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!

Prague Landmarks #10 - Dancing House

In a city that’s full of architectural and cultural anomalies, the ‘Dancing House’ (Tančící dům) still comes as a bit of a surprise when you first encounter it. As you walk along Rašínovo nábřeží on the east bank of the Vltava, you can’t help being struck by the peculiar building that stands on the intersection with Jiráskův most, especially as it is so different from the Gothic, Baroque and Art Nouveau buildings which surround it.

Approaching Dancing House along Rašínovo nábřeží

Dancing House, originally named Fred and Ginger by the co-architect Frank Gehry, is officially the Nationale-Nederlanden building. The Dutch insurance company (now ING Bank) sponsored the project to build on the site which had been bombed in 1945 and had been derelict until it was cleared in 1960. The primary designer and architect was Vlado Milunić who worked with Gehry, and was a friend of Václav Havel, the former Czechoslovakian president, whose family owned the neighbouring site. The designs were completed in 1992 and the building completed in 1996.

Dancing House from Jiráskův most

Milunić’s two-part ‘neo-Baroque’ or ‘deconstructivist’ design concept was intended to signify the transition of Czechoslovakia from communist dictatorship to parliamentary democracy. 99 concrete panels, each of a different shape and size, fit together to provide an illusion of two dancers whirling around each other. The left tower is primarily glass and is the ‘Ginger’ partner which bends and clings to the concrete Fred tower.Although the same height as the surrounding buildings, Dancing House has two additional floors, but the use of mis-aligned windows hides this fact.The building is capped by a twisted metal framework - the dancer’s hair.

Fred's 'hair'

The rooftop terrace

The top floor of the building is a (not inexpensive) restaurant, and if you buy a drink at the bar you are able to go onto the rooftop terrace which affords some great views over the city.

Great views from the terrace

Most of the remaining space is taken up by offices but there is also a highly sought after 21 room hotel. There is also an art gallery with frequent exhibitions.

Dancing House viewed from Janáčkovo nábřeží

Despite the controversy created when the building was first constructed, Dancing House is now recognised as an integral part of the contemporary landscape of Prague. And as with so many places in the city, the more you visit it, the more interesting the building becomes. Don’t forget to visit at night as well as during the day as the illuminations add a completely different perspective to the site!

Dancing House at night

Hidden Prague #11 - Bilá Hora and the Star Villa

Bilá Hora (White Mountain) is one of those names that has resonated with me since I first moved to Prague in 2014 and after four years after first seeing the name on the 22 tram and getting to understand a little of the history of the Czech lands, I finally made the trip last week.

Catch a 22 tram to Bilá Hora

It’s only a thirty minute journey on the 22 tram from Národní Divadlo, but unfortunately you will usually have to suffer the crowds of folk travelling up to Prague Castle - an early start is recommended, but the reality is that there is no escaping them, as you’ll get caught up on the return journey.

It’s worth doing your homework before you leave the centre of town. If you don’t have a decent data plan on your phone, download the maps before you leave (if you have got plenty of data you can still get a strong 4G signal once you get there). Few tourist maps cover much of the area to the west of the Hradčany but both Apple and Google Maps have enough detail to get you to the right place.  If you head in a general NW direction from the Bilá Hora tram stop, you’ll have a short walk through an expensive looking residential area before you end up on a completely empty plain, covered in yellow scrub. At the top of a little knoll, you'll find the understated monument denoting the Battle of Bilá Hora which took place on November 8th, 1620.

The battle site of Bilá Hora

The battle was fought in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War between the Catholic forces of the Holy Roman Empire, led by Emperor Ferdinand II, and the Bohemian Protestants under King Frederick V. The Bohemian army, of 15,000 men, was vastly outnumbered by 30,000 Catholic forces.   In fact, the battle was more of a skirmish than a full battle and lasted only for about an hour, but it was enough to end Bohemian involvement in the war. Forty-seven Bohemian leaders were put on trial, and twenty-seven were executed in the Old Town Square in Prague (marked by the 27 white crosses at the base of the Old Town Hall).

Monument to the Battle of White Mountain

The fate of the Czech lands was altered radically as a result of the Battle of White Mountain, ending some two hundred years of Protestant dominance, and triggering three hundred years of Catholicism and Habsburg influence, which lasted through to the late 20th century. The Habsburgs built a memorial chapel on the hill in 1700, and this was later converted to the Church of Our Lady Victorious. It is now also home to the nuns of the Venio Benedictine Community, and part of the wider Břevnov monastery.

Church of Our Lady Victorious

Today, little remains of the battle site other than the memorial and a few acres of undeveloped land which has been landscaped as a park. In the hour I spent in the area I encountered one other sightseer and two runners. Looking north from the monument you can see out towards aircraft activity around the airport, but over towards the east, jutting out from forested slopes, you can clearly see the Star Hunting Villa (Letohrádek Hvězda).

Star Villa - just right of centre

Originally, this was a game reserve, founded by King Ferdinand I in 1530. He commissioned his son Ferdinand II to build the villa which was completed in 1556. The villa derives its name from its shape - hvězda, meaning star, as the building is shaped as a six-point star.

Star Villa- Letohrádek Hvězda

I took a rather direct route from the Bilá Hora monument which I was to regret as it involved a very steep climb up through the forest surrounding the villa. It was well worth it but I'd suggest you find a better way and locate one of the main entry points from the road. The villa is set in beautiful parkland with magnificent tree-lined avenues extending in three directions from the main building. Once again, despite being the middle of summer there were very few people around - a few family picnics and some hardy runners, but no other tourists as far as a could make out.

Given this is only a thirty minute trip out of the madness of the centre of town this was a morning well spent; if only to find a little peace and quiet in a historical setting with a difference!

"Round Round Get Around, I Get Around, Yeah" - Prague Public Transport

You might recognise the title of this piece from the Beach Boys song, “I Get Around”. Believe it or not they played at the Lucerna Palace in on June 17th 1969, not long after the Soviet tanks rolled in. They returned some 50 years later in 2017, although only vocalist Mike Love had played at the previous gig. But this isn’t a music lesson so I’d best get back on track. Literally.

Having lived in Zurich for a couple of years, I was fairly sure that Swiss Public Transport was probably the best in the world. After all, they hold an internal enquiry if a railway train is late leaving the terminus by only a few seconds. Trams in Zurich are a little less predictable, but none the less still run as regularly as can be expected given ever increasing volume of traffic in the city.

Staromestska metro - for the old town square

The red and white trams of Prague are almost as iconic as London’s red buses or New York’s yellow taxis, but when I first came to live here it was with a certain amount of trepidation. My first apartment was about a thirty minute journey from the office, without any direct route on public transport. I also had little idea how much it would cost me over the course of my six month stay. My fears were unfounded.

The public transport system in Prague is fantastic - and cheap. There are three metro lines which pretty much span the whole city (although currently none link up to the airport), and a vast tram and bus network. In common with many European cities, the ticketing system is based on trust. You are expected to have a valid ticket before you board anything, and tickets are so cheap it is a disgrace for anyone to attempt to defraud the network. All tickets are valid on any form of public transport within the city zone (which includes the airport, but doesn't include the Airport Express bus).

Older type tram in the lesser town

A 30 minute ticket costs 24CZK (£0.80), 90 minutes cost 32CZK (£1.08), a 24 hour ticket is 110CZK (£3.75) or for 72 hours it is 310 CZK (£10.50). A monthly pass costs just over £60. In the four years since I started working in Prague the transport authorities have worked hard to make buying tickets as easy as possible. Tickets are available from ticket machines at metro stations, kiosks, and can be bought in advance as they do not become 'live' until you validate them.

More recently a number of apps have been made available on smart devices - my favourite is Sejf - which I top up from my bank account as required. This app can be used to buy e-tickets up to 72 hours - just bear in mind it takes 90 seconds for the e-ticket to become valid. Some newer trams also now have contactless ticket machines on-board so you can use your debit or credit card to get a ticket. In other words, there is no excuse not to have a valid ticket when you travel!

Mustek metro - for Wenceslas Square

If you are caught (plain cloths ticket inspectors either travel on board or lurk in the entrance/exits of metro stations, you can expect to pay a fairly hefty fine - 1500CZK (reduced to 800CZK if paid immediately) - and they will not listen to your plea bargains! Frequent violators will face much more severe penalties.

New type tram - many have contless ticket machines on board

I'm currently in Prague and in the 10 days since I arrived I've walked over 100 miles around town - but sometimes you just need to get from A to B as quickly as possible and it's great to know that the public transport service is there, easy to use, clean, and efficient - and a much more sensible alternative to walking in the rain when the need arises!

Prague Noir - The Seven Day Challenge

I'm not a big fan of the fads that hit Facebook from time to time but when I was nominated to do the Black and White 7 Day Photographic Challenge it appealed to me mainly because I was in the right place at the right time. In Prague. If I'd been at home in the UK I wouldn't have given it another thought.

I was quite pleased with the results so I decided to share them here and include some comments about each photo.

My first photo was taken from my bedroom window which looks out over Anenské náměstí. This little square, just off Smetanovo nábřeží, is only a few hundred metres from the Charles Bridge. It is often used for film shoots, especially in the evenings, and crews can be seen hard a work for several hours during the afternoon just for a few seconds of footage. 

The one-way street leading to the square, Anenská, can get a little noisy in the evenings as partygoers head back into the depths of the Old Town from the Karlovy lázně nightclub, the biggest in Central Europe spreading over five floors (but not my cup of tea I'm afraid!).

The square is also home to a small theatre (Divadlo Na zábradlí) but the largest building is the Palác Pachtů z Rájova. Now reconstructed, it is the site of the former Dominican Convent of St Anne, for whom the square is named.

The Charles Bridge marks the point where Smetanovo nábřeží morphs into Křižovnická. The name is derived from the Order of Knights of the Cross who lived in the former Monastery of the Crossroads. Until 1342 the Knights collected the tolls due from crossing the old Judith Bridge, which was the predecessor of the Charles Bridge. The new name has been in use since 1870, before which it was known as Granátová.

The street is one of the busiest in Prague both for pedestrians and traffic, although this was shot at lunch time in November after a rain storm so it's uncharacteristically quiet.

The dome in the background belongs to the Church of St Francis, which marks the entry point to the Charles Bridge. The building on the left is the Klementinum which now houses the National Library.


In the far distance in the background, you can just make out the short tunnel under the buildings of Křižovnické náměstí. This arcade runs next to the tunnel, underneath the Karlovy lázně nightclub.

This photo was taken late at night before the shutters went down and once again, belies how busy this place is during the day. To get down the two hundred metre arcade really requires you to barge your way through (as politely as possible, of course!)

Don't be conned into purchasing anything down here - it's probably the most expensive place in Prague to buy the tacky souvenirs on sale. Even the bottled water will cost considerably more here than anywhere else, and under no circumstance use the money changers down here unless you really enjoy throwing your hard earned cash away!


No seven day challenge for me in Prague would be complete without this view of the castle taken from the Karlovy lázně tram stop on Smetanovo nábřeží.

I have dozens of similar shots, all taken from the same place over the course of four years, which I've made into a time lapse film showing the view through the seasons (I'll post it on YouTube at some stage in the future).

On this particular occasion I was lucky enough to get a star struck seagull to pose for me. Behind the seagull, at the end of the wooden icebreaker, is the Smetana Museum. The building was converted from an old waterworks to a museum to commemorate the composer Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884), often referred to as the father of Czech music. He became deaf in his older years, and never heard his symphonic poems Má Vlast (My Country).



In this next photo, we're back in Křižovnické náměstí, looking out across the Charles Bridge towards Malá Strana (the Lesser Town).

The 'love lock' craze has hit Prague in a big way as you can see and padlocks have been appearing all over national monuments. They cause huge problems for the authorities with the weight causing damage. Staff are employed to remove the locks from the bridge each week. In 2006, they filled five boxes of locks with each box weighing in at around 50kg


My penultimate photo is from the entrance hall of the Municipal Library in Mariánské náměstí. This column of over 8000 books is called Idiom and was created by the Slovakian artist Matej Krén. The shot was taken through a small aperture in the column, which inside appears as an infinte or bottomless pit thanks to mirrors placed at the top and bottom of the assembly.

Perhaps not the best of subjects for a black and white picture which doesn't really do it justice. I'll publish a better one another time. I did have a back-up photo - also an indoor shot, but everyone knows that a glass of Pilsner Urquell looks much better in colour!

My final photo of the challenge was taken from another popular place down on the river bank, not far from the Malá Strana side of Manesuv Most, on Cihelná. This time we're looking back towards the Charles Bridge and some of the places from the other photos in the collection. If you're a bit nervous about swans snapping at you or if you are just reluctant to get guano all over your shoes, there are benches up on the bank where you can watch the birds without getting too involved.

You can feed the birds, but please take note of the signs telling you what is an isn't suitable. Just because the animals eat it, doesn't mean it's good for them - often quite the opposite, and rotting food will have other adverse effects on the local environment, especially the water.




I hope you've enjoyed this little photographic journey - my special thanks to my friend and former colleague, Olivier, for nominating me. I'm thinking about another challenge for another time - if you've got any suggestions, let me know!