Kytice

Kytice z pověstí národních (A Bouquet of Folk Legends), also known by the short title Kytice (Czech for bouquet), is a collection of ballads by the Czech author Karel Jaromír Erben. The collection was first published in 1853 and was originally made up of 12 poems. Lilie was added to the second edition in 1861.

[cz]
[cz] (Treasure)
[cz] (The Wedding Shirts)
[cz] (Lady midday)
[cz] (The Golden Spinning-Wheel)
[cz] (Christmas Eve)
[cz] (Little Dove)
[cz] (Záhoř's Bed)
Vodník [cz] (The Water-Goblin)
[cz] (Willow)
[cz] (Lily)
[cz] (Daughter's Curse)
[cz] (Seeress)

Translations[]

There are two full translations into English in print, Marcela Sulak (2012), A Bouquet of Czech Folktales, Prague, Twisted Spoon Press, and Susan Reynolds (2012), Kytice, London, Jantar Publishing.^[1]

Marcela Sulak's translation has been used for subtitling performances of Dvořák's adaptations in Prague and the film version at the Warsaw Film Festival.^[2] The edition is illustrated with artwork by Alén Diviš.

Susan Reynolds' translations were years in the making; she had read some of her translations at a symposium at the Antonin Dvořák Museum in Prague in 2004, which were lauded as "brilliant".^[3]

Svatební košile was translated under the title "Spectre's Bride" by [cz].^[4]

Adaptations[]

The Kytice collection has inspired several adaptations for various media:

Films

Kytice (Wild Flowers), a 2000 Czech drama film directed by depicting 7 of the poems: Kytice, Vodník, Svatební košile, Polednice, Zlatý kolovrat, Dceřina kletba, Štědrý den
Svatební košile, a 1978 Czech animated short directed by Josef Kábrt
Svatební košile, a 1925 Czech film directed by and starring Theodor Pištěk

Music

, Ballad for soprano, tenor, bass, chorus and orchestra, Op. 69, B. 135 (1884) by Antonín Dvořák
Svatební košile (The Spectre's Bride), Ballad for soprano, tenor, bass, mixed chorus and orchestra, H. 214 I A (1932) by Bohuslav Martinů
Polednice (The Noon Witch, or The Noonday Witch), Symphonic Poem for orchestra, Op. 108, B. 196 (1896) by Antonín Dvořák
Zlatý kolovrat (The Golden Spinning Wheel), Symphonic Poem for orchestra, Op. 109, B. 197 (1896) by Antonín Dvořák
Štědrý den, Melodrama for narrator and piano or orchestra, Op. 9, H. 198 (1874, 1899) by Zdeněk Fibich
Holoubek (The Wild Dove), Symphonic Poem for orchestra, Op. 110, B. 198 (1896) by Antonín Dvořák
Vodník (The Water Goblin), Symphonic Poem for orchestra, Op. 107, B. 195 (1896) by Antonín Dvořák
Vodník, Melodrama for narrator and orchestra, Op. 15, H. 267 (1883) by Zdeněk Fibich
Lilie, Melodrama by Otakar Ostrčil
Lilie, Melodrama for reciter and piano 4-hands, Op. 23 by
Kytice, A Tribute to K. J. Erben (2007) by

Opera

Vodník, Opera in 4 acts (1937) by ; libretto by

Theatre

Kytice, a 1972 loose musical theatre adaptation by Jiří Suchý and Ferdinand Havlík (music), one of the most popular pieces the Semafor theatre

References[]

Citations

^ Hames (2014), p. 331.
^ Rechcigl, Miloslav Jr. - (2016), "Marcela Sulak", Encyclopedia of Bohemian and Czech-American Biography, AuthorHouse, 2
^ Gabrielová, Jarmila (2005), "The Work of Antonin Dvořák (1841–-1904). Aspects of Composition —- Problems of Editing —- Reception, Prague, September 8–11, 2004", Journal of the Institute of Musicology of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 5: 434
^ Erben, Karel Jaromír (1919), Štýbr, Josef (tr.), "Spectre's Bride", The Czechoslovak Review, 3: 298–300

Bibliography

(translations)

Erben, Karel Jaromír (2012), A Bouquet of Czech Folktales, Sulak, Marcela (tr.), Prague: Twisted Spoon Press, ISBN 9788086264417
Erben, Karel Jaromír (2013), Kytice, Reynolds, Susan (tr.); Diviš, Alén (illustr.), London: Jantar Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9568890-2-7

(secondary sources)

Hames, Peter (2014), "The Czech and Slovak Fairy-Tale Film", Fairy-Tale Films Beyond Disney: International Perspectives, Routeledge, pp. 139–147

External links[]

Full Czech language text of Kytice at Wikisource (in Czech)
Several rhymed translations and an interview with the translator Susan Reynolds at Radio Prague website, 19 September 2004: transcript and RealAudio archive
A Bouquet Full English translation by Marcela Sulak.
Kytice Full English translation by Susan Reynolds.

This Czech Republic-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

This poetry-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

[FOOTNOTEHames2014331-1] Hames (2014), p. 331.

[2] Rechcigl, Miloslav Jr. - (2016), "Marcela Sulak", Encyclopedia of Bohemian and Czech-American Biography, AuthorHouse, 2

[3] Gabrielová, Jarmila (2005), "The Work of Antonin Dvořák (1841–-1904). Aspects of Composition —- Problems of Editing —- Reception, Prague, September 8–11, 2004", Journal of the Institute of Musicology of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 5: 434

[4] Erben, Karel Jaromír (1919), Štýbr, Josef (tr.), "Spectre's Bride", The Czechoslovak Review, 3: 298–300

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]