PragueBuzz!

July 5 and 6 are Jan Hus’ days as this founder of the Hussites movement was burned at the stake in Konstance, Germany. He was tricked by the Catholic Church to come out of his hiding and travel to there.

Many remember Martin Luther, the German Church reformer for starting the chain of events leading to the establishment of Protestantism in Europe. However it was Jan Hus and his teach which inspired the great German Martin Luther.

Jan Hus’ status is located in the middle of the Old Town’s Square. Ironically, surrounding him are Catholic figures.

The walk starts at the Rudolfinum concert hall, where he conducted the very first concert of the Czech Philharmonic in 1896. We go past the Dvorak monument in front of the building and continue along Krizovnicka Street to St Salvatore’s Church. We can stop in Husova Street where Dvorak stayed when he first came to Prague and where he was confirmed in St Giles Church. That’s close to Uhelny trh square where his first public performance took place.

Then we continue along Narodni Street to the National Theatre and Zofin Island. Then via St Adalbert’s Church where he played the organ, we continue to Charles Square where he liked to stroll in the morning and listen to the singing of birds. Having walked past the building in Zitna Street where Dvorak lived until his death and which is in bad repair today, we arrive at the Antonin Dvorak Museum. From there we can continue on to Dvorak’s grave at Vysehrad cemetery.

It is possible that sound of trains from America was the muse for his famous short piano piece “Humoresque.”

“Following Dvorak’s Footsteps through Prague” exhibition will be open until April 14th, 2008. So there will be plenty of time for you to make plan.

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Most people will know Antonin Dvorak, one of a few legendary classical composers. But probably few have heard of Smetana, another famous Czech composer during the Romantic period.

Smetana composed many musical pieces with Czech themes and elements. His patriotism was clearly demonstrated in “My country/Ma vlast” album, in which he named each song after a place or historical figure in the Czech Republic.

• Vyšehrad is a castle in Prague, the seat of early Czech kingdom.
• Sarka is an Amazon warrior from ancient Czech legend.
• From Bohemian Meadows and Forests (translation): portrayal of Czech countryside
• Tabor is a Hussite-found city during the Hussite War
• Blanik is a Czech mountain.

The last song is Vltava, a beautiful, musical poem, Smetana’s most famous tune, is the river (not so beautiful) running through Prague, below Charles Bridge. Take a romantic troll along Charles Bridge, behold the river and replay Smetana’s Vltava melodies in your heart. If you’re really lucky, you might be able to hear some violinist strumming this wonderful melody. (Never happened to me.)

A friend said that if you pay close attention and listen very carefully at the beginning of Vltava, you’ll hear the melody which resembles the sound of Vltava River flowing from a spring in the mountain. The music, later, changes in tempo and volume reflecting the river’s power and force when it reaches the lowlands.

Tags: Czech, Prague, PragueBuzz, Classical Music, Bedrich Smetana, Vlatava

He would be booed all the way down to his walk of fame before forced to resigned from the post.

The PM, Mirek Topolanek, apparently left his wife of many years to live with his pregnant girl-friend, who is also a fellow politician. This is no soap opera.

The forever-liberal, secular Czech gave him and his party the confidence vote only a few weeks after.

Hah. Only in Europe. I forgot to mention that he leads a conservative Civic Democratic Party (ODS).

The mistress

The wife during the good old days

Tags: PragueBuzz, Czech Republic, Prague, People