''Kytice z pověstí národních'' (''A Bouquet of Folk Legends''), also known by the short title ''Kytice'' (

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

for '' bouquet''), is a collection of

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

s by the

author

Karel Jaromír Erben Karel Jaromír Erben (; 7 November 1811 – 21 November 1870) was a Czech folklorist and poet of the mid-19th century, best known for his collection '' Kytice'', which contains poems based on traditional and folkloric themes. He also wrote ''P ...

. The collection was first published in 1853 and was originally made up of 12 poems. ''Lilie'' was added to the second edition in 1861. # # (Treasure) # (The Wedding Shirts) # (

Lady midday Poludnitsa (from: ''Polden'' or ''Poluden'', 'half-day' or 'midday') is a mythical character common to the various Slavic countries of Eastern Europe. She is referred to as Południca in Polish, Полудниця in Ukrainian, Полудница ( ...

) # (The Golden Spinning-Wheel) # (Christmas Eve) # (Little Dove) # (Záhoř's Bed) # (The Water-Goblin) # (Willow) # (Lily) # (Daughter's Curse) # (Seeress)

Translations

There are two full translations into English in print, Marcela Sulak (2012), ''A Bouquet of Czech Folktales'', Prague, Twisted Spoon Press, and Susan Reynolds (2012), ''Kytice'', London, Jantar Publishing. Marcela Sulak's translation has been used for subtitling performances of Dvořák's adaptations in Prague and the film version at the

Warsaw Film Festival Warsaw Film Festival ( pl, Warszawski Festiwal Filmowy, abbreviated as WFF) is an annual film festival held every October in Warsaw, Poland which previews new films of all genres, including documentaries from all around the world. The festival ha ...

. The edition is illustrated with artwork by

Alén Diviš Alén Diviš (26 April 190015 November 1956) was a Czech painter known for his melancholic art. Having spent much of his life abroad, often working in solitude, he remained rather unknown during his life but has had a postmortem revival in the a ...

. Susan Reynolds' translations were years in the making; she had read some of her translations at a symposium at the Antonin Dvořák Museum in Prague in 2004, which were lauded as "brilliant". ''Svatební košile'' was translated under the title "Spectre's Bride" by .

Adaptations

The ''Kytice'' collection has inspired several adaptations for various media: ;Films * ''Kytice'' (''Wild Flowers''), a 2000 Czech drama film directed by

F. A. Brabec F is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet. F may also refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * F or f, the number 15 in hexadecimal and higher positional systems * ''p'F'q'', the hypergeometric function * F-distribution, a cont ...

depicting 7 of the poems: Kytice, Vodník, Svatební košile, Polednice, Zlatý kolovrat, Dceřina kletba, Štědrý den * ''Svatební košile'', a 1978 Czech

animated short Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...

directed by Josef Kábrt * ''Svatební košile'', a 1925 Czech film directed by and starring Theodor Pištěk ;Music * ''Svatební košile'' (''The Spectre's Bride''), Ballad for soprano, tenor, bass, chorus and orchestra, Op. 69, B. 135 (1884) by

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...

* ''Svatební košile'' (''The Spectre's Bride''), Ballad for soprano, tenor, bass, mixed chorus and orchestra, H. 214 I A (1932) by

Bohuslav Martinů Bohuslav Jan Martinů (; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. He bec ...

* ''Polednice'' (''The Noon Witch'', or ''The Noonday Witch''), Symphonic Poem for orchestra, Op. 108, B. 196 (1896) by

* ''Zlatý kolovrat'' (''The Golden Spinning Wheel''), Symphonic Poem for orchestra, Op. 109, B. 197 (1896) by

* ''Štědrý den'',

Melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...

for narrator and piano or orchestra, Op. 9, H. 198 (1874, 1899) by

Zdeněk Fibich Zdeněk Fibich (, 21 December 1850 in Loket (Benešov District), Všebořice – 15 October 1900 in Prague) was a List of Czech composers, Czech composer of european classical music, classical music. Among his compositions are chamber works (incl ...

* ''Holoubek'' (''The Wild Dove''), Symphonic Poem for orchestra, Op. 110, B. 198 (1896) by

* ''Vodník'' (''The Water Goblin''), Symphonic Poem for orchestra, Op. 107, B. 195 (1896) by

* ''Vodník'', Melodrama for narrator and orchestra, Op. 15, H. 267 (1883) by

* ''Lilie'', Melodrama by

Otakar Ostrčil Otakar Ostrčil (25 February 1879 in Prague – 20 August 1935 in Prague) was a Czech composer and conductor. He is noted for symphonic works ''Impromptu'', ''Suite in C Minor'', and ''Symfonietta'', and in his opera compositions '' Poupě'' an ...

* ''Lilie'', Melodrama for reciter and piano 4-hands, Op. 23 by

Eugen Miroslav Rutte Eugen is a masculine given name which may refer to: * Archduke Eugen of Austria (1863–1954), last Habsburg Grandmaster of the Teutonic Order from 1894 to 1923 * Prince Eugen, Duke of Närke (1865–1947), Swedish painter, art collector, and pat ...

* ''Kytice'', A Tribute to K. J. Erben (2007) by Libor Tinka ;Opera * ''Vodník'', Opera in 4 acts (1937) by Boleslav Vomáčka; libretto by Adolf Wenig ;Theatre * ''Kytice'', a 1972 loose

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

adaptation by

Jiří Suchý Jiří Suchý (born 1 October 1931) is a Czech film actor, writer and stage actor. He also writes music. Currently he is the owner of the theatre Semafor in Prague where he has performed for many years and which he helped to establish in 1959. ...

and

Ferdinand Havlík Ferdinand Havlík (17 June 1928 – 28 October 2013) was a Czech composer, and clarinet player. In 1959, Havlík and actor Jiří Suchý co-founded the Semafor musical theater in Prague. Havlík also became Semafor's head composer following the ...

(music), one of the most popular pieces the

Semafor Semafor is a theatre in Prague, Czech Republic, established by Jiří Suchý and Ferdinand Havlík in 1959. Suchý has performed there for many years and is the current owner. The theatre was a starting point for many famous Czech musicians ...

theatre

References

;Citations ;Bibliography ;(translations) * * ;(secondary sources) *

External links

* Full Czech language text of ''Kytice'' at

Wikisource Wikisource is an online digital library of free-content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project (each instance usually rep ...

Several rhymed translations and an interview with the translator Susan Reynolds
at

Radio Prague Radio Prague International ( cs, Český rozhlas 7 – Radio Praha) is the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic. Broadcasting first began on August 31, 1936 near the spa town of Poděbrady. Radio Prague broadcasts in ...

website, 19 September 2004: transcript and

RealAudio RealAudio, or also spelled as Real Audio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks and first released in April 1995. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fid ...

archive
''A Bouquet''
Full English translation by Marcela Sulak.

Full English translation by Susan Reynolds. Czech poetry Ballad collections {{poetry-stub