Emanuel Chvala: Symphonic poem "O posviceni" (1902)

[violinconcerto]

I recently bought the autograph manuscript of the symphonic poem "O posviceni" (The kermis) by Czech composer and music critic Emanuel Chvala (1851-1924). The work was composed in 1902 and imitates the ongoings on the day of a kermis in a small Czech village. The composition was premiered the same year by the Czech Philharmonic and was quite popular. It received several subsequent performances and also an arrangement for piano 4 hands was made by pianist Jindrich Kaan. But only this piano reduction was published, the orchestral score seemed to be lost. I now found the score and have typeset the composition. The full score can now be downloaded free of charge from my website:

www.tobias-broeker.de


Here a few more words on Emanuel Chvala:

Emanuel Chvala was born on 1 January 1851 in Prague (Czech Republic). He studied both engineering (with a specialization on railway technology) and music. His music teachers include Josef Jan Baptist Cainer and Celestin Müller (piano) and Josef Förster and Zdenek Fibich (composition). After his studies Emanuel Chvala decided to earn a living with working in the railway industry and became later the director-in-chief of the Czech state railways. On suggestion of Josef Sladka, a famous Czech poet and journalist, Emanuel Chvala started to write also music critics for several journals and newspapers in 1878. He won considerable success as a contributor to periodicals like "Lumir", "Dalibor", "Politik" or "Hudebni revue". Emanuel Chvala also published the book "Ein Vierteljahrhundert böhmischer Musik" (A Quarter Century of Bohemian Music) in 1887, which was one of the very first surveys of Bohemian music and due to the fact that it was written in German, helped to bring the Bohemian composers to the attention of foreign audiences. Emanuel Chvala was also a great advocate of the works by Smetana, Fibich and Dvorak (who was a friend of him) and published several articles and essays about them.
Emanuel Chvala was member of the Czech Academy of Science and Arts, president of the Dalcrode Society, member of the Association for Enhancement of Bohemian Music, member of the "Umelecka beseda" and member of the Committee of the Ethnographic Exposition in 1895 which shows that he was one of the most distinguished and outstanding figures of Czech music and theatre criticism around 1900.
Emanuel Chvala died on 28 October 1924 in Prague.

[Alan Howe]

The word 'kermis' would not be understood by 99.9% of English-speakers. A better translation would be 'The Fair'. May I respectfully suggest that you run your translations into English past an English-speaker before posting or publishing? I am at your disposal...

[M. Yaskovsky]

Kermesse? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermesse_(festival)

[Alan Howe]

I know the word from the German ('die Kirmes'), but the best translation would be 'fair'. 'Kermis' (or any of its variants) is certainly not a word in everyday English usage.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I realised it was cognate with "kermesse" - and I knew that word - but I agree, it is not in common English usage and most English speakers would find it unfamiliar.

[Adrian Harrison]

Interesting as this philological debate may be, it seems to me rather discourteous to Tobias that it should apparently be regarded as more important than thanking him for making the score available.   

[Alan Howe]

This is no philological debate; it's about the correct translation of the title of Chvala's symphonic poem for the English-speaking world.

If someone were to discover Beethoven's 6th Symphony and translate its title as 'The Agrestic', I'm sure the reaction would be 'what?'

As for the music itself, I'm sure we're all very grateful to hear about its publication.

[Adrian Harrison]

OK, let me put it another way. I know from personal experience how many hours of painstaking, laborious, eye-straining work are involved in converting orchestral manuscripts into printed scores. Moreover, Tobias makes the fruits of endeavors free to download. I find it insensitive and disrespectful that the initial response should be the deployment of the language teacher's red pen.   

[Mark Thomas]

OK, fine, points made on both sides. Let's just move on shall we?

[Alan Howe]

Quite. But let me simply add that I know from months and months of painstaking work (and research) translating whole books just how important it is to get it right. That's the point of view of a professional translator, not a mere German teacher!

With that, let's hope we get some idea of the quality of the music. Perhaps someone could have a look at the score that Tobias has so generously made available?

[tpaloj]

Congratulations again, Tobias, for a great new score acquisition and thank you for taking the time to make it available on your site. From what little I can tell this lively work as whole could be fantastic to hear in real performance.

I made a simple computerized sample of the beginning four sections (from "morning twilight - the day awakens" to "the church service"). Fair warning: it's not close to imitating the mood of the music, and especially for the beginning few minutes or so sounds quite poor with this setup. But hopefully it can be of some use as a starting reference.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/234p2xu4gfpei22/Chvala%20-%20The%20Fair%2C%20beginning.mid?dl=0

[violinconcerto]

I see that there is a need to give some audible impression. So I created a computer realisation of the beginning as well. The sound file is included on my website and makes the first two sections "Morning twilight - the day awakes" and "church bell" hearable.

Best,
Tobias

[Gerhard Griesel]

From my side as well, tremendous thanks to Tobias for this effort. Also, your website is remarkable.

[semloh]

The short computer realisation sounds like the beginning of an enjoyable composition. How long is the full work?
Yes, that's a fine website, Tobias!

[violinconcerto]

Thanks for your kind words!

The symphonic poem "O posviceni" by Chvala should last around 20 minutes in total.

Best,
Tobias