Page 110 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2024. Glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes ▪︎ Music Criticism – Yesterday and Today. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 7
P. 110
glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes | music criticism – yesterday and today
From the wider ‘Austrian homeland’ of the time, Břetislav Lvovský
(1857–1910) from Lviv, a kind of Czech consul, especially when it came
to music, would come to Prague every holiday. [...] He was already well
over thirty. This man was an enthusiastic admirer of Czech music, a
great promoter of it in Lviv, in their local Česká beseda, which organ-
ised concerts.34
Prague (1857–1881)
Lvovský spent his childhood and youth in Prague as Emil Pick. Official
documents contain several addresses of his residence.35 His wedding in 1879
has been mentioned. It is strange that we have almost no other information
about this period. It is not clear whether his son Zdenko (1882) and daugh-
ter Božena (1884) were born there or in Lviv. The research concerning the
period when he used the name and surname Emil Pick is complicated by
the existence of at least two other persons of the same name and surname:
an important industrialist from Čáslav and a Prague Jewish fashion mer-
chant. Speaking of coincidence of names, the translator of a comedy by Eu-
gène Scribe Les doigts de fée (Čarovné ruce) was “B. Lvovský”. The play was
performed at the Provisional Theatre on 16 June 1863.36
Lviv (1881–1890)
We know from official documents that Lvovský was still staying in Lviv as
Emil Pick in the summer of 1881.37 He is mentioned as a merchant, with-
out further specification. Official documents do not mention the pseudo-
nym Lvovský until 1890, but he had already signed his name in the reports
sent from 1883 from Lviv to the Prague music journal Dalibor. In the Pol-
ish-language press we can come across the Polish form of his name Břeti-
slav, i. e. Brzatysław. When he was accepted as a member of the Music De-
partment of the Umělecká beseda society in early 1889, newspaper reports
no. 351 (21 December 1898): 1. Passage about the book Albert Soubies, Histoire de la
musique en Boheme (Paris: s. n., 1898).
34 Žižka, Mistři a mistříčkové, 87.
35 Praha-Nové město, no. 656/1 / Praha-Nové město, Tischlergasse 1518, street number
27 (1876) / Praha-Smíchov 386 (1878).
36 Alfred Javorin, Pražské arény: Lidová divadla pražská v minulém století (Praha: Or-
bis, 1958), 74; Jan Neruda, České divadlo III (Praha: SNKLHU, 1954), 381. It should
be noted that in other literature it is possible to come across the form “J. Lvovský.”
37 National Archives of the Czech Republic, Prague I Police Directorate collection,
1891–1895, call number P 177/165, box 3904 (No. 19886, Lemberg, 10 August 1881).
110
From the wider ‘Austrian homeland’ of the time, Břetislav Lvovský
(1857–1910) from Lviv, a kind of Czech consul, especially when it came
to music, would come to Prague every holiday. [...] He was already well
over thirty. This man was an enthusiastic admirer of Czech music, a
great promoter of it in Lviv, in their local Česká beseda, which organ-
ised concerts.34
Prague (1857–1881)
Lvovský spent his childhood and youth in Prague as Emil Pick. Official
documents contain several addresses of his residence.35 His wedding in 1879
has been mentioned. It is strange that we have almost no other information
about this period. It is not clear whether his son Zdenko (1882) and daugh-
ter Božena (1884) were born there or in Lviv. The research concerning the
period when he used the name and surname Emil Pick is complicated by
the existence of at least two other persons of the same name and surname:
an important industrialist from Čáslav and a Prague Jewish fashion mer-
chant. Speaking of coincidence of names, the translator of a comedy by Eu-
gène Scribe Les doigts de fée (Čarovné ruce) was “B. Lvovský”. The play was
performed at the Provisional Theatre on 16 June 1863.36
Lviv (1881–1890)
We know from official documents that Lvovský was still staying in Lviv as
Emil Pick in the summer of 1881.37 He is mentioned as a merchant, with-
out further specification. Official documents do not mention the pseudo-
nym Lvovský until 1890, but he had already signed his name in the reports
sent from 1883 from Lviv to the Prague music journal Dalibor. In the Pol-
ish-language press we can come across the Polish form of his name Břeti-
slav, i. e. Brzatysław. When he was accepted as a member of the Music De-
partment of the Umělecká beseda society in early 1889, newspaper reports
no. 351 (21 December 1898): 1. Passage about the book Albert Soubies, Histoire de la
musique en Boheme (Paris: s. n., 1898).
34 Žižka, Mistři a mistříčkové, 87.
35 Praha-Nové město, no. 656/1 / Praha-Nové město, Tischlergasse 1518, street number
27 (1876) / Praha-Smíchov 386 (1878).
36 Alfred Javorin, Pražské arény: Lidová divadla pražská v minulém století (Praha: Or-
bis, 1958), 74; Jan Neruda, České divadlo III (Praha: SNKLHU, 1954), 381. It should
be noted that in other literature it is possible to come across the form “J. Lvovský.”
37 National Archives of the Czech Republic, Prague I Police Directorate collection,
1891–1895, call number P 177/165, box 3904 (No. 19886, Lemberg, 10 August 1881).
110
