Publication details
Kapitola z historie recepce Fibichovy Hippodamie a Sukových scénických hudeb: srovnávání jejich melodramatického stylu
| Title in English | A Chapter from the Reception History of Fibich’s Hippodamia and Suk’s Incidental Music: a Comparison of Their Styles in Melodrama |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Musicologica Olomucensia |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | Web publikace |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.5507/mo.2021.014 |
| Keywords | Josef Suk; Zdeněk Fibich; Julius Zeyer; Jaroslav Vrchlický; Radúz and Mahulena; Under the Apple Tree; Hippodamia; stage melodrama; incidental music |
| Description | After the premieres of Julius Zeyer’s plays with Josef Suk’s incidental music (Radúz and Mahulena and Under the Apple Tree), some Czech critics contrasted Suk’s manner of using melodrama in a stage work to that in Fibich’s Hippodamia. This comparison resulted from different opinions about melodrama in general. According to some critics, Fibich’s intention to accompany a whole drama with music resulted in the music being superfluous and disruptive in many passages, whereas Suk sensed precisely which passages of the text needed musical accompaniment and which did not. On the contrary, Fibich’s supporters stated that Suk’s melodramatic music was merely background, evoking a mood, without sufficient dramatic and psychological characterization of the text. This study is an attempt at an objective comparison that can help answer the question of the extent to which such disputes are justified. Above all, however, it is intended to characterise the contribution of both composers to the genre of melodrama. |
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