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 Kapralova as a Muse: The Works She Inspired
Kapralova's charismatic personality and her remarkable music fascinated artists during her lifetime and continue to fascinate artists today. For some, it is her music; for others, it is her life story; but as a true muse, Kapralova has captured imagination of not only her fellow musicians but also writers and even visual artists. Here are some of the works of art that she inspired:
In alphabetical order by artist's name1
Miroslav Barvik | Piano Trio "In the memory of V. Kapralova" (1940)
Miroslav Barvik, Milan Harasta, Gernot Kasik et al. | Cycle "In the memory of V. Kapralova" 2 (Autumn 1940)
Pavel Blatny | Strange Loves (Dramatic Scenes) (1990)
Pavel Blatny | Letter. A romantic monologue for violin and piano, on a theme of a letter of Vitezslava Kapralova (2003?)
Robert Gurdonark | Kapralova's Escape. Experimental electronics (2005)
Jana Hlavova | Vitezka Kapralova [poem] (1963)
Vaclav Kapral | Berceuses de printemps (1916)
Vaclav Kapral | Two Reminiscences (1940)
Vaclav Kapral | Premonition (June 1940)
Vaclav Kapral | "Milodejne kviti," for two voices and piano (1942)
Daniela Kosinova | Omnia vincit amor," for lower voice and string quartet (2003)
Katerina Kraftova | Chaloupka," for voice and piano3 (October 2002)
Miroslav Kubovy | "Cyklus Vyhrezle hlavy" [painting] (2003)
Bohuslav Martinu | Tre ricercari (1938)*
Bohuslav Martinu | String Quartet No. 5 (1938)*
Bohuslav Martinu | Fenêtre sur le jardin (1938)*
Bohuslav Martinu | Double Concerto (1938)*
Bohuslav Martinu | Conte (1939)
Bohuslav Martinu | Bergerettes (1939)
Bohuslav Martinu | Cello Sonata No. 1 (1939)
Bohuslav Martinu | Czech Madrigals (1939)
Bohuslav Martinu | Adagio4 (1957)*
Wolfgang Mastnak | Klangmomente für klavier solo nach motiven von Vitezslava Kapralova (2002?)
Renate Moran | Malerei zur musik von Vitezslava Kapralova [painting] (2004)
Jiri Mucha | Most [novel] (1943)
Jiri Mucha | Studene slunce (1968) [novel-autobiography]
Katerina Ruzickova | Life Attitudes5 (2002)
Milos Sokola | Variazioni sul tema di Vitezslava Kapralova per grande orchestra (1952)
Jaroslav Sveceny | Skladba pro solove housle na motiv Vitezslavy Kapralove / Composition for solo violin on a motif of V. Kapralova (2004?)
Jindrich Uher | Ona a Martinu. (1995) [novel-biography]
Lenka Vojtiskova | Posledni dny Vitezky Kapralove [short story] (1963)
Notes:
1 Only literary works (poetry, fiction or partial fiction) are included in this list.
2 The authors were students of Kapral's composition class of 1940 at the Brno Conservatory. The cycle was composed as a tribute to both Kapralova and her father (the dedication reads: "In memoriam V. Kapralove, jako manifestacni vyraz souciteni a obdivu Vaclavu Kapralovi" / In the memory of V. Kapralova as a manifestation of our admiration for Vaclav Kapral and our sympathy for his great loss).
3 The 8-year-old pianist set her song to words of Kapralova's poem "Chaloupka / Little Cottage" from 1927.
4 Martinu's dedication reads: In the memory of Vaclav Kapral and Vitulka.
5 The work, commissioned by Raduga Ensemble, was inspired by Kapralova's Partita, op. 20.
* The "Julietta motive," (from his opera Julietta), which for Martinu became closely associated with Kapralova, appears in a number of Martinu's other works that include but are not limited to:
Concertino for Piano and Orchestra (1938); Fantasy and Toccata (1940); Mazurka (1941); Dumka (1941); Piano Quartet (1942); Symphony No. 1 (1942); Sinfonietta La Jolla (1950); Rhapsody-Concerto for Viola (1952);
Sonata for Violoncello, No. 3 (1952); Symphonic Fantasies (1953); and Cantata "L'eveil des sources"(1955). I am indebted to Dr. Erik Entwistle for identifying these works. For a thorough analysis of the Julietta symbolism as it appears in Martinu's, and, most interestingly, in Kapralova's music, see Dr. Entwistle's thesis (listed in the bibliography that follows). His article on the subject has been published in the Kapralova Society Newsletter 2 (Fall 2004).
Sources:
Bartova, Jindra. "Ach ty moje sladka, poslusna zacko..." Opus Musicum, 10 (1990): 310-314.
Barvik, Miroslav. "Nad pozustalosti Vitezslavy Kapralove." Rytmus, 2 (1945-6): 5-7.
Berkovec, Jiri. Predmluva [Foreword]. In: Milos Sokola. Variace na thema Vitezslavy Kapralove pro velky orchestr. Praha: SNKL 1960. Pp. v-vi.
Blatny, Pavel. "Jak jsem komponoval sve Podivne lasky." Opus Musicum, 1 (1996): 15-16.
Bohuslav Martinu. Bibliographical Catalogue. Prague: Panton 1990. Pp.31, 61.
Bohuslav Martinu. Selected Masterpieces. [CD booklet]. Prague: The Bohuslav Martinu Foundation, 2001. Pp. 39, 57, 63.
Corley, Simon. "L'élan vital de Martinu." ConcertoNet.com, March 2002. Available online (as of 25.5.2002) at http://www.concertonet.com/exec/review.asp?IndexReview=1543
Correspondence of Vera Bednarova to Jiri Mucha, 1988. Moravian Museum of Brno, 89.580/G3877a.
Entwistle, Erik. Martinu in Paris: A Synthesis of Musical Styles and Symbols. Page 137. A thesis. University of California, Santa Barbara, 2002.
"Erwachen Literarisches Konzert: Alexandra Berkova / Wolfgang Mastnak." Available online (as of 17.8.2002) at http://www.kulturbrueckefratres.freeservers.com/
Gurdonark, Robert. Kapralova's Escape. ccmixter.org 16 October 2005, http://ccmixter.org/media/files/gurdonark/2869 (16 October 2005).
Havelkova, Tereza. "Music is about feelings." Interview with Jitka Vlasankova and Lubomir Havlak. Czech Music, 5 (1999): 3. Available online at http://www.musica.cz/czechmusic/czm0599.htm
Hotarkova, Ivana. Vitezslava Kapralova. Dubnova preludia v kontextu klavirniho dila skladatelky. A thesis. JAMU: Brno 1993. Page 63.
Kapralova's diary, May 5, 1939. Moravian Museum of Brno (sign. G154b).
Kapusta, Jan. "Bohuslav Martinu v roce 1938." Hudebni veda, 2 (1982): 162-175.
Kubovy, Miroslav. Vyhrezle hlavy. 13 January 2003, http://www.muzeumlouny.cz/shownews.php?ln=cz&id=32&typ=cz#picture (16.10.2005).
Kundera, Ludvik. Vaclav Kapral. Brno: Blok 1968. Pp. 59-60, 92-95, 97, 158-165.
Labhart, Walter. Bohuslav Martinu: Kammermusic. [CD booklet]. Koch International, 1990.
Letter to Karla Hartl from Daniela Kosinova, dated July 17, 2003.
Macek, Jiri. Vitezslava Kapralova. Praha: Kniznice hudebnich rozhledu Svazu cs. skladatelu, 1958. Pp. 129-133.
Macek, Jiri and A. Serych. "Kapralova, Vitezslava." The New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers, p. 246.
Martinu's letter to Vitezslava Kapralova, dated 4.11(?) 1938. Moravian Museum of Brno (sign. G149).
Mihule, Jaroslav. Bohuslav Martinu: Profil zivota a a dila. Praha: Supraphon 1974. Page 117.
Moran, Renate. Malerei zur musik von Vitezslava Kapralova. 2004, http://www.whatisart.info/moran (December 31, 2004).
Mucha, Jiri. Studene slunce. Praha: Ceskoslovensky spisovatel, 1968.
Mucha, Jiri. Most. [3rd Edition]. Praha: Eminent 1999.
Muller, Lubomir. "Podivne lasky." Opus Musicum, 5 (1990): xxx-xxxii.
Nemcova, Alena. "Vitezslava Kapralova a Jan Novak - dva moravsti zaci Bohuslava Martinu". Opus musicum, 6 (1991): 192.
Pospisilova, Katerina. "Cesta Bohuslava Martinu k obdobi fantazii." In: Bohuslav Martinu cesky a svetovy. Collection of papers from 23rd Musicological Conference 'Janackiana'. Ostrava 3.-4.2.1999. Pp. 100-9.
Safranek, Milos. Bohuslav Martinu. His Life and Works. Allan Wingate: London 1962. Pp. 178-189.
Safranek, Milos. Divadlo Bohuslava Martinu. Editio Supraphon: Praha 1979. Pp. 83-85.
Samuel, Rhian. "Women's Music: A Twentieth-Century Perspective." In: The New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers.
Settari, Olga. Klavirni dilo Vitezslavy Kapralove. Unpublished paper. Page 20.
Uher, Jindrich. Ona a Martinu. Praha: Cs. Spisovatel, 1995.
Zouhar, Zdenek. "Ceske dikce hudebni Bohuslava Martinu ve Francii." Opus Musicum, 7 (1990): 217-220.
Zouhar, Zdenek. "Madrigaly Bohuslava Martinu." In: Bohuslav Martinu cesky a svetovy. Collection of papers from 23rd Musicological Conference 'Janackiana'. Ostrava 3.-4.2.1999. Pp. 94-9.
© Karla Hartl, 1998-2008
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