1967 Prague

Oct 4, 1967 – Oct 10, 1967
Prague

Festival info

Start: Oct 4, 1967

End: Oct 10, 1967

Locations: Prague

Hosting member(s)

Programme information

Jury

Henri Dutilleux
Vittorio Fellegara
Ton de Leeuw
Otmar Mácha
Yoritsune Matsudaira

Concerts

Wednesday, 4 October 1967 *
Yoriaki Matsudaira (Japan, b. 1931): Configuration for chamber orchestra (1961-63) [8′];
Yorgos Sicilianos (Greece, b. 1920; d. 2005): Perspectives, op. 26, for four orchestra groups (1966);
Luis de Pablo (Spain, b. 1930): Iniciativas for orchestra (1965-66) [19′];
Wolfgang Fortner (West Germany, b. 1907; d. 1987): Triplum for orchestra and three obligato pianos (1965-66) [25′].

Thursday, 5 October 1967
Girolamo Arrigo (France, b. 1930 in Italy): Shadows for orchestra (1965);
Ivo Malec (France, b. 1925 in Yugoslavia [Croatia]; d. 2019): Sigma for orchestra (1963) [10′];
Zbigniew Rudziński (Poland, b. 1935): Contra Fidem for orchestra (1963-64) [8′];
Cristóbal Halffter (Spain, b. 1930; d. 2021): Sinfonia for Three Instrumental Groups (1962/63) [12′];

Saturday, 7 October 1967 – afternoon? opera performance
Jiří Pauer (Czechoslovakia, b. 1919; d. 2007): Červenâ Karkulka (Red Riding Hood) (1959) [42′]
Jiří Pauer: Žvanivy Slimejš (The Talkative Snail) (1949-50) [46′]

Saturday, 7 October 1967 – evening?
Attila Bozay (Hungary, b. 1939; d. 1999): String Quartet (No. 1), op. 9 (1964) [15′] performed by the Bartok Quartet (Peter Kómios and Sándor Devich, violins; Géza Németh, viola; and Károly Botvay, violoncello);
Ton de Kruyf (Netherlands, b. 1937; d. 2012): Fragment IV [from William Shakespeare‘s Sonnets] for alto, flute and violoncello;
Francis Miroglio (France, b. 1924; d. 2005): Réseaux for harp and string quartet (1965) [15′];
Jan Kapr (Czechoslovakia; b. 1914; d. 1988): Dialogues for flute and harp (1965) [11′];
*+ Alois Hába (Czechoslovakia, b. 1893; d. 1973): String Quartet No. 16, op. 98 (in the fifth-tone system, a.k.a. 31-tone equal temperament) (1967) [14′] [world premiere] performed by the Novak Quartet (Bohuslav Purger and Dušan Pandula, violins; Josef Podjukl, viola; and Jaroslav Chovanec, violoncello).

Sunday, 8 October 1967
Rob du Bois (Netherlands, b. 1934; d. 2013): Pour deux violons (1966) [13′];
Heinz Holliger (Switzerland, b. 1939): Trio for Oboe, Viola and Harp (1966) [15′] performed by the composer with violist Serge Collot and harpist Ursula Holliger;
Erik Bergman (Finland, b. 1911; d. 2006): Frühling for baritone and chorus [Text: Solveig von Schoultz] (1966) [4′];
Bernd Alois Zimmermann (West Germany, b. 1918; d. 1970): Présence, ein szenisches Konzert for piano trio (1961) [30′];
Miloslav Kabeláč (Czechoslovakia, b. 1908; d. 1979): Eufemias Mysterion (Mystery of Silence) for soprano and chamber orchestra, op. 50 (1964-65) [12′] sung by Irena Torbus-Mierzwiakowa.

Monday, 9 October 1967 – a special concert of music presented by the ISCM Czechoslovak Section
Miloslav Ištvan (Czechoslovakia, b. 1928; d. 1990): Six Etudes for Chamber Orchestra (1964) [11′];
Svatopluk Havelka (Czechoslovakia, b. 1925; d. 2009): Foam, a Symphonic Poem on the poem of the same title by Hans Magnus Enzensberger (1965) [12′];
Luboš Fišer (Czechoslovakia, b. 1935; d. 1999): Patnáct listů podle Dürerovy Apokalypsy (15 Prints after Durer’s Apocalypse) (1965) [12′];
Roman Berger (Czechoslovakia [Slovakia], b. 1930; d. 2020): Transformations for orchestra (1964-65) [24′].

Tuesday, 10 October 1967
Kazuo Fukushima (Japan, b. 1930): Tsuki-Shiro (The Spirit of the Moon) for piano, harp, percussion, and 52-piece orchestra (1965) [12′];
Claude Prey (France, b. 1925; d. 1998): Métamorphose d’Echo ou Réponse à tout for orchestra (1965) [world premiere?];
Arne Mellnäs (Sweden, b. 1933; d. 2002): Aura for orchestra (1964);
Giacomo Manzoni (Italy, b. 1932): Studio 2 for orchestra (1962/63) [7′];
Milko Kelemen (Yuogoslavia [Croatia], b. 1924; d. 2018): Sub Rosa for orchestra (1965) [8′].

? additional opera performances during the festival
Otmar Mácha (Czechoslovakia, b. 1922; d. 2006): Jezero Ukereve (Lake Ukereve) (1963);
Jarmil Burghauser a.k.a. Jarmil Michael Mokry (Czechoslovakia, b. 1921; d. 1997): Most (The Bridge) anti-opera [libretto: Josef Pávek] (1963-64).

In addition, a work by the following composer, for which we have yet to find more information about, was programmed but was not performed
Yitzhak Sadai (Israel, b. 1935 in Bulgaria)

Other significant interpreters
Singers: Ileana Melita, Jindřich Jindrák, Jacqueline Brumaire.
Pianists: Robert Jordan, Tuyuki Yamazaki, Fany Solter, Aloys Kontarsky.
Violinists: Petr Vanek, Bohuslav Purger, Saschko Gawriloff.
Cellists: Miloš Sádlo, Siegfried Palm.
Flutists: Jan Hecl, Dagmar Platilova.
Harpists: Francis Pierre, Václav Žilka.
Orchestras and Choruses: Prague Symphony Orchestra, Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Prague Radio Choir, Brno Philharmonic, Film Symphony Orchestra.
Conductors: Václav Smetáček, Jiří Stárek, Milan Malý, Jiří Waldhans, František Belfín.

Note
The printed edition of the Haefeli book erroneously states that these concerts happened in September rather than in October as corrected stated in Slonimsky and further corroborated by Spurný and Vysloužil.

Sources

Anton Haefeli, Die Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM), Ihre Geschichte von 1922 bis zur Gegenwart (Atlantis Musikbuch-Verlag, 1982), pp. 525-526.

Nicolas Slonimsky, Music Since 1900, Sixth Edition edited by Laura Kuhn (Schirmer Reference, 2001), p. 612.

Lubomír Spurný and Jiří Vysloužil: Alois Hába – A Catalogue of the Music and Writings (Prague: Koniasch Latin Press, 2010), pp. 127-129.

(annotated by Frank J. Oteri, in progress)

Locations