Novák's Reception Abroad

Summary

During the first decades of the twentieth century Vítězslav Novák was one of the best known Czech composers. His works were played by famous performers, and their premieres in the Czech lands were followed by performances abroad, mainI also thabnk youly in German-speaking areas. Novák corresponded with Eusebius Mandyczewski, archivist of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Society of Friends of Music) in Vienna, who praised some of his works in his letters and promised help in arranging for their performance in that city. In 1902 Novák received a letter from the conductor Arthur Nikisch, who was enthusiastic about his works and promised to perform them in the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Ferruccio Busoni, too, in a letter sent to Novák in 1904, expressed interest in his works and regretted that the program for his Berlin concerts for the next season was already set before he came to know them.

Performances of Novák's works were often an impulse for their publication abroad, as in the case of the Trio in D minor “quasi una ballata,” Op. 27, which was issued by Simrock shortly after its 1903 performance in Vienna. The most important event marking Novák's growing esteem and the penetration of his works on the broader foreign market was his contract with Universal Edition in Vienna. During the first decades of the new century the most prominent Czech music publishers—F. A. Urbánek and Mojmír Urbánek—were technically and financially able to publish only solo and chamber works, so Novák had no publishers at home for his large orchestral works.

In March 1910 representatives of the Umělecká beseda (Artists’ Society) invited the director of Universal Edition, Emil Hertzka, to Prague for the premiere of Novák's overture Lady Godiva. Hertzka expressed interest in Novák and proposed to the Artists’ Society's publishing house Hudební matice that it could publish this work together with Universal. However, Hudební matice lacked sufficient funds for such an enterprise. Hertzka therefore suggested that Novák himself engage in the enterprise as a shareholder. Novák turned to the Czech Academy, which promised him a subsidy for this publication. In the meantime Universal, whose primary interest was publication of works by composers from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, decided to become Novák's exclusive publisher.