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Culture

Music has always been regarded as an important part of education, both through the schools and through town musicians whose jobs included teaching as well as performing. From its formation in the late eighteenth century, the Prague Conservatoire has been a world class training ground for musicians and composers.

In the 1780s Dr Charles Burney described Bohemia as 'a nation of musicians' adding 'It is said by travellers, that the Bohemian nobility keep musicians in their houses; but in keeping servants it is impossible to do otherwise.' Behind the big four Czech composers, Smetana, Dvo?ák, Jána?ek and Martin?, lie literally hundreds of others whose talents ranged from good to near-great. Virtuoso instrumentalists and conductors have always been legion. Surprisingly few were actually born in Prague but almost all of them were residents at one time or another. With the eclipse of Prague by Vienna under the Hapsburgs, attention shifted from the political sphere to the artistic. Mozart was more highly regarded in Prague than in Vienna; every famous composer and virtuoso was welcomed with open arms, with conductors of the Prague opera including Weber, Mahler and Zemlinský.

One of the downsides of the fall of communism is the substantial cutback of state funding, and the entire arts scene is experiencing financial difficulties in the shift to a market economy. Artists are still regarded as respected members of the community and every possible effort is made to further their careers. Performance standards have, if anything, risen still higher. Prague is unquestionably a musical city. Prague Spring is one of the major world class festivals. Concerts abound but this is not the end of the matter; buskers are found everywhere and the streets, squares and bridges echo to everything from talented students from the Conservatoire, to Dixieland jazz, folk and world music, and pop.

Weekly listings for all musical events can be found in The Prague Post and Do m?sta that gives monthly listings in Czech. Tickets can be purchased at ?edok (see Sightseeing section) and Ticketpro, Salvátorská 10, Prague 1 (tel: (02) 2481 4020; e-mail: vstupenky@ticketpro.cz; website: www.ticketpro.cz). Bohemia Ticket International (BTI), Na p?íkop? 16, Prague 1 is the only ticket agency that will accept credit card ticket purchase from abroad (tel: (02) 2421 5031; e-mail: binter@login.cz; website: www.csad.cz.bti); however, expect a substantial booking fee. Ticket agencies tend to substantially mark-up ticket prices, especially for foreigners; purchasing tickets from the relevant box office usually saves quite a bit of money. Unsold tickets costing more than K?30 can often be purchased 30 minutes before performances; this is especially good value at the National Theatre.

Music: Prague boasts two world class orchestras. The Prague Philharmonic currently with Vladimir Askhenazy as musical director is based at the neo-classical Rudolfinum, Al?vo náb?e?í 12, Prague 1 (tel: (02) 2489 3311). The Prague Symphony Orchestra under Gaetano Delogu has now returned to its restored home at the Smetana Hall of the Obecní d?m (see Sightseeing section). Another three orchestras turn in high quality performances. Important venues for chamber music concerts include the Church of St Nicolas, Kostel sv. Mikulá?e, Starom?stská nám?stí, Prague 1, the Nostic Palace, Maltézské nám?stí 1, Prague 1 (tel: (02) 2451 0131), St Agnes' Convent, (Klá?ter sv. Ane?ky ?eské), U milosrdných 17, Prague 1 (tel: (02) 2481 0835), and the exquisite Baroque Chapel of Mirrors (Zrcadlová kaple) of the Klementinum, Mariánské nám?stí, Prague 1 (tel: (02) 2166 3111 ext 331).

The standard opera repertoire is offered at the State Opera, Wilsonova 4, Prague 2 (tel: (02) 2422 7693). The Estates Theatre, where Don Giovanni was first performed, still presents occasional Mozart operas. Czech repertoire is principally presented at the National Theatre, Národní 2, Prague 1 (tel: (02) 2491 3437); performances here tend to be more innovative and ticket prices are lower.

Theatre: Black Box International Theatre (various venues; tel: (02) 9614 4139) and Misery Loves Company, Celetná 17, Prague 1 (tel: (02) 2480 9168) present consistently high quality productions of international plays and Czech works in English translations.

Dance: Classical ballet is prevalent in Prague at the major theatres but modern dance companies, with their experimental and multimedia techniques offer a far more exciting evening. Ponec, Husitská 24A, Prague 3 (tel: (02) 2481 7886), a new performance space owned by Tanec Praha, presents a constantly varied and challenging programme of Czech and international companies.

Folklore shows combining energetic dancing and music with colourful costumes have not lost their exuberance or high standards under the demands of tourists. Restaurace U Mar?an?, Veleslanínská, 14, Prague 6 (tel: (02) 367 910), offers a year-round show with Czech dinner for a reasonable fixed price. Excellent summer shows are presented at the theatres Divadlo na Klárov?, Náb?e?í Edvarda Bene?e 3, Prague 1 (tel: (02) 539 837; fax: (02) 539 845), and Divadlo u hasi?? at ?imská 45, Prague 2 (tel: 255 141, ext 266 or 286).

Film: The majority of foreign films in Prague are screened in their original Subtitled films are billed as 'titulek'; films dubbed into Czech are 'dabovat'. The best cinema for feature films as well as experimental and late-night programmes is 64 U Hradeb, Mostecká 21, Prague 1 (tel: (02) 535 006). Lucerna (tel: (02) 2421 6972), for all its faded glory remains an atmospheric Art Deco movie palace. Cinema Broadway, Na p?íkop? 31, Prague 1 (tel: 2161 3278), is the best venue for epic films. MAT Studio at Karlovo nám?stí 19, Prague 1 (tel: (02) 2491 5765), shows Czech films with English subtitles at 2200; with a capacity of 24, advance purchase of tickets is essential. The Czech film archive uses Ponrepo/Bio Konvikt, Bartolom?jská 13, Prague 1, a year's membership is K?120. Kinokavárna Jalta (café cinema), Václavské nám?stí 43, Prague 1 (tel: (02) 2422 8814), is the last of the small informal viewing spaces which once played an important part in Prague social life.

Below Smíchov is the Barrandov Studio. Built by Václav Havel's grandfather after World War I, it soon became the centre of the Czech film industry. Czech directors, cameramen and technicians soon were in demand across Europe. The earliest important silent films set in Prague, however, were German. Paul Wegener's The Golem (1920) brought vividly to life the medieval legend of the Jewish clay automaton, with studio expressionist sets that re-created the claustrophobic Ghetto, and Henrik Galeen's The Student of Prague (1926), a tale of the Doppelgänger (evil double) re-created the early 19th century city. Gustave Machatý's Erotikon (1929) reveals Art Deco Prague in all its glory, while his Extase (1933), winner at the Venice Biennial in 1934, created a sensation with its daring nude scene by the Austrian actress Hedy Kiesler (later, in Hollywood, Lamarr). Czech animation came to prominence in the 1930s and remains influential.

Implementation of Stalinist doctrine under the Communists largely isolated the industry from the West. However, innovations were still possible and, in 1947 Ji?í Trnka created the first puppet film, establishing a new genre which helped maintain a Czech presence in cinema in the West. The 1950s also saw the training of a new generation of film makers who, with the relaxation of restrictions in the 1960s, gave rise to the superb Czech New Wave. The finest films of this period were undoubtedly Closely Observed Trains (1964) and The Shop on Main Street (1964). Since the Velvet Revolution, Czech film makers seem to have lost their way, remaining in awe of the New Wave and attempting to maintain an identity in the wake of the influx of Hollywood values. Ironically, those values which threaten to swamp Czech films have also served to revive the film industry: low costs and quality technicians has made Prague a major location for filming; in recent years Amadeus, Mission Impossible and Les Miserables are only a few of the feature films shot there.

Cultural Events: The Czechs have always been known for both their ability and love of music, and the Prague Spring International Music Festival (now in its 56th year) continues this tradition (website: www.festival.cz). Every year the festival (one of the world's largest) starts on May 12th - the day Smetana died in 1884 - and the opening concert always features his great cycle of symphonic poems, "My Country". Prague Autumn (September) is a slightly shorter and less intense festival, which still features many Czech and international performers; being outside the main tourist season, it can be a slightly more relaxed event.

Literary Notes

The German poet Edward Mörike's novella, Mozart's Journey to Prague, (1855) is a delightful, if fanciful, account of the composer's trip in 1787 to conduct the premiere of Don Giovanni. Jan Neruda - the 'Czech Dickens' provides fascinating nineteenth century vignettes in Lesser Town Tales, while Gustav Meyrik's The Golem remains the classic version of the story of the medieval Jewish automaton. Although also Gothic in character, F. Marion Crawford's occult novel, The Witch of Prague, (1891) provides a wealth of description of the city in the late 1880s. Prague's most famous writer, Franz Kafka, generally took a more jaundiced view, filtered through the bewildering and menacing absurdities of Hapsburg bureaucracy (recommended: The Trial; The Castle, and The Transformation and Other Stories). Just as Kafka has spawned an industry of souvenirs, so too has the anti-hero of Jaroslav Ha?ek's comic masterpiece of World War I, The Good Soldier ?vejk (1921). Karel ?apek's anti-utopian play, R.U.R. (1921), added the word 'robot' to the international vocabulary (in: Towards a Radical Centre).

Bohomil Hrabal's deservedly famous Closely Observed Trains offers a thoroughly unromantic picture of the final days of World War II. For the Stalinist period, Milan Kundera's The Joke is a far superior work to his better known The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Since the Velvet Revolution, literature (often experimental) has flourished in the Czech Republic. Michael Viewegh's Bringing Up Girls in Bohemia (1994/7) offers a wry look at rampant capitalism and sex in modern suburban Prague.



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