Book contents
- A History of Music in the Czech Lands
- A History of Music in the Czech Lands
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Musical Examples
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Before 1800
- Part II The “Long” Nineteenth Century
- Part III The Twentieth Century and Beyond
- 18 The Mutual Exclusion Society: Musicology and Criticism in Early Twentieth-Century Prague
- 19 Janáček’s Jenůfa and Operatic Modernism
- 20 Avant-garde Aspects of Czech Interwar Music
- 21 An Evolving Dance with a Tragic Ending and a Tentative Revival: The Jewish Musical Experience in the Czech Lands
- 22 Czechoslovak Musicians in North American Exile
- 23 Categorizing Music, Classifying People: Music Research and Race Studies in the Czech Lands
- 24 The Nation’s Image in Songs: Folk Music Research and Revival in the Twentieth Century
- 25 Romani Music in the Czech Republic
- 26 Decolonial Resonances in Czech Opera after 1948
- 27 Jazz as Sound for the Stage: The Liberated Theater and its Progeny
- 28 Understanding Czech Rock from the Period of Normalization
- 29 Czech Film Music: From Potpourri to Sound Design
- 30 Czechs in Search of Slovak Music
- 31 Twentieth-Century Czech Female Composers in Cultural and Political Context: The Pre-1989 Music of Ivana Loudová and Sylvie Bodorová
- 32 Czech Classical Music in a Global World: Jakub Hrůša in Conversation with Aleš Březina
- Selected Bibliography
- Index
27 - Jazz as Sound for the Stage: The Liberated Theater and its Progeny
from Part III - The Twentieth Century and Beyond
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2025
Book contents
- A History of Music in the Czech Lands
- A History of Music in the Czech Lands
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Musical Examples
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Before 1800
- Part II The “Long” Nineteenth Century
- Part III The Twentieth Century and Beyond
- 18 The Mutual Exclusion Society: Musicology and Criticism in Early Twentieth-Century Prague
- 19 Janáček’s Jenůfa and Operatic Modernism
- 20 Avant-garde Aspects of Czech Interwar Music
- 21 An Evolving Dance with a Tragic Ending and a Tentative Revival: The Jewish Musical Experience in the Czech Lands
- 22 Czechoslovak Musicians in North American Exile
- 23 Categorizing Music, Classifying People: Music Research and Race Studies in the Czech Lands
- 24 The Nation’s Image in Songs: Folk Music Research and Revival in the Twentieth Century
- 25 Romani Music in the Czech Republic
- 26 Decolonial Resonances in Czech Opera after 1948
- 27 Jazz as Sound for the Stage: The Liberated Theater and its Progeny
- 28 Understanding Czech Rock from the Period of Normalization
- 29 Czech Film Music: From Potpourri to Sound Design
- 30 Czechs in Search of Slovak Music
- 31 Twentieth-Century Czech Female Composers in Cultural and Political Context: The Pre-1989 Music of Ivana Loudová and Sylvie Bodorová
- 32 Czech Classical Music in a Global World: Jakub Hrůša in Conversation with Aleš Březina
- Selected Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The societal liberalization of the decade that culminated in the Prague Spring in 1968 was evident early on in a wave of new small-scale theater companies. One notable example is the Semafor Theater, founded in 1959 by Jiří Suchý and Jiří Šlitr. The main model for these ensembles, especially for Semafor, was the Osvobozené divadlo (the Liberated Theater) of the interwar period (1926–38). The Liberated Theater earned a legendary reputation, thanks in part to the comedy duo Jiří Voskovec and Jan Werich. Equally legendary was the music of the nearly blind in-house composer and bandleader of the Liberated Theater, Jaroslav Ježek (1906–42). This chapter begins by exploring the place of the Liberated Theater and its music in Czech theater culture and concludes by highlighting the continuities with the Semafor Theater.
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- A History of Music in the Czech Lands , pp. 380 - 392Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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