| Anotation | In the archives of Dr. Ivan Měrka and Prof. František Smetana, two internationally recognized personalities whom I had the opportunity to get to know better, manuscripts of works by authors with close personal connections to both mentioned cellists are stored.
The archive of Dr. Ivan Měrka, collected over two generations, was largely devastated by a destructive flood. Despite the owner's desperate efforts to salvage it through drying, it is now partially accessible. However, manuscripts of authors, many of whom were closely connected to our region, are less legible, requiring detailed reconstruction in some cases. In one instance, there exists a professional radio recording, but the manuscript has not yet been found. According to available information, it would supposedly be possible to transcribe the work directly into digital form by using a computer program. This needs verification.
Compared to that, the archive of František Smetana, scattered among several of his students in the United States of America, the Netherlands, and relatives in Prague, also contains his unpublished compositions. These primarily include arrangements of piano works by Bedřich Smetana, Josef Suk, Vítězslav Novák, and František Smetana's own composition, "Meditation on the St. Wenceslas Chorale," written in the 1950s in Pankrác prison.
Considering the unquestionable musical value of selected works, it would be a shame, while respecting copyright, not to publish them for greater accessibility in digital or printed form within the faculty's publishing series. Each title will be accompanied by an editorial publishing report and labeled with ISMN.
In collaboration with the Editorial Office of Czech Radio in Ostrava, recording of approved titles, in which Vltava Radio (a radio station within Czech Radio) is interested (approximately 60'), is planned for the first quarter of next year. Open negotiations are already underway regarding additional titles. |
