Projects / Programmes
The Prague Conservatory as a Centre of European Music Culture in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th Century: Influences of the Prague Violin School and Migrations of its Representatives through Europe
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.08.00 |
Humanities |
Musicology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H320 |
Humanities |
Musicology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.04 |
Humanities |
Arts (arts, history of arts, performing arts, music) |
prague conservatory, prague violin school, european music migrations
Researchers (1)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
29393 |
PhD Maruša Zupančič |
Musicology |
Head |
2014 - 2017 |
69 |
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The study will be interested in the dimensions of the impacts that the Prague violin school left in Europe from the establishment of the Prague Conservatory in 1811 until 1946, and to what extent the Slovenian territory, which received strong musical influences from the Czech Lands in general and this school in particular, was embedded into the European musical scene. Until now no researcher has devoted his/her time to this topic.
From the beginning of the 19th to the first half of the 20th century, the Prague Violin School was one of the most important violin schools in Europe. It raised numerous famous violin figures. Many emigrated across Europe, to Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Russia, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Sweden, Finland and elsewhere. They were active as soloists, orchestral and chamber performers and pedagogues at different institutions. Many European countries did not have their own music conservatories before the end of the First World War. For that reason aspiring violinists from all over Europe, and especially from former Yugoslavia, came to study at the Prague Conservatory. The biggest credit for spreading the Prague violin school through Europe goes to those alumni that were active as pedagogues, thus transmitting their knowledge to next generations of violinists and influencing the development of violin playing in many countries. The Prague violin leaves a much bigger mark on the development of violin playing in Europe then was thought before.
The ideas of the Prague violin school were spread by two channels: by violinists from the Czech Lands that emigrated all over Europe and by violinists that came to study at the Prague Conservatory from different parts of Europe. For that reason the study will be interested in the dimensions of the impact that the Prague violin school left in Europe. On the one hand the research will aim to find out to which countries violinists from the Czech Lands were primarily migrating and on the other hand from which countries foreign violinists that came to study at the Prague Conservatory originated from. Furthermore we will get to know in which period the migration flow was at its peak and which were the specific European cities that most violinists from the Czech Lands targeted. Besides this, a ''family tree of violinists at the Prague Conservatory'', which will interconnect violin pedagogues with all their pupils, will be made. An extensive part of the research will be a biographical lexicon of the Prague Conservatory that will provide a wealth of information to other researchers, as well as to music fanciers.
The main sources will be the Main Catalogue and the list of the students of the Prague Conservatory that will be complemented with some other sources. The project will be carried out within 24 months and will be divided into four main working phases. The final phase will be reserved for preparing the results as an online published monograph, as a presentation of the paper at the Musicological Conference in Prague, as an article that will be published in scientific journal Hudební věda, as an instructive lecture and as a virtual exhibition in the English language that will be freely accessible to the wider audience.
This research validates the current ambition of Europe to strengthen its unity on the basis of a common cultural heritage. In a not so remote past, intensive exchanges in Europe's art scene were widespread and they were only hampered temporarily by the nationalistic reveilles and other geopolitical evolutions.
Significance for science
The proposed project appears to come at a time of constantly growing interest for the past European Music migrations, and this interest is shared by scholars and the wider public (music fanciers) alike. The present research will be able to fill some of the uncharted areas of musicology in the field of music migrations and violin performing. The research findings will fill a considerable amount of omissions in the Czech music history, having lost the traces of many of its own musicians who emigrated in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. It is our aim to give a number of alumni from the Prague Conservatory and its violin school their proper place in music history, proving their influence during their activity in various European cities, and were contributing to the cultural life of the respective countries. The results of the research will bring new biographical data that will be very useful in across Europe. New views will significantly complement and in the contemporary manner refresh the historic view on the development of the performance of the one of the most important and most popular musical instruments. The importance of the research is reflected also in the fact that the majority of today's Slovenian violinists and also many European violinists are ''descendants'' of the Prague violin school. In a broad context, the results of the research will give us new insights into the European musical migrations in this culturally important period of European History. The methods are not very common as well and will surely bring new views on the development of violinism in the European area. For that reason the research could serve as a model for similar future research of other European music conservatories, the results of which could be a connection of violin migration in Europe as a whole. And in conclusion this research should serve as a stimulus for Slovenian Musicology that could frame its researches of the local cultural heritage within a common European cultural heritage, rather than narrowing it to the national cultural heritage within the borders of today's Slovenia. The territory of the Slovene Lands was like other European countries through the history changing. For that reason its cultural past does not simply fit into today's territorial borders. Force-fitting it results is a partial, necessarily incomplete picture. Present project research will, due to numerous migrations to and from Slovene Lands, put Slovenia on equal footing with the rest of Europe and connect it to a common cultural network.
Significance for the country
The present project will be of considerable significance to the Slovenian and European society. The impetus to the development of art music was a constant exchange of musical achievements between different cultures and countries. Even though each European country has been writing its own musical history of the field of violin performing, there have been many points of contact and connections. An important junction of different violin traditions appears to have been in Prague at the Prague Conservatory. The image of violinism in Europe would look very different today without the Prague violin school. In the 19th and in the first half of the 20th century it has musically connected a big part of Europe and has strongly contributed to a common European cultural heritage, something that should not be forgotten. The present project research will in the first place contribute to the protection of a common European cultural heritage, including the part played by Slovenian lands. In a more local context, the research will, due to numerous migrations to and from Slovene Lands, put Slovenia on equal footing with the other regions of Europe.
Historic Musicology is hard to position as a marketable product; even though there have lately been endeavours in this direction. Previous experiences showed that cooperation between countries in the past (European Music Migrations) can be a source of mutual cooperation between countries in the present. Research projects that are focusing on supra-national topics enable numerous international cooperation enterprises by means of e.g.: inaugurations of commemorative plates, co-edition of postage stamps, exhibitions etc. This kind of events attract numerous important figures from politics and diplomacy that are with their own strong networks connecting countries and invigorating mutual relations, consequently stimulating business cooperation. The presence of important political figures and figures from diplomacy on such occasions attracts the media, an essential channel to bring the results of the research to the audience. This is consequently bringing numerous opportunities for later funding of similar events. Above mentioned activities, such as the inauguration of a commemorative plates, publishing of a postage stamp, publishing of an art book, an exhibition, concert series or festival, documentary movies, are having a positive influence on tourism in the mentioned cities and reach social groups and structure that are not primarily musical such as the collecting circles (philately) that possess a lively supra-national activity and influence. They are also a source of direct economic activity, such as tickets and other sales and economic spending e. g. through private sponsoring of events. The present project has all the factors that enable the organisation of the mentioned events and could consequently help with making mutual state relations stronger and enable business cooperation on different levels.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2014
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2014
