(Ger. Pressburg; Hung. Pozsony).
Capital city of Slovakia. An important Slavonic centre in the 9th-century Great Moravian Empire, Bratislava fell later under Hungarian rule. The Hungarian defeat at the battle of Mohács (1526) opened Hungary to the Turks and in 1536 Bratislava replaced Buda as the capital and in 1653 as the coronation city of Hungary. This, and the removal of the Archbishop of Esztergom, had a long-lasting impact on Bratislava as a cultural centre and contributed to its population growth in the 18th century. In 1784, with the Turkish threat over, the National Assembly and adminstration returned to Buda and Bratislava’s cultural importance diminished accordingly. This was reversed only after 1918, first as part of the new Czechoslovak Republic, then as the capital of a Slovak state (1939–45) during the Nazi occupation of the Czech lands, and in 1993 as capital of an independent Slovakia.
Bratislava’s musical past was active and international in outlook. It was the birthplace of the lutenist Hans Neusidler, of J.N. Hummel and Ernő Dohnányi; composers who studied there include the Hungarians, Erkel (1822–5) and Bartók (1892–3, 1894–9). The list of foreign musicians who have appeared in the city includes Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, Brahms, Bülow, Clara Schumann, Bruno Walter and Richard Strauss.
Bratislava’s contribution to music in central Europe was already important in the Middle Ages (the city charter dates from 1291). Until the 17th century the city’s musical life centred on the 14th-century cathedral of St Martin (which had a cantor and a choir school from 1302) and the Franciscan church, founded in 1397. The music collections of both churches show that vocal polyphony was cultivated, as well as Gregorian chant. The most important medieval manuscript in the cathedral collection is the so-called Bratislava notated missal (Missale Notatum Strigoniense), in neumatic notation, of 1341, which contains the whole Hungarian repertory of medieval mass chants (see illustration). The manuscript of Anna Schumann (1571), from the cathedral library, contains 239 compositions – mainly hymns, responses and antiphons – in two to six parts. The city pipers, who took part in services until the 18th century, are first mentioned in records in 1448. The first Protestant church was consecrated in 1638, and until its closure and the banning of Protestant services in 1672 regular performances of Viadana, Michael Praetorius, Schütz, Schein, Hammerschmidt, Giovanni Valentini, Carissimi and others were heard under Samuel Friedrich Capricornus (1651–7) and Johann Kusser (1657–72), the father of J.S. Kusser. The church repertory, like those at the residences of the Esterházy and Grassalkovich families, later became strongly influenced by Viennese Classical works. Important musicians active in Bratislava between 1770 and 1830 included the organist and composer Anton Zimmermann, the pianist and teacher F.P. Rigler, the composer Georg Druschetzky and the double bass player Johannes Sperger. The Pressburger Zeitung (founded 1764) was one of the leading newspapers in Central Europe and carried influential music criticism. Artists who performed at the concerts organized by the St Martin’s Church Music Society (1833–1945) included Liszt (the society’s first patron) and Anton Rubinstein.
The first performances of secular dramatic works in the city were in the so-called Weiten Hof in 1609. The Imperial Hofkapelle in Vienna gave frequent guest performances in Bratislava Castle from 1637 to 1688. A theatre was built in 1764, and 12 years later an opera house on the site of the present Slovenské Národné Divadlo (Slovak National Theatre). From 1791 twice-weekly Italian opera performances were recorded, in a temporary theatre. But most performances were given in German or Hungarian until 1919, and the repertory included works by Haydn, Mozart, Dittersdorf, Boieldieu, Rossini, Weber, Lortzing, Verdi and Puccini. Operettas were performed from 1859. The Bratislava Opera Theatre (renovated 1969–72) was completed in 1886.
In 1919 Bratislava became part of the republic of Czechoslovakia, and within a decade the Czech and, especially, Slovak population had increased markedly. The first performance of an opera in Slovak was given in Bratislava on 10 December 1919 (The Bartered Bride), but Smetana’s The Kiss on 1 March 1920 marked the real beginning of the Slovak National Opera, founded in 1919. During the inter-war years the company developed a wide international repertory as well as supporting native composers such as J.L. Bella, Viliam Figuš-Bystrý and Mikuláš Schneider-Trnavský, in addition to Smetana, Dvořák, Fibich and Janáček. Two outstanding opera conductors and directors of the period were the composer Oskar Nedbal (1923–30), and his nephew Karel Nedbal (1931–8). Important musicians associated with the Slovak National Theatre after its nationalization in 1945 have been the Croatian composer Krešimir Baranovič, Zdeněk Chalabala, Ladislav Holoubek, himself a prolific composer of operas, Tibor Frešo, Juraj Hrubant and Ondrej Lenárd. A golden age was Zdeněk Košler’s tenure as chief conductor (1971–6). The Slovak National Opera in Bratislava presents standard repertory and contemporary works as well as the Slovak opera repertory. Its many first performances of Slovak operas have included the premičre of Suchoň’s Krútňava (‘The Whirlpool’, 1949). The orchestra of the theatre, the Bratislava SO, in the thirties gave orchestral concerts presenting the standard repertory and new music. Native and foreign Singspiele, operettas and musicals are given at the Nová Scéna.
Until 1918 there was no permanent orchestra in Bratislava, and even the first Slovak Philharmonic Society founded in 1920 was really an amateur group of local government officials. However, through the efforts of their chief conductor, Zdeněk Folprecht (1920–33), the orchestra performed, before 1938, works by contemporary Slovak composers (Bella, Schneider-Trnavský, Lauko, Alexander Moyzes, Suchoň) as well as such works as Haydn’s The Creation and Verdi’s Requiem. The Bratislava RO (founded in 1926) reached its peak under František Babušek (1939–49). The professional Slovak PO was founded in 1949 and has its headquarters in Bratislava. Its conductors have included Václav Talich, Ludovít Rajter, Ladislav Slovák, Libor Pešek, Bystrík Režucha and Ondrej Lenárd. It comprises an orchestra of 100 and a choir of 80 and gives regular concert series in addition to undertaking tours throughout Slovakia, Bohemia and Moravia as well as abroad. The Slovak Chamber Orchestra (founded 1960), which specializes in Baroque music for strings, and the Slovak Madrigal Choir (founded 1964) are both composed principally of members of the Slovak Philharmonic Society. Other ensembles in the city include Musica Aeterna, which concentrates on early music, the Moyzes Quartet, successor to the Slovak Quartet (founded 1948), the municipal chamber orchestra Musica Istropolitana (1984), the New Slovak Wind Quintet and the Veni Ensemble, which specializes in new music. There were many choral societies during the 19th century. At the turn of the 21st century a number of amateur choirs perform to a high standard and often collaborate with professional orchestras. Ensembles like the professional SĽUK (Slovak Folk Art Group) and the youth ensemble Lúčnica (both founded in 1949) devote themselves to the performance of Slovak dances and other folk music.
The Bratislava Festival was founded in 1965; it is held for two weeks each October and includes exhibitions, opera, ballet, orchestral and chamber music concerts, solo recitals and a musicological congress. It later included a series of concerts by young performers in association with UNESCO. Since the fall of the communist regime in 1989 several smaller festivals have been established, notably the biennial Melos-Ethos Festival (which focusses on contemporary works), the Bratislava Jazz Days and the Early music festival held each November. Two important competitions have also been inaugurated: the Hummel International Piano Competition and a singing competition in memory of the soprano Lucia Popp, who studied in Bratislava.
The Bratislava radio station provides both regional and national services and has an electronic studio. The television studio in Bratislava was opened in 1954 and regularly transmits opera, concerts and other music programmes.
Bratislava has ten elementary schools of music, a state conservatory (founded in 1919 as a music school, renamed the Music and Drama Academy in Slovakia in 1928 and made into the State Conservatory in 1941) and the High School of Musical Arts (founded 1949). Following the political changes of 1989 a school of church music and several private music schools were founded in the city. Musicology is studied at the department of philosophy of the Comenius University (founded 1919). The Institute of Musicology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (founded 1951) comprises three departments (history of music, ethnomusicology, and contemporary music and music theory) and is concerned primarily with the study of Slovak music. Many of the principal monuments of Slovak music, including rare music prints, manuscript collections and a valuable collection of musical instruments, are held in the music department of the Slovak National Museum in Bratislava. A museum commemorating the life and work of Hummel is housed in the composer’s birthplace. The Slovak state music publisher OPUS, which published scores by native composers and books on music, became privately owned in 1989; in the following years a number of small music publishers were founded in the city. The Bratislava Music Information Centre (founded 1965) promotes contemporary Slovak music abroad.
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RICHARD RYBARIČ/ĽUBOMÍR CHALUPKA