Otakar Hostinský (2 January 1847,

Martiněves Martiněves is a municipality and village in Litoměřice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 800 inhabitants. Martiněves lies approximately south of Litoměřice, south of Ústí nad Labem, and north-we ...

– 19 January 1910,

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) 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 ...

historian,

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

, and professor of

musical aesthetics Aesthetics of music is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of art, beauty and taste in music, and with the creation or appreciation of beauty in music. In the pre-modern tradition, the aesthetics of music or musical aesthetics expl ...

. He is known primarily for his support of

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Bedřich Smetana Bedřich Smetana ( ; ; 2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his people's aspirations to a cultural and political "revival". He has been regarded ...

and his contributions to Czech aesthetic theory, which influenced many cultural figures in early twentieth-century Prague, including

Zdeněk Nejedlý Zdeněk Nejedlý (10 February 1878 – 9 March 1962) was a Czech musicologist, historian, music critic, author, and politician whose ideas dominated the cultural life of what is now the Czech Republic for most of the twentieth century. Although ...

Otakar Zich Otakar Zich (25 March 1879, Městec Králové – 9 July 1934 Ouběnice u Benešova) was a distinguished Czech composer and aesthetician. Biography In his music education he studied as a self-taught man. Years later, he became a pupil of the ...

, and

Vladimír Helfert Vladimír Helfert (24 March 1886 – 18 March 1945) was a Czech musicologist and university educator. Life Vladimír Helfert was born on 24 March 1886 in Plánice. Although his early career as a music critic was clouded by the negative influence ...

. He also wrote the

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

s to

Zdeněk Fibich Zdeněk Fibich (, 21 December 1850 in Všebořice – 15 October 1900 in Prague) was a Czech composer of classical music. Among his compositions are chamber works (including two string quartets, a piano trio, piano quartet and a quintet for pia ...

's masterpiece, ''

The Bride of Messina ''The Bride of Messina'' (, ) is a tragedy by Friedrich Schiller; it premiered on 19 March 1803 in Weimar. It is one of the most controversial works by Schiller, due to his use of elements from Greek tragedies (which were considered obsolete at t ...

'', and

Josef Richard Rozkošný Josef Richard Rozkošný (21 September 1833 – 3 June 1913) was a Czech composer and pianist.''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', 1996, p. 111, John Hamilton Warrack, Ewan West. ("Others who successfully built upon Smetana's example incl ...

's ''Cinderella''.

Biography

Born in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

, Otakar Hostinský studied in Munich and Prague, obtaining his doctorate in 1869. Hostinský worked as a journalist and an editor before working as a tutor for noble families for a few years. In Prague, Hostinský was a professor at the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

, the

Prague Conservatory The Prague Conservatory () is a public music school in Prague, Czech Republic, founded in 1808. Currently, the school offers four- or six-year courses, which can be compared to the level of a high school diploma in other countries. Graduates c ...

, and the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design. Hostinský taught musical aesthetics and musical history at

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

, where he made significant contributions before his death in 1910.

Selected writings

(German titles given in the original; Czech titles translated into English) * ''Art and Nationality'', 1869 * ''Wagnerianism and Czech National Identity'', 1870 * ''On "Program" Music'', 1873
''Das Musikalisch-Schöne und das Gesammtkunstwerk vom Standpuncte der formalen Aesthetik''
1877
''Die Lehre von den musikalischen Klängen''
1879 * ''On the Contemporary State and Direction of Czech Music'', 1880 * ''On Czech Musical Declamation'', 1882 * ''On Melodrama'', 1885 * ''A Brief Overview of the History of Music'', 1885 * ''On Artistic Realism'', 1890
''Herbarts Ästhetik''
1891 * ''Volkslied und Tanz der Slaven'', 1893 * ''On Progress in Art'', 1894 * ''On Folksong'', 1897 * ''On Experimental Aesthetics'', 1900 * ''B. Smetana and his Struggle for Modern Czech Music'', 1901 * ''On the Socialization of Art'', 1903 * ''Art and Society'', 1907 * ''Czech Music, 1864-1904'', 1909

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hostinsky, Otakar 1847 births 1910 deaths People from Litoměřice District Historians from Austria-Hungary Musicologists from Austria-Hungary 19th-century musicologists Czech musicologists Czech opera librettists Czech male writers 20th-century Czech historians 19th-century Czech philosophers 20th-century Czech philosophers 19th-century Czech historians