Music in honour of St Wenceslas
The Radio Orchestra is currently installed in Studio A at Kavčí hory recording the original music by Oskar Nedbal and Jaroslav Křička for the film St Wenceslas. This is part of a joint project for the St Wenceslas Festival involving the participation of Czech Radio’s Publishing House, Czech Television, the National Film Archive and the Office of the Government of the CR.
Conductor Jan Kučera told us more about it:
“The recording will take place from the 4th to the 7th of May, we’ll be doing it straight to image using the old recording method, with our eyes on the stopwatch. The silent epic by director Jan Kolár from 1929 St Wenceslas will be subsequently issued on DVD with newly recorded film music. It’s simply wonderful. When the film was screened during the 1920s the orchestra would have played live as the film was being screened. No-one’s familiar with it today, but it is exceptional nevertheless.
What was the most costly film of its time, with Zdeněk Štěpánek playing the lead, was a flop with audiences due to the onset of the sound film era. I undertook the reconstruction and adaptation of the scores, which survived in a highly chaotic state, but they will see a new publication.
On 28 September the entire film will be screened in the Rudolfinum, once again with live music, this time performed by SOČR. It constitutes 100 minutes of continuous music, a truly monumental tribute to the Czech duke. I adore early Czech films, so this project is really a pleasure to work on.”
