Timothy Cheek on Vítězslava Kaprálová: “I believe she would have been a major figure of the 20th century”
A new documentary about the Czech composer and conductor Vítězslava Kaprálová has just arrived in cinemas. Kaprálová was an extraordinary presence in Czech music between the wars. At a time when very few women were able to build careers as composers, and even fewer stepped onto the podium as conductors, she did both. She died at just 25, but in that short time she produced a body of work that still speaks to audiences today.
One of the voices in the film is that of American pianist and vocal coach Timothy Cheek, a long-time champion of Czech vocal music, who travelled from Michigan to Prague for the film’s official release. I spoke with him about Kaprálová and her legacy and began by asking how his own connection to Czech music began.
Your relationship with Czech music goes back many years. Where did that interest first come from?
"I've always loved Czech music, especially growing up in the United States. We heard mostly Dvořák, of course, and Smetana, occasionally Martinů and Janáček. Nowadays, we hear much more Czech music, which is fantastic."
"I actually first came to the Czech Republic in 1995, almost by accident. I ran into an old friend of mine who was working in Prague, and he invited me here. I didn't know what to expect, and I was very moved by how beautiful it was. I went to the opera house and heard many operas I'd never heard before."
"At that time in 1995, I had one more year to go in my doctorate. I have a doctorate in collaborative piano from the University of Michigan. Our university had just started a scholarship for independent study abroad. I was so moved by the music that I went to the National Theatre and told them about this scholarship. I asked if, were I to receive the grant, I could come and study as an opera coach apprentice, learning about Czech opera."
"They wrote me a very nice letter, and I did get the grant. That summer I came and worked with Bohumil Gregor on The Cunning Little Vixen. At one point he said, ‘OK, I want you to go coach Lívia Ághová.’"
"And I thought, oh no—now I have to sing certain Czech phrases in the coachings with her, and I didn't know the language at all. I love languages—I speak Italian and German, and I teach foreign language diction at the university. So it was perfect timing for me to pour myself into the study of Czech."
"I came back to Michigan very excited. My former teacher, Martin Katz, said, ‘Well, we don’t know this music, and we don’t know how to pronounce it. We don’t know the vocal repertoire. How about if you write a book about it?’ As I said, it was perfect timing in my professional career."
You came to Prague for the release of the new documentary about Vítězslava Kaprálová. When did you first come across her music?
"I had never heard of Vítězslava Kaprálová before. I was researching my book Singing in Czech, and I was in a music store looking through stacks of songs. I was enjoying reading through songs by Novák, Petrželka, Suk and others. Then I pulled out a song cycle called Navždy. I said, ‘OK, this is interesting,’ and I played through it."
"I was absolutely stunned. The personality of the composer was so strong that I literally turned around, because I felt like she was standing right behind me. I had never felt that before."
"I was absolutely stunned. The personality of the composer was so strong that I literally turned around, because I felt like she was standing right behind me. I had never felt that before."
"I took those songs back to Michigan and assigned them to singers and pianists in a class. I stood back to see the reaction. You could not hear a pin drop after the singer finished. I knew it wasn’t just me—other people felt the same way."
For listeners who may never have heard of Kaprálová – a composer who died at just 25 and only had a career that lasted for a few years - what makes her music so special?
"When you know that she died so young, at 25, you immediately wonder what she would have written had she lived longer. I believe she would have been a major figure of the 20th century."
"When you know that she died so young, at 25, you immediately wonder what she would have written had she lived longer. I believe she would have been a major figure of the 20th century."
"Then you look at the music—what she did write—and it’s superb. As people around the world have been more and more exposed to it, it has entered the international market and the international repertoire. So even though she died so young, what she did write is very substantial."
How would you describe her music to people who are not professional musicians?
"In many of her works she creates a very unique atmosphere. It’s difficult to describe, but it draws you in. Then, very often in the middle of a work, the music opens up very passionately, very openly and very fully. I’m actually describing the song Navždy, but a lot of her music does this."
"You’re left with a feeling that is almost magical and very moving. Other works can be very witty, very playful, very charming. Many are melancholy. She was obviously a person who felt very deeply about life and was able to express that with a unique voice."
"It’s a mixture of styles that is very distinctive—sometimes impressionistic, sometimes romantic, sometimes neoclassical. Always very colourful and always keeping your interest."
Where do you see the biggest influences on her work?
"Her father studied with Janáček, so sometimes you hear the way she uses motivic figures. In her songs—I'm thinking of Sbohem a šáteček—there’s a two-note figure on the word ‘Sbohem.’ That major second interval forms the basis of the whole song."
"You see something similar in Janáček, where a special motive is attached to certain words and then carried into the orchestra. But Kaprálová does it in her own way. She’s not copying him; it’s part of her overall style."
"In her music, as with every Czech composer, there’s also folk song, especially Moravian folk song layered into it. Pianistically, the writing is colourful, full, rich and sometimes very difficult, but wonderful and enjoyable to play. Singers tell me the same thing about the vocal writing—sometimes difficult, but it always feels good in the voice. Cellists say the same."
"Every aspect of her music is crafted well, but you don’t hear the craftsmanship. The personality comes through. It all feels organic."
"Every aspect of her music is crafted well, but you don’t hear the craftsmanship. It all feels organic."
Is it fair to say that she had to wait a long time to be rediscovered?
"Yes, I think that’s fair. Many Czechs have told me that if they learned about her at all, it was very little—maybe a footnote in a music history book. There are historical reasons for that. She died during World War II. The country had to rebuild itself, and there were political reasons as well."
"One person who really helped in her rediscovery is Karla Hartl of the Kapralova Society in Toronto. I discovered Kaprálová’s music in 1999, and Karla founded the Kapralova Society in 1998. Since I live in Michigan, not far from Toronto, I immediately tracked her down and we met in Canada. She has done amazing work to help with Kaprálová’s rediscovery, and others have come on board as well."
Being part of the documentary, did you discover anything new about Kaprálová?
"I can’t think of anything entirely new. It just deepens. She’s become more of a real person to me as I have gotten to know her music more intimately."
"Josef Kaprál, her cousin, showed me many family photos of her. When I was working on an edition of her songs for Amos Editio, overseen by Dr. Věroslav Němec, I spent a lot of time in the Moravian Museum in Brno, where most of the manuscripts are kept. There was one song, V zemi české, whose manuscript Josef Kaprál still had at home at the time. He invited me there. The piano she played and composed on was there."
"The manuscript was very difficult to read—I had to use a magnifying glass—but I was sitting at her piano. Experiences like that over the years have made her a very real person to me."
"Through Karla Hartl, who published books of her letters, you also see her personality. You hear it in the music, but in her letters to family, publishers or to Martinů, you see her as a real person."
"The way I play her music, I keep discovering new things in it. That’s what you do with all great composers. It’s wonderful. When I work with singers, cellists or instrumentalists, they bring new ideas. It’s constantly developing."
Do you feel there’s more interest today not just in her music, but in the role of women in music more generally? And do you think it’s any easier for women now to build a professional career?
"About fifteen years ago I met a Czech student in Prague who was a composition major and she told me Kaprálová was like a hero to her—she helped pave the way. I think it’s still difficult for women, but it was more difficult in Kaprálová’s time, and even more difficult before that. She certainly helped pave the way for others to come."
"Even if she weren’t a woman, people would be fascinated by her music. But because she is a woman, it is all the more incredible what she accomplished. She once wrote that writing songs was her greatest love and she would have been happy just doing that. But she did much more."
"In earlier times, if women composed, they often wrote salon pieces for families to play, or songs for home use. That was all that was expected. It was unusual for women to go beyond that. But Kaprálová succeeded in genre after genre. I think if she had written that opera, it would have been just as amazing."
Are there other Czech composers who are especially close to your heart?
"Yes, the music of Pavel Haas. I love his music. I try to promote Kaprálová whenever I can, and after her I would probably say Pavel Haas."
"I love Petr Eben’s music, especially his songs, which are really wonderful. I also love the music of Sylvie Bodorová. I co-commissioned a song cycle of hers called Jabloňový vlak, or Apple Train. Her music is colourful, moving, vibrant—really wonderful."
"Czech musical culture is so rich, from folk song to classical music. It’s creative and rich, and when people hear it, they’re drawn to it. The Slavic side of Czech music has soul, and everyone can relate to that immediately."
Can you recognize Czech music even if you don’t know the composer?
"There are pieces that come on the radio and I think, ‘I think that’s Czech.’ And most of the time I’m right—even pieces I’ve never heard before. I can’t pinpoint exactly why, but yes."
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The inspirational 20th century Czech composer Vítězslava Kaprálová and her April Preludes
The eighth part of our video series Czech Music Greats is devoted to Vítězslava Kaprálová, a hugely talented Czech composer and conductor, who died at the age of just 25.
