Martin Voříšek

The article compares two wedding operas, both commissioned by the Prince Joseph Adam von Schwarzenberg: The opera Die durch Cupido und Hymens Stärke glücklich gemachte Trauungs-Werke was written by Franz Arbesser for the marriage of prince’s friend, Count Joseph Gundakar von Thürheim in 1745. In full accordance with Baroque poetics, the libretto highlights the principles of love, fidelity and above all perseverance. The buffa Dove è amore è gelosia was created in 1768 by Marco Coltellini and Giuseppe Scarlatti for wedding of the prince’s son Johann. Its plot is carried by ironic humor, while the principles of love, jealousy and (in)constancy are seen not as contradictory, but interconnected. A comparison of the two operas invites reflection on their analogies and differences, which reflects shifts in court culture, changes in
repertoire and taste, or the context of the performance.

Tematem disertace je hudebni ansambl, který byl v 70. letech 19. stoleti vytvořen v ramci schwarzenberske gardy (založene patrně v roce 1704) a který byl aktivni až do pocatku druhe světove valky. Prace se nekoncentruje pouze na hudebni problematiku, ale představuje schwarzenberskou gardu z hlediska sirsiho okruhu kontextů. Vedle cistě faktografickeho podchyceni vývoje granatnicke kapely bylo hlavnim cilem nastiněni některých obecnějsich otazek: Mezi nejpodstatnějsi diskutovane souvislosti patři předevsim význam gardy a gardove kapely pro cleny schwarzenberske primogenitury, role granatnickeho hudebniho ansamblu v mistnim hudebnim děni, životni podminky řadových gardistů, na nejobecnějsi urovni pak take proměny postaveni aristokracie v 18.-20. stoleti.

The article deals in detail with the life and career of Anton Johann Jüngling (1743, Protivín – 1798, Český Krumlov), who served as a violinist, music director, and highly placed official to the princely
Schwarzenberg family during the last third of the eighteenth century, when that court saw its greatest flourishing of musical activities. Jüngling also seems to have had a relatively successful career in Vienna
as a performer. The documentation connected with the settling of his estate provides unusually detailed insights into a number of the circumstances of his life, including his professional and personal
relationships, his personal finances, the furnishing of his home, a fragmentary inventory of his music and books, and the medical treatment he received near the end of his life.

The article is based on a lengthy report by Anton Johann Jüngling on his own activities on 12 August 1780; Jüngling was at the time the Schwarzenbergs' music director and also a highly placed official. This unique historical source affords a very detailed look at Jüngling's daily life as a person and a professional, and in combination with other sources, it also enables the creating of a quite detailed picture of the musical events at the Schwarzenberg court over a period of just under two weeks, when the Schwarzenbergs were staying in Český Krumlov with their guests. The musical activities included theatrical performances, a ball, a private concert with repertoire consisting of orchestral arrangements of music from singspiels currently being performed (Die schöne Schusterin and Die abgeredte Zauberey), and accompaniment for worship services. The study documents that the musicians at the princely court were able to secure the music for most of these occasions, and that they were supplemented or substituted for as needed by hired musicians from the town or the military.

From the perspective of the number of Dittersdorf ’s compositions preserved, the Schwarzenberg music collection is a relatively small, but very valuable one, particularly in the field of orchestral music. Some of the copies preserved here could be considered unique with regard to the present state of investigation (although their authorship is therefore questionable). Despite this fact, this source of information on Ditters’ music presently remains rather unknown, and for instance in the RISM catalogue it is recorded only partially. The aim of this study is therefore to create a more detailed overview of the identified Dittersiana, as well as to reflect on the role of these compositions in the music activities of the Schwarzenberg princes and their employees.

We still know relatively little about the historical repertoire of the Schwarzenberg Castle theatre in Český Krumlov, but scores, accounts and correspondence from the castle archives (CZ-K) provide plenty of information about three singspiels that were performed there during the visit of the Fürstenbergs in the autumn of 1795: Der wohltätige Derwisch, oder die Schellenkappe (E. Schikaneder / F. X. Gerl, B. Schack, J. B. Henneberg), Caro, oder Magärens zweiter teil (Perinet / Müller) and Das Neusonntagskind (Perinet / Müller, performance in Krumlov not certain). Thus we learn about the personal engagement of Ernst von Schwarzenberg (both as an organizer and a singer), the musical ability of the Schwarzenberg employees, and the methods of backstage coordination, and we can identify several preserved decorations and costumes made for the performance of Derwisch (including work of Paul Thaler, the costume designer for the Theater auf der Wieden).

Considered from a cool, objective perspective, this article is about something completely insignificant. It concerns a band that was
definitely not exceptional for its composition, repertoire or evidently its standards either, and what is more existed away from any busy
cultural centre – in a remote region of South Bohemia. All the same, in its way it was a unique ensemble. This is because in Bohemia and its
neighbouring areas we would find no other musical ensemble serving one particular aristocratic family for the period 1875–1939.

When tracing the story of jazz in the Czech lands, it is important to bear in mind certain specific factors that had a major effect on its development through most of the 20th century. First, trends in modern
popular music in Central and Eastern Europe were affected not only by the usual market mechanism, but to a much greater extent than in the West by political circumstances. Second, if this music was to speak to the Czech public in its own language, it was always dependent on a relatively small number of performers and listeners. Third and
last, jazz was born in a different cultural context, and so in the Czech environment, it was inevitably initially and for some time an attractive,
exotic commodity but one to which no clear user guide existed. It is therefore no wonder that the population often understood jazz rather differently from the citizens of its homeland across the Atlantic.

The conditions that enable historical objects to survive in original form are rather paradoxical: their creators must have thought them important enough to invest time and resources in making them beautiful, but
subsequent generations must have thought them too unimportant to merit major alteration and renovation. This is roughly the story of one of the most historically
precious theatres of Europe.