodius - until 1306.

Queen Libuše features in many Czech literary, musical and dramatic works, including the opera by Smetana and 'Pole a palisáda', a novel by Miloš Urban. The minor planet 264 Libussa is named for her.

For reference the other sculptures in the vicinity of the statue of Libuše and Přemysl in Vysehrad are:

• the allegorical couple, ‘Lumír and Piseň’ — singer and muse. 
• Ctirad and Šárka, characters from the 7th-century War of the Maidens
• Záboj and Slavoj, the brothers who lead the rebellion against the invasion of Charlemagne and allegedly led the victorious battle in 805

Music Maestro, Part 3 (Finale) - People In Prague #2

My first two posts in this Music Maestro series were about native Bohemians; Bedřich Smetana and Antonín Dvořák who were both inspired by the history, culture and beauty of their native lands as well as their national heritage in periods of considerable change and instability. My third choice, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is inextricably linked with the city of Prague, despite having spent less than a few months staying in the city, and then only for brief periods on each of his five visits.  

Mozart first visited Prague in January 1787 and stayed for about six weeks. His music preceded him, with his opera, The Marriage Of Figaro, having been produced in Prague to roaring acclaim the previous year, 1786, after premiering in Vienna. The production was such a success that the orchestra and several well-off music aficionados funding a visit by the composer to witness it for himself. During this visit, the ‘Prague’ symphony was first performed for his benefit and in the same concert he improvised a piano solo and later claimed that he “counted this day as one of the happiest of his life”. As a direct consequence of the adulation shown to him, his second opera was commissioned by the impresario Bondini.

This second opera, Don Giovanni, was completed in Prague on his second visit. He arrived on October 4, 1787, to supervise the production which was due to take place at the Estates Theatre on October 15 but was delayed until the 29th. Again, it was received to rapturous applause and was the talk of the town.

The Estates Theatre on Železná

Mozart passed through Prague in April 1789 on a trip to Berlin, and on his way back to Vienna in May the same year when he may have stayed for a few days.

His final trip to the city was in September 1791 for the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia. Mozart had written ‘La clemenza di Tito’ for the festivities. He stayed for three weeks between 28 August and the middle of September, but on this occasion played second fiddle to the Imperial Court. He was 35 years old, and he died later the same year in December.

The outpouring of grief on his passing far outweighed that shown in any other European city. In Vienna, he was laid to rest without much pomp or ceremony, in Prague over four thousand people attended his first memorial at St Nicholas’ Church in the Lesser Town. Over one hundred musicians offered their service free of charge to play the Requiem mass. In the following years, citizens of Prague took it upon themselves to provide for Mozart’s widow and children, by helping organise concerts in his memory.

'Cloak of Conscience' Inspired by Don Giovanni

Today, the Estates Theatre still proudly displays its association with Mozart and the inaugural performance of Don Giovanni, and many other places claim their association with the composer, including Strahov Monastery and The Klementinum, both claiming that Mozart played the organ in their chapels.

Mirror Chapel in the Klementinum

where Mozart played the organ

Though his association with Prague was brief and infrequent, Mozart is best remembered for his (alleged) quotation after the successful premiere of Don Giovanni - “My Praguers understand me"

Music Maestro, Part 2 - People In Prague #2

In this continuation of my first Music Maestro post about Bedřich Smetana, the second of my famous musicians associated with Prague is none other than Antonín Dvořák, who is best known in the UK for the music from the Hovis bread advert from 1973 (directed by Ridley Scott!)

Statue of Dvořák in Jan Palach Square opposite the Rudolfinum

Born on 8th September 1841 in Nelahozeves, about 35km north of Prague, Dvořák was the eldest of fourteen children, although only eight of the children survived infancy.  He was taught to play the violin at primary school and at the age of thirteen, was sent to live with his uncle in Zlonice, to learn German. Here he also studied organ, piano and continued to learn the violin as well as music theory.

In 1857, Dvořák travelled to Prague to enrol in the Organ School where he also joined various bands and orchestras as a minor violinist. He left the school in 1859, second in his class. One of the orchestras he joined was taken on as part of the Provisional Theatre orchestra where Dvořák played viola starting in 1862. That same year he began writing his first string quartet.

In 1873, he married Anna Čermáková, with whom he had nine children but three died in infancy. Between 1860 and 1870, he wrote a number of pieces, many of which he destroyed (including his first symphonic efforts), and very few of which received much in the way of public performances or critical recognition. Some of these pieces were not premiered until a century after they were written - the third string quartet first premiered in 1969, and his first opera, Alfred, was not performed in full until 1938.

Dvořák's work began to get traction in Prague in 1873 when his Piano Quintet in A major (Op.5) became his first composition played in a concert. His cantata, The Heirs of the White Mountain, was regarded as 'an unqualified success', but he remained largely unknown outside of Prague. However, at the age of 33, he applied for and won the Austrian State Prize for composition in 1875. He submitted fifteen compositions, including his third and fourth symphonies. Among the jurors for the award was Johannes Brahms.

He entered for the prize again in 1875, 1876, and 1877, winning in both 76 and 77. Once again, Brahms had been part of the jury and he offered to help make Dvořák's work get wider recognition beyond the Bohemian region, and in due course, his music began to be performed in Germany, Britain, France and the US. His music was not so well received closer to home, in Austria, where he fell victim to an under-current of anti-Czech feeling.

In the 1880's Dvořák's work became extremely well-received in England and the US, visiting Britain at least eight times. In 1892 he became the director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, on a salary of $15,000. Not bad for a musician, who prior to being married, had to live with five other musicians, and who didn't own a piano before 1875. During his time in New York, he began to engage with African-American and Native American music, and in 1893, he was commisioned by the New York Philharmonic to write his Symphony No.9 - 'From the New World' to worldwide acclaim.

After three years in New York, Dvořák was becoming increasingly homesick and returned to Prague to resume his professorship at the Conservatory. He continued to compose, focusing mainly on opera and chamber music. His association with Brahms continued also, and the Austrian tried in vain to persuade him to go and live in Vienna, offering his entire fortune. The Czech remained resolutely in Prague but visited his mentor on his deathbed in April 1897.

Dvořák's grave in Vyšehrad Cemetery

In 1901, Dvořák was made a member of the Austro-Hungarian House of Lords by Emperor Franz Joseph I, but in April 1904 he contracted influenza and died, aged 62, on May 1st 1904. He left many unfinished works behind. He is buried in Vyšehrad cemetery.

Music Maestro, Part 1 - People In Prague #2

Continuing my theme of People In Prague, I've chosen three famous musicians associated with the city. Two of the three composers are natives of the Czech Republic, the third was a visitor who has been adopted by the city despite only having visited five times and spending less than a few months in Prague in total. I had intended to include them all in a single post, but their stories are too interesting to try and condense and still do them justice. So, here is the first of my musical Prague heroes.

Bedřich Smetana was born on 2nd March 1824 and is regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music, although Internationally Antonín Dvořák is generally better known and considered to be more significant. Smetana is best known for his opera, "The Bartered Bride" and for his symphonic poem cycle, "Má vlast" ("My Homeland"), which portrays the history, legends and landscape of the composer's native land. Born near the border between Bohemia and Moravia, he grew up as a German speaker, which was then the official language.

He gave his first public performance, a piano recital, at the age of six. He moved to school in Prague in 1839, but he fared badly there, largely because he was bullied because of his country manners, although it was here that he became convinced that he wanted to become a musician, and spent most of his time missing classes and attending concerts. He was removed by his father and moved to Plzeň until 1843. He wrote a number of pieces here, including his first orchestral work. He returned to Prague where he found a mentor and secured work teaching a nobleman's children. Smetana joined the Prague uprising in 1848, rebelling against the Habsburg rule, and wrote a number of patriotic pieces and was lucky to escape imprisonment after an uprising at the Charles Bridge.

Also at this time, he began a friendship with Franz Liszt, one of his early heroes, and was able to start a Piano Institute in Prague which was particularly fashionable with nationalists. He was later established as the Court Pianist in Prague Castle, then the residence of the former Austrian Emperor Ferdinand. But the next few years were a mixture of tragedy as he lost three of his daughters in quick succession between 1854 and 1856. His wife was also diagnosed with tuberculosis. He left Prague, disenchanted with the city’s critics and moved to Gothenburg in Sweden. He became more established in Gothenburg during 1856 and 1861, and although his wife died in 1859, he quickly remarried the following year.

The Smetana Museum overlooking the Vltava

He returned to Prague in 1861 where he learned Czech but was turned down for several key appointments, primarily because of his revolutionary past, and his association with Liszt. In 1866 his opera, The Bartered Bride, was premiered on the eve of the Austro-Prussian war. It was not well attended and failed to cover its costs. Eventually, in 1866 Smetana became the principal conductor of the Provisional Theatre, a post he had long coveted. For the next 8 years, he battled against personal enemies who attacked him at all levels. In1874 his health started to fail and by October he had lost his hearing. By then he had begun work on "Má vlast”, and the complete cycle was first performed in November 1882. He never heard it being played.

The grave and memorial at Vyšehrad

His health continued to deteriorate and he was suffering from mental problems as well. He died in the Kateřinky Lunatic Asylum in Prague on 12 May 1884. He is buried in the cemetery at Vyšehrad. The Bedřich Smetana Museum was founded in 1926 and moved to its current location at the former Waterworks on the bank of the Vltava in 1936. 

A fitting site for the Smetana Museum overlooking the castle and river

Astronomy, Astrology and Alchemy - People in Prague #1

On my last trip to Prague, I started thinking about a new set of posts which are a slight departure from my normal subject matter. The idea came about because of a framed poster on the wall in my apartment. It was an image ** created by a local Prague artist, Jiří Votruba, and it depicts a number of famous people and fictional characters associated with Prague. The ensemble includes politicians, musicians, artists, writers, and religious figures and royalty.

There are also two scientists, or more accurately, astronomers, shown - Tycho Brahe and Johann Kepler. The two men could not have been more different, Brahe (1546-1601) was a Danish nobleman while Kepler (1571-1630) was from a poor German family. Their paths crossed in Prague in 1600 when Brahe was the Royal Mathematician at the court of Rudolf II and he invited Kepler to become his assistant.

The statue of Brahe and Keppler near Pohořelec

Not only were the two men from different backgrounds, but their approaches to science were radically different. Brahe, who had been fascinated by eclipes since boyhood, made painstaking observations of celestial bodies and collected vast amounts of data relating to their positions in the sky. Kepler, the mathematician who only became interested in astronomy after meeting Brahe, used calculations to derive theories to test against. Neither man's contribution to the fledgeling field of astronomy would have had much value without the other. Ironically, the two men fought continuously while working together, because Brahe refused to share his data. After Brahe's death in 1601, only a year after they met, Kepler stole the data he needed. In 1609, Kepler published his first two Laws of Planetary motions, using the data from Brahe and improving on the model developed by Copernicus from 1543. The third law was published ten years later in 1619.

The statue of Brahe and Keppler near Pohořelec

Brahe was an eccentric character who was widely regarded as an obnoxious and arrogant drunk. As a student, he lost his nose in a duel (over who was a better mathematician) and had it replaced by a gold one. It has been speculated that his death was due to kidney failure as a result of his excessive lifestyle, although there is some evidence that he had ingested a large amount of mercury - perhaps in association with his dalliance with alchemy. Incidentally, I've written about Tycho de Brahe in an earlier post as he was a resident Nový Svět. 

Plaque indicating Brahe's House in Novy Svet

Kepler struggled to find support for his work following Brahe's death, and he made his income by telling astrological fortunes. As a Protestant, Kepler had frequent clashes with the Catholic authorities who were now well established in Prague following the Battle of Bilá Hora. He lost his wife and son to plague and his mother was imprisoned for witchcraft although her sentence was commuted to exile after a five-year struggle, during which Kelper wrote what is considered to be the first ever science fiction novel called "Somnium" (The Dream).

These were strange times across Europe. The realms of Astrology, Alchemy and Astronomy were inevitably interlinked. Golden Lane (Zlatá ulička), a little street within the confines of the Prague castle complex was named after the goldsmiths who lived there, but it was once known as Alchemists Lane. There is no evidence that alchemy was seriously practiced there but Rudolph II played a large part in the development of alchemy across Bohemia, and it was considered a mainstream science.

Golden Lane

Golden Lane

Rudolph II even brought two English alchemists to his court, Edward Kelly and John Dee. Ultimately, Dee fell out with Kelly and returned home. Kelly was imprisoned after failing to deliver on any of his promises and eventually died from injuries sustained while trying to escape.

There is still evidence of Brahe and Kepler's work in Prague. Some of their instruments are still on show in the Klementinum. Until the end of 2017, there was a tiny but fascinating Kepler Museum,   located in a back alley off Karlova, but this has now closed and has been relocated to the National Technology Museum.

 ** I'm currently trying to get permission from the artist to reproduce the image in this blog, until then, here's a link!