The Prague avant-garde
A city of opera and grand Romantic masterpieces, Prague also played a significant role in the promotion of novel ideas and styles at the time when a new spirit prevailed in the wake of the Habsburg Monarchy’s collapse. Prague hosted several International Society for Contemporary Music festivals. The press was full of passionate discussions about new trends, with Der Auftakt being the leading German-language modern music journal. The apposite title of one of Erwin Schulhoff’s pieces dating from the time, In futurum, is a paradigm of Prague as a city embracing new musical ideas and idioms.
Helena Spurná / Kelly St. Pierre New Paths in Opera. Martinů – Burian – Hába – Schulhoff – Ullmann
In 2021, with financial support from the Musica non grata project, the book New Paths in Opera was published. It focuses on the operatic works of Viktor Ullmann, Emil František Burian, Alois Hába, Erwin Schulhoff, and Bohuslav Martinů. The publication is divided into two parts: the first part, Essays, offers five historical-analytical perspectives on the operatic works of the mentioned composers by leading world musicologists (Gwyneth Bravo, Geoffrey Chew, Brian S. Locke, Vlasta Reittererová, Helena Spurná, and Lubomír Spurný). The second part, Interviews & Reflections, prepared in collaboration with the Musica non grata project, features Czech and international experts (musicologists, editors, directors, conductors) discussing the challenges they encountered while publishing, interpreting, and staging the discussed works. The staged works are presented with rich colour photo documentation. The book includes a list of productions and recordings of the operas in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, a list of musical examples and pictorial supplements, and an index of people and works. The book is in English, comprising 328 pages, 28 black-and-white and 56 colour illustrations, and 32 musical examples.
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Matthias Herrmann Überdada, Composer and Expressionist – Erwin Schulhoff in Dresden. Mit Briefen, Dokumenten und seinem Tagebuch
Texty podávající svědectví o nekonvenčním člověku a umělci Erwinu Schulhoffovi doplněné rozsáhlou obrazovou dokumentací: fotografiemi z jeho pražské pozůstalosti, doklady ze studií v Lipsku, dadaistickými dokumenty z Vídně a korespondencí. K biografickým poznatkům o Schulhoffovi přispívá první komentované vydání jeho deníků z let 1911 až 1941. Rozsah 418 stran, v němčině.
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profile of Erwin Schulhoff on the Musica non grata website
Essays
Tristan Willems: Jaromír Weinberger – Zwischen den Tasten gefallen
