Austria -- Description and travel; Hungary -- Description and travel
Bohemia has produced many musicians, and at the present day the leading
professor Sevcik attracts pupils from all over the world; while
Kubelik, with his melodious violin, was a pupil at the conservatoire
and is the son of a Czech. The best-known Bohemian composer is Dvorak,
and rather less known, but little inferior in merit, is Smetaud.
Many other names might be added. Anton Dvorak was born in 1841 at
Nelahozaves and was the son of an innkeeper, and from the first was
wild to follow music as a career. He went to Prague, and as a mere boy
kept himself by his violin, playing in orchestras. He married, and
as a means of adding to his small earnings took pupils. He was very
energetic, and turned out a multitude of compositions. At the age of
thirty-four he was lucky enough to secure a position which relieved
him from the fear of want, and from thenceforth gave himself up to
producing larger works, symphonies and operas. He visited England
frequently, and for three years lived in America, holding the post of
head of a conservatoire in New York. He died in 1904. His best-known
works are the _Stabat Mater_, Symphony in D, and the opera _Jacobin_.
The political history of Moravia is so bound up with that of Bohemia
that it does not need telling separately. Since 1029 the country has
been incorporated with that of Bohemia and has shared its fortunes.
The people are Slavs, and are generally known as Slovaks or Moravians,
but are really very much like the Czechs. There is also a strong
German element, and the German and Slav electors choose their deputies
separately, voting according to their nationality. The country sends
forty-nine deputies to the Austrian Parliament. The Moravians are very
industrious, and their commerce and manufactures compare favourably
with the rest of the Empire. Linen, cotton, and woollen goods are
manufactured in the capital, Brunn; and beet-sugar, leather, and brandy
are also reckoned in the output. The name is derived from the river
March or Morava, which runs through the country.
The principal idea which has reached the mind of the world at large in
connection with Moravia is the use of the word Moravian to distinguish
the sect of an extreme evangelical type started in the times of Huss,
which has since spread far and wide. The Moravian Church has no formal
creed, but believes in simplicity of life and above all in missionary
effort.
The country is cut off from Hungary by the North-West Carpathians,
which form a high ridge between, and several of the spurs of these
mountains run down into Moravia.
[Illustration: CARINTHIA: MARIA-WÖRTH, ON THE WÖRTHERSEE]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account