Page 88 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2025. Glasbena interpretacija: med umetniškim in znanstvenim┊Music Interpretation: Between the Artistic and the Scientific. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 8

glasbena interpretacija ... | music interpretation ...
provided a very convincing proof. Furthermore, Mr. Kubla’s acting per-
formance displayed significantly less ease and immediacy than the au-
dience would expect from a singer with many years of stage experience. 6
Stung by his classmate’s criticism, Kubla eventually wrote a private let-
ter to Balcar on 11 September 1931:

I kindly yet firmly request that you cease any further criticism of me
once and for all. I know your level of intelligence, especially in terms
of music, well enough from the time of my studies at the gymnasium
in Ostrava. Your subsequent failures and futile efforts in seeking high-
er education, both at the technical school and at the conservatory, are
also no secret. After these two setbacks, you have definitely veered off
course and become ‘also a music critic’. Criticism from a complete lay-
man, written in a style that would fail a second-year student, is not ben-
eficial if it is good, and cannot harm if it is bad. In my case, the reasons
are different – I know where the wind is blowing from. I hope that these
few lines will suffice to ensure that you never write any more criticism
about me. Otherwise, I would be forced to seek other means to ensure
that your ailing mind receives the rest it deserves, and does not need-
lessly exert itself on my account. ‘There is no smoke without fire,’ and
therefore: ‘Stick to your trade’. Richard Kubla. 7
What does this imply? Without the knowledge of context, circum-
stances and private sphere, we would accept Balcar’s critical reviews as
much more objective than they really are.
I would now like to turn to the great Czech soprano Eva Had-
rabová-Nedbalová (1902–1973), whom I have “immortalised” in the form
8
of a monograph. Her path to the Vienna State Opera led through engage-
ments at the Olomouc Opera and then at the Bratislava Opera. That was
were Richard Strauss noticed her talent and did everything he could to draw
her to Vienna. She soon became one of the main opera performers, and
then a world-class star who successfully performed in Salzburg (Salzburg-
er Festspiele), in the USA and in London. However, her “Viennese period”
was not without its ups and downs. In her case, the researcher is offered the
opportunity to confront two sources: the first is – as expected – the reviews
6 M. B. [Milan Balcar], “‘Rusalka’ s Nordenovou a Kublou [“Rusalka” with Norden
and Kubla],” Moravskoslezský deník 32, no. 247 (10 September 1931): 4.
7 Ibid., 370.
8 Viktor Velek, Hudební umělci mezi Ostravou a Vídní 3 = Tonkünstler zwischen Os-
trau und Wien. 3, Lída Mašková-Kublová, Eva Hadrabová-Nedbalová = Musica Bo-
hemica Viennensia; volume VII (Praha: NLN, s.r.o., 2019).

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