Nejedlý, Zdeněk

Nejedlý, Zdeněk, Czech musicologist and politician, father of Vit Nejedly;’ b. Litomysl, Feb. 10, 1878; d. Prague, March 9, 1962. He studied in Prague with Fibich, and took courses with Jaroslav Goll (history) and Hostinsky’ (aesthetics) at the Charles Univ., where he qualified in 1900. He was an archivist at the National Museum (1899–1909); joined the staff of the Charles Univ. (1905), serving as a reader (1908–19) and prof. (1919–39) in musicology. He joined the Czech Communist Party in 1929; after the Nazi occupation of his country (1939), he went to the Soviet Union and was a prof. of history at the Univ. of Moscow. After the liberation of Czechoslovakia (1945), he returned to Prague; was minister of education (1948–53) and deputy premier (1953).

Writings

(all publ. in Prague): Zdenko Fibich, zakladatel scénického melodramu (Zdenko Fibich, Founder of the Scenic Melodrama; 1901); Katechismus estetiky (A Manual of Aesthetics; 1902); Dëjinv ceské hudby (A History of Czech Music; 1903); Dëjiny pfedhusitského v Cechách (A History of Pre-Hussite Song in Bohemia; 1904; 2^nd ed., 1954, as Dëjiny husitského zépvu); Pocátky husitského zëpvu (The Beginnings of Hussite Song; 1907; 2^nd ed., 1954–55, as Dëjiny husitského zpëvu); Zpëvohry Smetanovy (Smetana’s Operas; 1908; 3^rd ed., 1954); Josef Bohuslav Foerster (1910); Dëjiny husitského spëvu za válek husitskych (A History of Hussite Song during the Hussite Wars; 1913; 2^nd ed., 1955–56, as Dëjiny husitského zpëvu); Gustav Mahler (1913; 2^nd ed., 1958); Richard Wagner (1916; 2^nd ed., 1961); Vëeobecné dëjiny hudby, I: O pûvody hudby, Antika (A General History of Music, I: Origin and Antiquity; 1916–30); Vitëzslav Novák (1921; articles and reviews); Otakara Hostinského estetika (Otakar Hostinsky’s Aesthetics; 1921); Smetaniana (1922); Bedfich Smetana (4 vols., 1924–33; 2^nded., 1950–54); Zdenĉka a Fibicha milostny’ denik (Zdenk Fibich’s Erotic Diary; 1925; 2^nd ed., 1949); Otakar Ostrëil, Vzrûst a uzráni (Otakar Ostrĉil: Growth and Maturity; 1935; 2^nd ed., 1949); Sovetská hudba (Soviet Music; 1936–37); Otakar Hostinsky (1937; 2^nd ed., 1955); Kritiky (2 vols., 1954, 1965).

Bibliography

J. Teichmann, Z. N.(Prague, 1938); V. Pekárek, Z. N. (Prague, 1948); J. Jiránek, Z. N.(Prague, 1952); A. Sychra, Estetika Z.a Nejedlého (Z. N.’s Aesthetics; Prague, 1956); F. Cervinka, Z. N. (Prague, 1959); V. Pekárek and J. Kubát, eds., Na pamët’ Z.a Nejedlého (In Memory of Z. N.; Prague, 1966); Z. N.: Doba—zivot—dilo (Z. N.: Times—Life—Work; Prague, 1975); M. Ransdorf, Z. N. (Prague, 1988).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis Mclntire