Czech Museum Research Articles

„Zapojíte se do diskuze?“ Uvažování o muzeích na stránkách českých muzejních periodik (1989–2021)

The analysis based on the leading Czech museum periodicals from 1989–2021 explores the understanding of the phenomenon of the museum. The conclusions show the lack of advanced discussion about the museum’s role during this period. Most museum workers are only concerned with practical problems; they are unwilling to reflect on their work critically, and their idea of the museum is based primarily on physical collections. There is an evident distance between the narrow circle of active theorists in the academic environment and the reserved majority of curators and conservators in the regional museums. This majority does not participate in public discussions, and because of that, its opinions and arguments are more implicit in the analyzed texts. Many published articles are concerned with the history of concrete museum collections, buildings, and significant personalities. The authors frequently underlined the long and rich tradition of Czech museums. However, their perspective lacks a necessary reflective examination (i. e. the museum as an institution and a building with a long history but without a precisely defined position in contemporary society). Review of new exhibitions is a long-neglected genre, often replaced with abstracts or notices. During the last few years, the situation has been improving due to some impulses of new museology and educational turn (i. e. the museum as a responsive and accessible institution to the local community).

The concept of small museums from an international and local perspective: starting points for further research in the Czech Republic

The study deals with the question, what is a small museum and what are its specifics compared to other museums. Based on available foreign and local sources, it summarizes the current state of research which is largely focused on searching for the consensus on how to clearly define this type of museums. The study is based on the published results of key research in the past twenty years, it outlines selected approaches to the characteristics of a small museum and summarizes its typical features. Analogously, it looks at the state of research in the Czech museum sphere, where the topic of small museums has been repeatedly opened, examined and debated from different perspectives of professional activities and professions in a small museum. The study raises the question of how to effectively build on this state of research and develop it further within the Czech Republic, where this type of museums seems to be insufficiently mapped so far.

Workshop Jak vystavovat environmentální témata v paměťových institucích?

The report presents the workshop How to exhibit environmental topics in memory institutions? That took place on the 19th April in the National Museum in Prague. It was organized in cooperation between the Centre for the Presentation of Cultural Heritage and the Committee of Museum Historians of the Czech Museums and Galleries Association. The goal of the workshop was to introduce concepts and case studies of presenting and exhibiting environmental topics in the museum exhibitions and other activities towards the general public.

Important Acquisitions of the Czech Museum of Music in Recent Years (I)

Important Acquisitions of the Czech Museum of Music in Recent Years (I)

Ethics in Museum Fundraising: Evidence from the Czech Republic

Museums constantly face challenges from the ever-changing political, economic, technological, and social environment. One such challenge is to thrive despite the difficult economic climate and decreased public funding. This difficulty pressures museums to develop stronger engagement with the corporate sector. Consequently, such tendencies have sparked discussion as to the ethics of the corporations’ involvement and with whom museums should cooperate. Ethics has become a focal point of museum funding. This paper investigates, based on the data from questionnaires and interviews with museum professionals, this emerging topic and explores the role of ethics among museums using the Czech museum sector sample.

The ICOM International museum definition from the perspective of the Czech Republic : results of a questionnaire survey among representatives of the museum community and other related disciplines

The significant interest of the Czech (or Czechoslovak) museum sphere in the form and continuous revision of the existing international museum definition was already evident during Jan Jelínek's tenure at the head of ICOM in the 1970s. The effort to get involved in international debates resonates with Czech museum workers, museologists, academics and students even now, especially in connection with the planned revision of the key concept at the Prague meeting of this most important professional museum organization. The attitudes towards the existing and the optimal form of the museum definition were also examined within a local Czech questionnaire survey, which was carried out by Brno museologists in the first half of 2021 in cooperation with the Czech Committee of ICOM and the Czech Association of Museums and Galleries. The paper presents the main outcomes of the research, including the key terms that the museum definition should contain according to representatives of (not only) the museum community.

Nález rukopisu F. A. Nickerla o denních motýlech Čech

In 2014, F. A. Nickerl´s manuscript titled Böhmens Tagfalter was unexpectedly discovered during relocation of the entomological department of the National Museum Prague. The find is mainly one of great cultural-historical significance, as it was already published in full in 1837. The publication in question (Nickerl 1837) has a high professional level for its time, and is considered the first scientifically written work in the field of entomology in the Czech Republic. F. A. Nickerl was one of the most important Central European naturalists, being instrumental to the development of entomology and museology in Bohemia. From 1850 he worked as custodian of zoological collections at the Czech Museum in Prague, then later at the Museum of the Kingdom of Bohemia (1854–1919, today the National Museum). Among other things, he was a member of the German natural science association Lotos, which published a (at the time prestigious) journal of the same name, of which he was also the editor. Several species of moths were named in his honor, and he himself described several new Lepidoptera species from Bohemia. He is the author of several publications, of which his Synopsis (Nickerl 1850) which loosely follows (and significantly expands upon) the work discussed here, is most notable. At the same time, he was a person of extraordinary character, which is pointed out by a number of contemporary and later authors, cf. e.g. Tykač (1937). It is due to all of the above that any finding closely related to F. A. Nickerl’s life or work should be considered exceptional and worthy of the attention of our generation.

Letters from the Morawetz Collection (Musicians of Czech Origin in European Centres at the Turn of the 18th and 19th Centuries)

The article deals with the oldest music-related documents from the Morawetz collection (most of which come from the collection of Friedrich Donebauer), which the Czech Museum of Music obtained in 2003 and 2008. Specifically, this involves letters of musicians from Bohemia who were working in German-speaking countries around the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th (Jiří Antonín Benda, Leopold Koželuh, Antonín František Bečvařovský, and Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek). The study presents a critical edition of six letters and one receipt and their translations into Czech and English. On that basis, there is an examination of context within the framework of the lives of the individual musicians and of the period musical milieu. The letters document cultural exchange, tastes, and the stylistic orientation of the period as well as of the music business in Europe at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th. Voříšek’s letter documents the period reception of a Mass by Jan Václav Tomášek in Vienna in 1815.

Stálá expozice Českého muzea hudby – minulost, přítomnost a nové perspektivy

Exhibitions are one of the key presentation activities of museum institutions. In connection with the construction of a new depository and the gradual release of space in the historical building of the Czech Museum of Music, the museum gained the opportunity to expand and modernize its existing permanent exhibition, reflecting the reviews of experts and the general public. In 2024, the permanent exposition will celebrate twenty years of its existence, which is an opportunity to re-evaluate it as well as all the National Museum’s exhibition projects focused on presenting its music collections.

Degradation marks of phonograph cylinders from Tesař’s opera collection

Abstract Phonograph cylinders are the oldest commercially available recording media and are an valuable part of cultural institutions’ collections. Even though they are an essential part of sound history, they have long been overlooked as a relatively chemically stable media. The only degradation mentioned in the literature was a whitish cover, traditionally appointed to microbiological growth. In our study, we focused on unravelling the issue of these degradation products. A selected collection from the National Museum – Czech Museum of Music was subjected to microbiological and analytical examination via digital microscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, colourimetry and SEM-EDS analysis. From the results, some of the degradation pathways were proposed. The results also help us to focus future research and suppress the degradation so that the cylinders stay longer in conditions fit for digitisation and overall archivation.

Musical Motifs in Graphic Decorations of Nicolas Vallet’s Lute Tablatures (1615–1616)

The National Museum – Czech Museum of Music holds an important source – a bundled collection of three printed sets of lute tablature by Nicolas Vallet, which contains parts I and II of Le Secret des Muses (1615, 1616) and the psalm collection Vingt et un pseaumes de David (1615). In our examination of graphic motifs, we focused on musical motifs worked into the decorating of initials and especially on depictions of the Biblical figure of King David with a lute, of lutenists, and of the lutes themselves. The schematic depictions of the instrument did not provide any new organological discoveries, but instead confirmed the popularity of the lute as a symbol. Vallet’s tablatures were printed from original full-page copper engraving plates and not from individual blocks, as was customary. It is also for this reason that the initials, decorated with genre pictures and Biblical scenes, have merited extraordinary attention.

Hus-Hussite Themes and Other Repertoire in the Manuscript Songbook “Písně Baborovy” (Babor’s Songs)

The study deals with a manuscript source, the content of which was heretofore known only to a small extent thanks to J. V. Šmejkal’s book Piseň pisni narodu českeho (Song of Songs of the Czech Nation, 1935). The collection known as “Pisně Baborovy” (Babor’s Songs) was rediscovered by the author in the collections of the Czech Museum of Music, and he focused on summarising existing information about the songbook and introducing the authors (including the Babor family tree) and the notated repertoire in it, which he examines from the perspective of a musical historiographer. There is a detailed probe of the source’s Hus-Hussite elements. At its conclusion, the study outlines the manuscript’s importance in the context of similar sources (printed and manuscript).

An Aria by František Škroup for Halévy’s opera La Juive

At the Czech Museum of Music there is a manuscript of an aria composed by František Škroup as an insertion for Halévy’s opera La Juive. As the conductor of the Estates Theatre, Škroup wrote it for the first German-language performance of the opera in Prague in 1838. The aria was inserted into the role of Eudoxie/Isabella so the singer of the part, Katharina Podhorsky, would get to present herself as a soloist, having been denied that opportunity by the cuts in the printed score of Halévy’s opera. The aria was suitably placed at the beginning of Act IV, but the German text by an unknown author departs from the drama’s sequence of cause and effect found Scribe’s libretto. The insertion takes the form of a two-part aria (Cantabile – Cabaletta) of the kind used for large vocal numbers in emotionally intense situations. The composition conforms to the practice at that time of inserting arias by different composers into operas, and Podhorsky also engaged in this practice. The coloratura writing at the conclusion of the aria was apparently intended to feature her strengths as a singer.

Zpráva z konference Dokumentace, konzervace a restaurování hudebních nástrojů

The conference of the Methodological Center for Documentation, Conservation and Restoration of Musical Instruments presented specific approaches and methods of care for musical instruments in museum collections. Great attention was paid to restoration ethics or terminology in the documentation of musical instruments. At the end of the program, specific examples of restoration practice were presented as part of an excursion to the restoration workshops of the Czech Museum of Music.

Ad fontes Ioannis Neanderi artis et vitae: The Estate of Jan Novák at the National Museum – Czech Museum of Music in Prague

Ad fontes Ioannis Neanderi artis et vitae: The Estate of Jan Novák at the National Museum – Czech Museum of Music in Prague

“Only this Theatre, Faithful and True, Can Preserve the Distinctive Identity...”

Abstract This article explores the complex role played by the staff of open-air museums in the Czech Republic, their relationship with the communities they work with, and their impact on the intangible cultural heritage outside the museum gates. It further explores the considerable role played by researchers active in policy making at open-air museums. The position of open-air museums is rather intricate from the perspective of communities and the state administration, with many different roles and tasks that allow and sometimes even encourage open-air museum employees to transform heritage rules or create new ones. Our conclusions are based on several case studies illustrating how the staff of Czech open-air museums build their relationships with communities, groups and individuals and how this collaboration effects the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage. Ethical issues related to museum interpretation and perceptions of interpreted elements by the public are also discussed.

Česká muzea, nová média a technologie v expozicích: Longitudinální studie mezi lety 2015–2020

Museums are traditional and collection based cultural institutions. From the very beginning of the 20th century the established approaches in museums have been continuously challenged by social and technological changes. New topics including modernization are newly in the centre of interest. The main method used to examine the current state of using new media in exhibitions and visitor engagement in Czech museums was quantitative research with surveys. With regards to the dynamic development in the area of the research surveys were conducted longitudinally in 2015 and in 2020. This approach helped to capture more complex reality and trends in time. Respondents are museum employees from 358 institutions. The use of new media for museum displays increased significantly, while less than a half of the museums launched an online exhibition project. Almost all museums are offering accompanying programs and more than 80 % also offer game activities. Adoption of new media methods and ideas in Czech museums is gradual but it is increasing. Technically less demanding displays are more frequent, lectures dominate in accompanying programs and games are predominantly non-digital.

Pamětní knihy a jejich role v muzejních institucích

Commemorative books are an essential part of exhibitions and long-term exhibitions in Czech museums. This article provides insight into the contents of books and to the information that this material can offer. A detailed analysis of ten selected pieces from the exhibitions of the National Museum answers the question of what function these notebooks in hardcover held today. As a simple glance at their records can tell us, this is not only a collection of signatures and commemorative records but also a source from which we can get an idea about visitors of the museum (resp. writers) and their views on the exhibition project, which they saw. However, while analysing this source and its informative value, we cannot forget it has its limit connected to the circumstances of its origin.

Průzkum sbírky fonografických válečků Českého muzea hudby

The paper presents the interdisciplinary survey of the phonographic cylinders collection of National Museum – Czech Museum of Music. The text was created for the New Phonograph: Listening to the History of Sound project. The paper focuses on the characterisation of long-term storage of the collection and a common form of degradation – a fair overlay on the cylinder‘s surface. As for dealing with the wide spectrum of samples in the collection, the survey is focused on the most commonly occurring phonographic cylinders and their enclosures. A representative selection of samples was analysed to clarify the character of the degradation products and its origin.

The Film Music of Luboš Fišer

Luboš Fišer (1935–1999) was a prominent and original composer of the twentieth century. All his life, he worked as a freelance composer of classical music and film music. He combined these two fields, and in both he won a number of Czech and international awards. The article surveys Fišer’s film music from four decades (1960s–1990s) in the context of the music of other Czech composers, and it relies on the collection of source material from Luboš Fišer’s estate kept at the Czech Museum of Music, which was subjected to continuous comparison with available film databases. Fišer collaborated with important Czech film directors and took part in making many television series. He was able to compose original music for any film genre and to make his music into a dramaturgically substantive, full-fledged component of a cinematographic work.