Matěj Kopecký (24 February 1775, probably in
Libčany – 3 July 1847 in
Koloděje nad Lužnicí) was a
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
*Czech (surnam ...
puppeteer
A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object called a puppet to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the ...
. For six generations his descendants followed the art of puppeteering.
Kopecký's father was a poor travelling puppeteer (''histrio vagus''). Matěj Kopecký married in 1795 and moved into the town of
Mirotice. Since 1789 to 1808 or 1809 he was forced to serve in the army, within the infantry regiment from
Písek
Písek (; ) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 31,000 inhabitants. The town is known for the oldest bridge in the country. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument z ...
. Later, he worked as watchmaker, travelling salesman or road worker. In 1818 he obtained licence for a puppet theatre and reached certain success in this activity. The parish record about his death, though, labels him as "''a histrion from Mirotice, widower and beggar''". Kopecký had at least fifteen children of which six had survived into adulthood. Most of them worked as puppeteers and the tradition was kept for six generations.
At his time the puppet theatre was, for many in the
Czech lands
The Czech lands or the Bohemian lands (, ) is a historical-geographical term which denotes the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia out of which Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic and Slovakia, were formed. ...
, the only contact with theatrical culture, with ideas of enlightenment and of the
Czech National Revival
The Czech National Revival was a cultural movement which took place in the Czech lands during the 18th and 19th centuries. The purpose of this movement was to revive the Czech Czech language, language, culture and national identity. The most pro ...
. While Kopecký was not the only Czech puppeteer, he became the most known one during the second half of the 19th century when his son
Václav Kopecký published his plays in print, and due to a fictional picture of Kopecký by
Mikoláš Aleš
Mikoláš Aleš (18 November 1852 – 10 July 1913) was a Czech painter. Aleš is estimated to have had over 5,000 published pictures; he painted for everything from magazines to playing cards to textbooks. His paintings were not publicized to ...
.
In 1905, a small memorial to Kopecký was erected in
Týn nad Vltavou and in 1947 another one in the castle park in Koloděje nad Lužnicí. The town museum in
Týn nad Vltavou hosts a permanent puppet exposition dedicated to Kopecký.
Works
Kopecký had used marionettes, with height up to 60 cm.
In 1862, a collection of 61 plays was published by
Josef Richard Vilímek under the title "Comedies and plays by Matěj Kopecký as collected by his son Václav" (''Komedie a hry Matěje Kopeckého dle sepsání syna Václava''). Several people, among them
Václav Thám Václav () or rarely Vácslav is a Czech male given name. It is among the most common Czech names. The Latinized form of the name is Wenceslaus and the Polish form of the name is Wacław. The name was derived from the old Czech name Veceslav, meani ...
, are listed as authors of the plays. Being intended for uneducated public, the plays had been full of emotions and naive humour. For most of the time Kopecký used Czech language, on occasions when had acted for high nobility German language.
References
External links
BiographyBiography with short overview of plays (archived link)
(archived link)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kopecky, Matej
Czech puppeteers
1775 births
1847 deaths
People from Hradec Králové District
People from the Austrian Empire
Czech watchmakers (people)