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The Czechs, or Bohemians, the dominant ethnic
group of the Czech republic, have one of the richest musical
traditions of any of the Slavic peoples. Bohemia, an independent
Czech state dating from the 9th century, began to fall under
German influence in the later Middle Ages. The HUSSITE movement
of the 15th century temporarily reasserted the native tradition
and generated a striking literature of hymns and devotional
songs that became an important part of the Czech national
heritage. Following the Habsburg conquest of Bohemia during
the Thirty Years' War (1618-48), however, the process of Germanization
became complete. In the 18th century Bohemia produced several
generations of brilliant composers, but most of them made
their reputations in foreign countries. Johann Stamitz and
Franz Xaver Richter (1709-89) were leaders of the German MANNHEIM
SCHOOL, which influenced the transition from the baroque to
the classical style of music. Jiri Antonin BENDA worked in
Thuringia, and his brothers Franz (Frantisek, 1709-89) and
Josef (1724-1804) in Berlin. Josef Myslivecek (1737-81), Jan
Ladislav Dussek (1760-1812), and Antonin Reicha (1770-1836)
won success in Italy, England, France, and other parts of
Europe. Prague, the Bohemian capital, was a major musical
center in the 18th century, but its character was Austrian
rather than Czech.
Jan Vaclav Tomasek (1774-1850) and other early romantic composers
showed a renewed application of Czech culture, but Czech music
remained German-tinged until the national revival of the mid-19th
century. The central figure of the musical revival was Bedrich
SMETANA, who, using folk sources and his own inspiration,
almost single-handedly created a modern Czech musical style.
In the next generation, Antonin Dvorak, whose work combined
cosmopolitanism with an un-selfconscious nationalism, emerged
as one of the most renowned composers of his day. Recognized
and befriended by Dvorak, Leos JANACEK, whose creative period
came after 1900, had a unique style based on the speech patterns
of his native district of Moravia, which was especially evident
in a series of highly individual operas. Also in the romantic
nationalist tradition were Zdenek Fibich (1850-1900) and,
somewhat later, Josef Suk (1874-1935) and Vitezslav Novak
(1870-1949).
During the 1920s and 1930s many Czech composers, notably the
atonalist Alois Haba (1893-1973), were attracted to avant-garde
music. A more conservative figure from this period was the
French-influenced cosmopolitan Bohuslav MARTINU. After World
War II and the advent of Communism in Czechoslovakia, some
of the country's leading musical talents emigrated, including
Karel Husa, who settled in the United States.
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