From the Patrimonial to the Civic Standard of Music for All: The Transformations of Musical Institutions in Nineteenth-Century Bohemia and the Problems of Their Music-Historical Interpretation

Abstract

The topic of institutionalisation of musical life in the nineteenth century invites a new perspective on the transformation processes in multinational Austria. The Kingdom of Bohemia is an example of a bilingual country in which the development of civil institutions together with a national movement was quite successful. These processes took place in a peaceful way, without revolutions and with the cooperation of different layers of society. A consensus between Czechs and Germans, conservatives and liberals, aristocracy and bourgeoisie, was necessary. However, this consensus was later undermined by the sharpening of nationalism on both sides, and finally retroactively denied. Therefore, the interpretation of the Czech revival as a national and social struggle was firmly established in music historiography. This study will focus on the founding of modern musical institutions as stories of transformations as well as on the issue of various concepts of the Czech national revival.

Keywords

• history of music in Bohemia
• Czech musical life in the nineteenth century
• Czech national revival
• Austro-Slavism
• musical patronage