Czech Music Zdenek Fibich - the master of the melodrama

Zdenek Fibich "He was born in 1850 and lived to be only fifty years old, which is quite a loss to Czech music. But in that time he was extremely productive. He wrote operas, he wrote hundreds of piano pieces, he wrote songs in both German and Czech, and most interestingly, he excelled at the unusual form of melodrama."

What actually is melodrama?

"Simply put, it is music for reciter and accompaniment. It can be piano or it can be an orchestra, or you can also have multiple reciters and some kind of accompaniment."

Now melodrama is very much a genre which Fibich made his own. How did that come about?

"He was an extremely cultivated man in all areas of the arts, and he had a particularly great knowledge of literature. In fact he was friends with the leading literary figures of his day. So this was a natural choice for him. Czech is a wonderful language for this. The vowels are very bright and the consonants are explosive, so it's a particularly good language for this form.

"One work that he wrote for performance in the home with just piano accompaniment is called 'Revenge of the Flowers'. It has something to do with nature 'getting its own back', as it were. Typically the melodramas are set to "ballade" texts which are quite gloomy and gothic. This is an example of that, where a young girl is overcome by the aroma of flowers and in fact suffocates."

That work is for the piano and the voice. Let's move on to something for the full orchestra.

'The Water-Goblin' "Well, there's his 'Vodnik' or Water Goblin, which is probably Fibich's best known piece, set to poetry by the great 19th century Czech poet, Karel Jaromir Erben. It is for male reciter and full orchestra, and it shows Fibich really at his best at tone-painting and mood-setting. And it really is a very moody and dramatic piece, very gloomy, and in the end horrifying! In the beginning the Water Goblin, who is an evil presence, is sitting by the lake sewing and talking about how he is sewing his wedding costume - green cloth and red shoes.

"A young woman is mysteriously lured to the Water Goblin's lake, and he seduces her - in fact drowns her, I suppose. She goes to live with him in the watery depths and they have a child. But of course she longs to go back to her mother and to her life on land, so grudgingly he permits her to do this, although only under certain conditions. She can't embrace anyone or really be part of the daylight world. But of course, being human, she fails to adhere to these conditions and tragedy ensues."

So much for the Water Goblin and blood and gore. Let's end on a more upbeat note.

"Yes. Fortunately there are more cheerful melodramas out there. Also very well known in this country is Fibich's Christmas Day - also to poetry by Erben - for female reciter and orchestra. It's a good bit more cheerful!"

- world music in the heart of Europe

Petr Doruzka Magic Carpet is Radio Prague's monthly music magazine that looks at music from Czech, Moravian and Silesian towns and villages. The programme covers a wide selection of genres, from traditional folk to the exotic and experimental.

It is presented by Petr Doruzka, one of the Czech Republic's foremost music journalists.
world.freemusic.cz

COMING UP

30.1.2005: A trip to Slovakia
More than 10 years after the partition of Czechoslovakia many Czechs consider Slovakia a strong musical inspiration, while Slovak musicians see Czech audiences as a potential and friendly market. The Bratislava band Jej dru¾ina (Her escort) made their well received debut three years ago, inspired by the rich heritage of Slovak folk songs. Soon afterwards this highly respected band split in two equally interesting parts, and both made new albums recently. But it's not only local musicians who collect folk songs in Slovakia. Nowadays, musicians from Hungary, like the Fono Folk Band, are looking over the border to find more about the music heritage of both Slovaks and the Hungarian minorities living in Southern Slovakia.

For copyright reasons we are unable to archive the programmes in audio, but here at least are a few words about some of the recordings featured recently in the programme.

ARCHIVE

2.1.2005: The best of 2004
In the first Magic Carpet of 2005, you'll hear some rare and unusual albums of 2004 which didn't fit into the previous programmes. Cankisou (pronounced "Chankishow") from Brno "rediscovered" the mysterious tribe of the Chanki people, famous for their devotional and ritual songs. Banana is led by the young female singer of mixed Italian-Ukrainian origin, who calls herself Vladivojna La Chia. If you miss the bad girls of the punk rock era, Vladivojna will be be a singer of your choice. Ahmet má Hlad (Ahmet is Hungry) is an 8 piece band mixing clarinets and accordion with electric guitars, and playing crazy adaptations of folk songs from all Eastern Europe. And NUO stands for The Art ensemble from Nusle, a hard driving and flexible jazz band. Their first album, Multimusic Miniband, reaches from funk to electronica.

Terne Chave 5.12.2004: Terne Chave, Gypsy roots with a future
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain 15 years ago, one of the most interesting exports from East European countries has been Gypsy music: wedding brass orchestras from Serbia, cymbalom and fiddle bands from Romania and Hungary. In the Czech Republic, Gypsy music is on the rise too, but often it sounds very different from the style of our East European neighbours. Terne Chave has earned a reputation as a great live band. Their new album, Kai Dzas (Where are we going), gives us a flavour of where Gypsy music may be going.

Link: Terne Chave live
www.ternechave.net

The mean fiddlers from Moravia 7.11.2004: The mean fiddlers from Moravia
The violin maestro Yehudi Menuhin, who died in 1999, once said: "When we think about the violin, we think about the tradition of Stradivarius. But we forget the violin is derived from a folk music instrument, the fiddle." Jiri Plocek, Czech researcher and musician, comments: "There is a link between fiddlers from Moravia, my home region, and fiddlers from Scotland or Scandinavia. Their music is vibrant and sparkles with energy." Plocek's musical partner Jitka Suranska, explains: "This is a very different style than playing with a symphony orchestra, which is my second job. But playing with Jiri opens a new door for me: playing from the heart."

Link: www.mujweb.cz/www/gnosis_brno

Traband 10.10.2004: Anybody who travelled east before the fall of the Iron Curtain remembers the Trabant. A funny little car with a motorcycle engine manufactured in Eastern Germany. The word Trabant was used in many jokes. In a slightly transformed form, it serves as a name for a band. Yes, Traband, with a D, is a band with a strong sense of humour, and contrary to the Trabant car, they have a lot of energy to spare - and also some remarkable musical ideas. Recently Traband finished a new album, which is ready for release. On their past albums Traband have always used a unifying theme behind their songs, so I asked the leader, singer and composer Jarda Svoboda, what is the concept of their new CD? "It's called Hyje, which means 'Go horses!'. The songs are full of knights, horsemen of Apocalypse, riders and golden chariots." Despite the fact that Traband has existed for 10 years, they are not a band who can fill a stadium, and I am also sure this is not their ambition. Yet they are quite successful abroad - they often play in France and recently they returned from the first tour of Japan. Even though Traband put a great deal of energy into their lyrics, you do not have to speak Czech to enjoy their music.

Link: www.traband.net

Docuku 12.09.2004: The Eastern part of the Czech Republic, close to the Slovak border, happens to be very fertile source of traditional music. Up in the north, the wooded highlands once were sheltering thieves and outlaws. To make this region safer, four centuries ago the land was offered to farmers and shepherds who also functioned as a border patrol. Most of the settlers came from the East, even from Romania. This newly populated region was given the name Wallachia, after the historical name for the Romanian kingdom. Today, their descendants speak Czech, but the region is known for its distinguished wooden architecture, sheep herding and also music. The Wallachian ensemble Docuku could be seen as a regional all star band. The set-up features a violin player, who's also leader of one of the best local cymbalom bands, Solan. The drummer used to play with a well-known Czech rock band Mnaga & Zdorp for 10 years. And one of the key members of Docuku is a gifted young woman, who sings and plays mandolin: Lucie Redlova, the daughter of veteran foksinger Vlasta Redl. Their first album was released this summer, featuring contemporary arrangements of folk songs.

Link: www.docuku.centrala.org

Magic Carpet Archive

See also:
Gypsy music - a rediscovered heritage?
Reinventing folk music with the Moberg Ensemble
No respect for borders from Quakvarteto

The History of Music