Saint Wenceslas Evening at the Rudolfinum
On Tuesday, 28 September, a gala evening will take place in the Rudolfinum's Dvořák Hall under the auspices of the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Nečas and the Archbishop of Prague Dominik Duka.
As part of this crowning event to celebrate Czech statehood, attended by prominent names from cultural, political and social life, there will be a restored premiere of the first Czech historical blockbuster Svatý Václav (Saint Wenceslas, 1930) with Zdeněk Štěpánek in the main role and with original music by Jaroslav Křička and Oskar Nedbal. The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Jan Kučera.
The gala evening will be broadcast live by Czech Television. Taking part in the project were the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic, Czech Radio, the National Film Archive and Czech Television.
The radio symphony players also recorded the music with Jan Kučera over five summer days in Czech Television's Studio A. The result is a complete recording that accompanies the film on DVD. The new documentary Svatý Václav. Světec, kníže, legenda (Saint Wenceslas – the Saint, the Duke, the Legend) by Martin Suchánek also deals with the movie and its soundtrack.
Although the movie Svatý Václav was prepared as part of the celebrations commemorating a thousand years since Saint Wenceslas's death in 1929 and its production costs exceeded 4 million crowns (making it the most expensive film in Czech cinematography at the time), it did not premiere until 1930, and even then it was without the originally planned musical accompaniment. The movie was a flop with the public due to the rise of sound film and over the following decades it was primarily only an object of interest for specialists. Several years ago, musicologist Viktor Velek found the score to the blockbuster in the Czech Radio archives. Jan Kučera took on reconstructing and arranging the music, which had been preserved in a highly disorderly state. As the young conductor said in an interview from April of that year, "It's a hundred minutes of continuous music, a truly monumental tribute to the Czech duke. Since I adore old Czech movies, working on this project is truly a joy for me." We should add that the score was newly released through the care of the Czech Radio publishing house and its head Radim Kolek.
The restored premiere of the silent film Svatý Václav accompanied by the original music by composers Jaroslav Křička and Oskar Nedbal, eighty years after its original premiere in 1930, will not only be a worthy celebration of Czech Statehood Day, but above all it will be an opportunity to recall the values that Saint Wenceslas, spiritual patron of the Czech lands, represents.
