Vítězslava Kaprálová (1915-1940)

Navždy (Forever, Op. 12, 1936)

III. Ruce (Hands)

Today's featured composers is one of my favorites of all time: Vítězslava Kaprálová.

Not only does she have one of the most interesting biographies, she was a female on the precipice of a burgeoning international career before her tragic death at 25. Kaprálová was born in Brno, a large city in the Moravian region of Czechia. Her father, Václav, was a notable composer in his own right, and she studied composition with some big-name composers: Vlém Peterželka (may not be known in the US, but he was an important Czech composer and taught at the Brno Conservatory); Bohulsav Martinů (a family friend and, later, romantic partner); Vítězslav Novák (who taught at the Prague Conservatory and pretty much taught most Czech, and some Slovak, composers of note during his tenure); and Nadia Boulanger (I mean, who wasn't studying with her?!) for a short time.

In 1938, while studying with Martinů in Paris, Kaprálová's Military sinfonietta was chosen by the ISCM Festival in London — a prestigious festival celebrating contemporary music. She was to be one of the Czechoslovak delegates (for reference, Britten, Hindemith, Bartók were their respective country’s’ delegates). By 1939, she and Martinu were romantically inked; however, she met and soon married Jiří Mucha, son of the art nouveau Czech painter Alphonse Mucha, while he was writing the libretto for one of Martinů's operas. They were wed only two months before Kaprálová died of suspected tuberculosis during the evacuation of Paris. She never saw the liberation of her beloved Czechoslovakia.

Kaprálová loved her homeland and chose only poetry by Czech writers. There is a sense of melancholy in much of her music, but subtle. She was a master at polytonality, with shifts to new tonal centers at poignant points in the text, heightening the emotion in that moment. While many composers were experimenting with the avant garde during the interwar period and during WWII, but Novák's impressionistic/Romantic influence is evident.

I first learned about these songs in 2012 while a grad student at UNT. I had the pleasure of working with Timothy Cheek (author of Singing in Czech) while singing Mařenka in Prodaná nevěsta, and I completely fell in love with the language. Dr. Cheek suggested Kaprálová's Navždy for my Master's recital, and this piece has always stuck with me. I have had the pleasure of working with Dr. Cheek many times over the last decade, and I am forever grateful for his wisdom and guidance.

In "Ruce" ("Hands"), Kaprálová cleverly writes quintuplets in the accompaniment, the five fingers of a lyre, as described in the text. The beautiful text painting then shifts to the image of a comb as she rakes her fingers through he lover's hair. She demonstrates her gift for polytonality here, as well as her exquisite writing for both the piano and voice. This song has the sophistication and nuance of a composer twice her age, but she was only 21 when it was written.

Enjoy Timothy Cheek and Czech soprano, Dana Burešová!

The five fingers of my hand are a lyre,

gentle and shy,

for a little while a lyre and for a while a comb;

your hair fell to your forehead.

The five white half-moons of fingernails

I kissed penitent,

while the stars, full of resin,

glowed with deep red flames.

The world fell with us into the abyss,

we did not hear the knell,

we drank the last drops of wine

that still remained in Canaan.

Translation by Timothy Cheek