Mailbox
Today in Mailbox: Response to Radio Prague programmes dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, Radio Prague's monthly quiz. Listeners/readers quoted: Gregory Lagat, Rabisankar Bosu, Lynda-Marie Hauptman, Jeff Tomecek, Hans Verner Lollike, Valery Lugovskiy, Dean Bonanno, Abhirikshma Nandi, Deblina Biswas, Colin Law, Jayanta Chakrabarty.
Gregory Lagat from Kenya sent us this e-mail:
“Politicians are the same the world over, they repeat mistakes with unapologetic regularity. President Miloš Zeman's outburst a few days ago reminded me of a quote by John Quinton, an American social commentator, ‘Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.’”
Our long time listener Rabisankar Bosu from India responded to our special November 17th broadcast:
“Today I am totally enthralled to listen your heart-touching story titled ‘A tale of two towns and their post-communist transformation’ dated 17th November, 2014 on your internet broadcasts in MP3 file. The special story, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1989, focused on two historic Czech towns, Mikulov and Stříbro. Though the title of the special story has a resonance of ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ written by Charles Dickens, the special report is soaked with grim experiences of the Czechs during communist regime. Your special report has helped me to sense the suffocating atmosphere of the Iron Curtain that affected the thousands of Czechs in Mikulov and Stříbro and other cities in Czech Republic. Living in the other part of the globe I am able to learn more about these two historic Czech towns. Thanks for your thought provoking program.”
Here’s a message from Lynda-Marie Hauptman from the United States on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution:
“I remember crying when I heard of what is now known as the Velvet Revolution – tears of joy, that Czechoslovakia and all her people, including my father's family were finally free, and tears of sadness, that my father did not live to see it. …
“The Velvet Revolution changed the political culture greatly. It was a gift your bravery granted you, and while there have been missteps in the past, and will certainly be missteps in the present and future, at least you have the right to make those missteps, pay for the mistakes made, learn from them, and move into the future on your own terms. Anyway, Happy 25th Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution!”
“I wish to correct an error in your article about the Czech Philharmonic. Specifically the photo that states that the location is Carnegie Hall. The photo is not the orchestra on the stage of Carnegie Hall. I have performed several times on the stage at Carnegie Hall and that is not it. The picture is more than likely taken at the special concert on the 17th at the Washington Cathedral in Washington, D.C.”
Thank you for your message. The photograph had been incorrectly tagged by the photo bank that supplied it. The wrong photo has been replaced in the meantime.
And now on to our monthly quiz. As usual we received a great many answers from all over the world, so let’s hear some of them, beginning with this one sent by our faithful listener Hans Verner Lollike:
“Greetings from Denmark! This time I am especially thrilled to tell you about the mystery person: Vilma Neruda was a world famous violinist. She was born into a musical family. Her father was an organist. It was not considered appropriate for a girl to play the violin, so she was given piano lessons, but played secretly on her brother’s violin. Her family moved to Vienna, where she got her education. At 7 years old she gave her first concert playing Bach. She was married twice – to a Swedish man and later to a German-English musician called Halle. There is even a Danish twist. The composer of many well known tunes and orchestral compositions in Denmark Niels W. Gade wrote a music piece for violin to her.”
Valery Lugovskiy from Belarus writes:
It’s not often these days that we see the traditional DX-er greeting “73's” in our incoming e-mails. So it was good to hear from Dean Bonanno from the US state of Connecticut:
“First, let me repeat how glad I am to hear your wonderful programs again. I tuned into a new shortwave station Global24/WRMI today (Nov. 2) on 9395 and your broadcast was airing which featured letters and the quiz. Here is the answer to the quiz: The female violinist born in 1838 is Wilma Neruda. I first heard of her by reading a Sherlock Holmes story where he raved about her.
73's
Dean Bonanno”
Abhirikshma Nandi writes from West Bengal, India:
“I think that the name of the Moravian violinist that you wanted to know is Wilma Neruda, originally Wilhelmine Maria Franziska Neruda. She was born in Brno, Moravia in the year 1838. As you said, she was also mentioned in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's ‘A Study in Scarlet’, in a conversation between Sherlock and Dr. Watson regarding Sherlock being in a hurry to go to hear her at Halle's concert.
“She married the Swedish musician Ludvig Norman and their son was Ludwig Norman Neruda. After Norman died, she married the German-English musician Charles Hallé. In her lifetime she had lived in various cities of Europe like Vienna, Stockholm, London, Berlin etc.”
Also from West Bengal, Deblina Biswas writes:
“In 1846, at the age of seven years, Wilma made her maiden public appearance along with her sister Amalie in Vienna. Afterwards she and her cellist brother Viktor accompanied her father on a concert tour across Europe. Wilma soon emerged as a star performer. In 1852 she went to Moscow with her family members to present a series of concerts. In 1859, Wilma became the first Violinist in a group known as the Neruda Quartet, comprised of various Neruda children. Wilma died of pneumonia in Berlin in 1911 at the age of seventy two.”
Colin Law from New Zealand wrote:
“In 1888 Wilma married the musician Charles Hallé who was knighted later that year and Wilma became Lady Hallé. Hallé was born Karl Hallé in 1819 in Germany and he shared a similar upbringing to Wilma in that his father was also an organist. After he moved to England Hallé changed his name from Karl to Charles. He was a pianist and conductor who founded the Hallé Orchestra which is still very active with 14 concerts scheduled in Britain during the coming December, some of them also involve the Hallé Choir, Hallé Youth Orchestra and Hallé Children's Choir.
“After Sir Charles Hallé died in 1895, Lady Hallé went to live in Italy with her son Ludwig Norman Neruda, who was renowned as one of 19th century’s best amateur climbers. He died on a climb in Austria in 1898. Lady Hallé then moved to Berlin. She continued to perform and tour until in 1898, at the age of 60, she announced her retirement. Her last public performance was several years later, in 1907, at a memorial concert after the death of Joseph Joachim, a violinist she had often been compared with. Wilma died of pneumonia in Berlin in April 1911. Several sources say she was 72, but she had in fact turned 73 just a few weeks earlier.”
And last but not least Jayanta Chakrabarty from India sent us this answer:
“Beginning her career at the tender age of seven she rose to be the best female violinist of all time. With a perfect fusion of manly firmness and vigour coupled with feminine grace and delicate manipulation she was able to effect perfect purity of style and intonation, thus proving what a woman can do in a male-dominated bastion. During her numerous stage performances she always ensured that her masterly art was not surpassed by any other artists while still maintaining her feminine ease and elegance. Wilma Neruda has been immortalized in ‘Portrait of a Violinist’ – one among the famous paintings of important personalities of the day in the ‘House of Fame’ by the renowned symbolic portrait painter and sculptor Frederick Watts.”
Thank you very much indeed for your answers and this time the Radio Prague goodie bag goes to Rabisankar Bosu from India. Congratulations! For those of you who haven’t been lucky this month, here’s a brand new question.
This time we venture into organic chemistry. The discovery and description of the chemical compound benzene is connected with many notable scientists of the 19th century. Two of them happened to have a Czech connection. One of them was born in the West Bohemian town of Karlovy Vary in 1821 and the other, born in 1829 in the German town of Darmstadt, was the descendant of an old Bohemian noble family.
If you’d like to take part in the lucky draw, your answers need to reach us by December 24th at the usual address, [email protected]. We are looking forward to your comments as well as reception reports. Mailbox will be back in four weeks’ time. Until then, happy listening and take care.
