New bilingual publication about Martinů and Novák

New publication An Artist Must Never Lose Courage : Jan Novák and Bohuslav Martinů in the Light of the Correspondence by Martin Flašar (Department of Musicology, Masaryk University) and Pavel Žůrek (Bohuslav Martinů Institute) is being published by Masaryk University. The bilingual book sheds light to the post-war cultural politics of Czechoslovakia that influenced the reception of both composers.

This publication documenting the relationship between the composer Jan Novák (1921–1984) and his teacher Bohuslav Martinů from 1947 to 1959 uses compiled sources as the basis for presenting the new facts concerning lives and careers of both composers. A very substantial portion of the study consists of a reconstruction of the context of Czechoslovak cultural policy at the turn of the 1940s and ’50s with detailed examples of the rhetoric and attitudes of specific individuals that led to the more general trends in the reception and evaluation of the works of B. Martinů and J. Novák. On the basis of the correspondence between the two composers and their friends on the one hand and the statements of official institutions and their representatives on the other, we are faced with the concrete outlines of an ideological conflict between the new line of cultural policy and the free artists who exclusively followed their own judgement and conscience. At the beginning there are included biographical chapters outlining the chronological development of Jan Novák as a creative figure until his encounter with Bohuslav Martinů and subsequent studies under him, which were carried on purely in the form of correspondence after 1948 mainly for political reasons. An important part of the book consists of minutes from meetings of the Union of Czechoslovak Composers and of published reviews evaluating Novák’s compositions. The end consists of a search for more general features and parallels in the lives and works of the two composers. Central to the entire study is the edition of the correspondence from B. Martinů to J. Novák (Novák’s letters to Martinů have not been preserved) and of Novák’s reminiscences of his studies under Martinů in New York at the turn of 1947/48 excerpted from Jan Novák’s correspondence to his future wife Eliška Hanousková. Martin Ledvinka from BM Institute participated in creating the edition of correspondence. The book is supplemented with facsimiles and documents mostly from Novák’s estate kept at the Czech Museum of Music and recollections from Jan Novák’s family members and his friend.

More information at the website of Masaryk University

Get the book in the e-shop of Masaryk University