Czech orchestras.

The oldest still existing orchestras in the Czech Lands are the spa orchestras (Teplice from 1831, Karlovy Vary from 1835). At the time when its orchestra was founded, Teplice was known as "the salon of Europe" and many leading cultural figures visited the resort (including Goethe, Beethoven, Wagner, Chopin, Listzt, Schumann, and Smetana). At the end of the century the Teplice Orchestra was already presenting symphonic cycles on a regular basis. Some of its concerts were conducted by Eugen d'Albert, for example, or Richard Strauss. The Karlovy Vary Orchestra performed Dvorak's "New World" Symphony in the Post Court in 1894, a year after it was formed. The heyday of this orchestra was during the period when it was directed by R. Manzera (1911-1941), and worked with Richard Strauss and Pablo Casals, for example.

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In Prague, Smetana and the orchestra of the Provisional Theatre introduced public philharmonic concerts from 1896. The Czech Philharmonic, the most important Prague and Czech orchestra, appeared before the public for the first time on the 4th of January 1896 with a gala concert conducted by Antonin Dvorak. G. Mahler, E. Grieg, S. Rachmaninov, O. Nedbal and others soon began to work with the new orchestra. Leading figures who have directed the orchestra include Vaclav Talich, Rafael Kubelik, after the 2nd World War Karel Ancerl, after his departure for Canada (1969) Vaclav Neumann, from 1990 Jiri Belohlavek, later Gerd Albrecht, Vladimir Ashkenazy and currently Zdenek Macal. The history of the Brno symphony orchestra goes right back to the plans of the young Leos Janacek, and later his pupil B. Bakala, whose Brno Radio Orchestra in 1956 created the basis for what today is the Brno State Philharmonic.

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The second important Prague orchestra, founded after the Czech Philharmonic, is the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra (founded in 1926): Its main function was and remains to record Czech (and contemporary) music. This has always made the orchestra a body with interesting and adventurous programmes and important guest musicians. S. Prokofjev, O. Respighi, A. Honegger, A. Khachaturian, and K. Penderecki have all presented their music with the Radio Symphony Orchestra.

The FOK Prague Symphony Orchestra was formed in the autumn of 1934. Its founder R. Pekarek defined his goals with the words Film-Opera-Koncert (i.e. FOK). In the 1930s the orchestra recorded music for the majority of Czech films. Its standards were built up particularly by the conductor V. Smetacek, who headed it for 30 years from 1942. In 2001 S. Baudo, who has worked with Czech orchestras for many years, was appointed its principal conductor.

Socialist Czechoslovakia had a policy of developing and maintaining the network of so-called state orchestras in such a way that every region would have at least one professional philharmonic. This cultural network, financed by the state, operated for the whole period of the socialist regime up to 1989. The biggest regional orchestras are the Janacek Philharmonic in Ostrava (from 1954, by the transformation of a radio orchestra) and the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic (founded in 1946 as the Symphony Orchestra of the Bata State Concern). The orchestras all had relatively balanced professional quality and a good core repertoire, although it tended to be very traditional.

There was no significant difference in standards between the professional musical culture of the centre (or centres, i.e. Prague, Brno and Ostrava) and the provinces. This remains the case and is definitely a positive phenomenon. A major problem under the communists, however, and one that has not yet been overcome today, was continuous slight underfunding of the orchestras, which caused problems with supply of instruments, copyright payments, and sometimes with getting hold of new scores and parts. These factors were and are the main reason why unusual interesting pieces are sometimes excluded or dropped from orchestral programmes. Ideological interference related only to a number of so-called "non-recommended" composers of Czech contemporary music, and in fact as far as possible the state required a ten-percent representation of contemporary repertoire in overall orchestral programme planning. Regional orchestras with a particularly striking profile in this period were the Pardubice Chamber Philharmonic led by conductor Libor Pesek in 1970-77 (currently by Douglas Bostock from Great Britain), The Brno State Philharmonic, directed at various times by B. Bakala, O. Trhlik, J. Belohlavek, P. Vronsky, A. Ceccato, and from 2002 by P. Altrichter) or the Ostrava Janacek Philharmonic.

After 1990 there was major reform in cultural administration. The orchestras (apart from the radio orchestras and Czech Philharmonic) were taken under municipal authorities, a move that has aroused fears for their continued survival.

As it has turned out, the most endangered orchestras are the oldest, i.e. the spa orchestras. Since 1990 the orchestra in Podebrady has ceased to exist, and the Karlovy Vary orchestra has very serious problems.

On the other hand, a number of new private orchestras have been formed. The most important include the Prague Chamber Philharmonic (from 1994) set up by the former head of the Brno State Philharmonic and then the Czech Philharmonic, Jiri Belohlavek. Orchestras with a core of permanent employees and regular concerts are still partially subsidised by the state through a special programme of support but most of the costs are borne by the promoters,--municipalities, with consideration now being given to the idea of support from the newly established regional authorities as part of multi-source funding. In comparison with the situation abroad, the orchestras are able to cover a relatively substantial proportion of their costs from their own earnings (20% or in exceptional cases 30%), and concert attendance is still high, partly because ticket prices remain comparable with cinema tickets, except in the case of the Prague orchestras.

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A number of new agency orchestras have been formed, which essentially work on commission (specifically recordings, foreign tours, festivals) under a permanent name but without permanent employees. Most of them are recruited from the players in stable orchestras or members of chamber groups. This activity, motivated primarily by the relatively low pay among players, on the one hand cultivates their skills and abilities, but on the other is drawing off the creative potential of the permanent orchestras. It can also create a misleading impression for the unwary, for example in figures that show an apparent striking rise in the number of professional symphony and chamber orchestras in the Czech Republic since 1990 (up to around 45). In comparison with the EU, the situation here is also exceptional in that even top bodies such as the Czech Philharmonic or the Prague FOK Symphony Orchestra are made up of employees of a single nationality. Charles Mackerras regards this as an influential factor for the characteristic interpretation particularly of national music.

The expectation that there would be major changes in overall programming was not fulfilled, for various reasons. Funding and market pressures are leading to further limitation of the classic repertoire and many bodies have abolished the independent post of "dramaturge"--programme director. Performance of contemporary music remains exceptional, even of the names that were earlier politically non-recommended (Kabelac, Kapr, Kopelent, Fiser and others.). What is decisive is once again the question of the playability of pieces and their accessibility to audiences, and the availability and cost of scores and parts.

Thanks to the state grant system the number of festivals has risen, however, and festivals are the traditional terrain for greater adventurousness in programmes. Here it becomes clear that if presentation of new music is properly thought out and promoted with verve by high-profile musicians, there are no a priori problematic pieces.

This is demonstrated, for example, by the growing interest in contemporary music in the Ostrava Janacek Philharmonic thanks to the composer P. Kotik, who lives in the USA but has started International Composing Courses in New Music here (the orchestra rehearses and plays the compositions at the end of the courses), the rise in the standards of performance and repertoire of the Hradec Kralove Orchestra under the leadership of conductor O. Kukal or the recent outstanding performances and imaginative programming in the case of the Czech Philharmonic that are associated with the new principal conductor Z. Macal.