About
Prague Concert Life 1850-1881: an annotated database
This is a database survey of Prague musical life and culture over the years 1850–1881, founded upon the analysis and explication of references to all practical music activity appearing in Czech- and German-language periodicals of that period. It covers all types of music apart from music theatre and is conceived as an online scholarly resource freely available to the specialist academic community and to all those interested in Czech nineteenth-century music, history and culture.
This three-year project (February 2005 to January 2008) is funded by The Leverhulme Trust and administered by the School of Music of Cardiff University as part of the University’s Central European Music Research Centre (CEMRC).
The technical aspects have been designed by Cardiff University’s Computing and Information Services division (INSRV) in consultation with the project research Director and the principal Research Assistant. The source materials have been collected by researchers working in both the United Kingdom and in the Czech Republic.
What the database does
event records
- provide the fullest possible information about each musical performance in Prague 1850-81.
- typically list the date, time and venue of an event, the programme and works that were given, and the individuals, societies and institutions taking part.
- range from public concerts to private soirées, from large-scale festivals to everyday music rehearsals.
- encompass all of the city’s music-performance venues: from local inns, guest houses and restaurants to the most fashionable and successful society halls, parks and gardens.
event commentaries
- clarify editorial decisions taken in assembling information from different sources.
- offer supplementary factual data such as audience numbers, admission prices, changes of venue or programme etc.
- provide detailed information about individuals, venues, societies and institutions, and highlight notable trends and occurrences within the city’s musical environment.
- outline the content and critical stance of descriptive reports and reviews.
- evaluate the source material from a scholarly perspective, advancing awareness of nineteenth-century Prague music culture and providing fresh insights into its complexion and progress.
search and navigation tools
- Basic Keyword Search – allows the input of a term and checks for its occurrences within principal fields of the database.
- Advanced Search – allows more focussed investigation through the searching of chosen topics and subject categories.
- Hyperlinks – lead to more detailed facts about particular aspects of an event, about participating individuals and institutions, about venues and the works being performed.
- specific musical or non-musical keywords assigned to each event – in Advanced Search these may be individually selected by the reader or combined with their own search criteria.
- user-friendly layout with straightforward navigation to and from the various pages of information.
features of interest to social and literary historians
- information spanning a broad range of topics from arts and literature to Prague society and culture.
- information about audiences: attendances and the social strata for which particular performances or series of performances were aimed.
- recording admission prices to cultural events and noting the material success and reception of benefit events for charities.
- noting the extent to which rhetoric and partisan expression in German and Czech literature was evident in journalistic coverage of events.
- facilitating investigation of progress and development of newspapers and periodical sources through their reporting of music culture events, the focus of their coverage, their reflection of contemporary aesthetics and their influence upon public taste in music and other arts.
Sources
Principal periodical sources the resource aims to cover (all Prague publications unless otherwise stated):
- Bohemia: ein Unterhaltungsblatt, vols 23-54 (1850-81)
- Čas [Time], ed. A. Krása, vols 1-3 (1860-62)
- Cecilie: časopis pro katolickou hudbu [Cecilie: journal for Catholic music], ed. F. Lehner, vols 1-6 (1874-79); continued as Cyrill, vol 6-8 (1879-81)
- Česká Thalia: List věnovaný dramatickému umění společenské zábavě vůbec [Czech Thalia: Paper dedicated to dramatic arts and general social entertainment], ed. J. Mikuláš-Boleslavský, vols 1-5 (1867-71); from 1868 titled Ceská Thalia: List věnovaný divadlu, hudbě a společenské zábavě vůbec [Paper dedicated to theatre, music and general social entertainment]
- Česká včela [Czech bee], ed. J. Pichl (1850)
- Česká včela [Czech bee], ed. J. Pichl (1875-80)
- Česká včela [Czech bee], ed. V. Hálek (1866-67); published as supplement to periodical Květy
- Dalibor, ed. Emanuel Meliš, vols 1-7 (1858-64)
- Dalibor, ed. Lud. Procházka, vols 1-3 (1873-75)
- Dalibor, ed. V.J. Novotný, vols 1-3 (1879-1881)
- Hlas [Voice], ed. V. Vávra (1862-1868)
- Hudební listy [Musical pages], vols 1-6 (1870-75)
- Hudební a divadelní věstník [Musical and theatre gazette], ed. Fr. Pivoda (1877-78)
- Kaiserlich-königlich priviligirte Prager Zeitung (1850-81)
- Lumír: belletristický týdenník [Lumír: Literary weekly] (1851-66)
- Mercy’s Anzeiger für Böhmen, vols 1-5 (1854-58); continued as Prager Morgenpost, vols 6-11 (1858-64)
- Národ [Nation], ed. V. Klenberger and Fr. Šimáček, vols 1-4 (1863-66)
- Národní listy [National pages], ed. J. Grégr, vols 1-21 (1861-81)
- Národní noviny [National newspaper], ed. K. Havlíček, vol 3 (1850)
- Politik, ed. Srejšovský (1862-1881)
- Prager Abendblatt, vols 1-15 (1867-81); actually evening edition of Prager Zeitung
- Prager Wochenblatt: Organ für Theater, Kunst, Musik usw, ed. J. Lang (1863)
- Pražský denník [Prague diary], ed. V. Kubelka, vols, 1-16 (1866-81)
- Pražský prostonárodní list [Prague folk paper], ed. J. Malý (1851-52)
- Pražský wečerní list [Prague evening pages], ed. J. Liblíský, vols 3-4 (1850-51)
- Slavoj, ed. J. Ulm, vols 1-6 (1862-65)
- Der Tagesbote für Böhmen, vols 1-28 (1852-79)
- Urbánkův věstník bibliografický [Urbánek’s bibliographic gazette], vols 1-2 (1880-81); continuation of the following entry
- Věstník bibliografický: Časopis pro literaturu, hudbu a umění [Bibliographic gazette: Journal for literature, music and art] vols 1-5 (1869-73); 6-7 (1875-76)
- Zlatá Praha [Golden Prague], ed. V. Hálek, vols 1-2 (1864-65)
Personnel
Project Director: Professor John Tyrrell, Cardiff University
Principal Research Assistant: Dr Karl Stapleton, Cardiff University
Lead Developer: Mike Jones, INSRV Cardiff University
Technical Development and Programming (INSRV Cardiff University): Jose Miguel Cossio, Philip Harris, Steffan Williams
Research Assistants: Gabriela Coufalová, Palacký University Olomouc; Jakub Michl, Charles University Prague; Alena Jakubcová, Charles University Prague; Miloš Štědroň jnr, Prague Conservatory
Language consultants: Jan Špaček, Masaryk University Brno; Anke Henkel, Cardiff University; Dr Richard Elfyn Jones, Cardiff University; Anke Caton, Cardiff University
Go back