Title of the article:

THE PLOWMAN AND THE MUSIC AS GENDER PERSONIFICATIONS OF THE CZECH IDENTITY IN CULTURE

Author(s):

Georgy P. Melnikov

Information about the author/authors

Georgy P. Melnikov — PhD in History, Leading Research Fellow, Institute of Slavic studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky Ave., 32 A, 119991 Moscow, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2643-9639. E-mail: geramel@mail.ru

Section

Theory and history of culture

Year

2021

Volume

Vol. 59

Pages

pp. 8–20

Received

November 20, 2020

Date of publication

March 28, 2021

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37816/2073-9567-2021-59-8-20

Index UDK

008

Index BBK

71.05(4Чех)

Abstract

The culture of the Czech National Revival produced a symbolic autoidentification in figures of the Plowman and the Music. The drawings of J. Mánes and the sculptures of J. Myslbek perpetuated these figures as gender symbols of the Czech identity. The figures of the Plowman and the Music are presented in the Mánes’ drawing “Domov”. The semantics of the drawing is versatile, which provides an impulse for its culturological interpretation. A symbolic figure of the Plowman in historical and cultural consciousness of Czechs has been associated with Přemysl the Ploughman — the legendary founder of the Přemyslid dynasty. According to the Czech legend told by Cosmas of Prague, Přemysl was elected the prince upon the request by the Czech ruler Libuše, who then married him. The title of the drawing refers to the song of J. K. Tyl, which had become somewhat of an unofficial Czech anthem of the 19^th century. In the Mánes’ drawing Libuše is substituted by a symbolic figure of the Music as a personification of the national genius of Czechs. Historical-patriotic connotations generate the image of the Czech people, which formed in the epoch of the National Revival. Moreover, the Czech identity manifested itself in gender as a harmony of the male and female principles, work, and music. The idea of organic work as the basis of art is introduced into the drawing`s composition. A series of Mánes’ drawings “The Music” came to be a vivid embodiment of the national identity, showing the life of a peasant accompanied by music from birth till death. The Myslbek’s sculpture “The Music”, which became lobby`s centerpiece of a new Czech sacred place — The National Theater in Prague, is presented as a personification of the Czech identity in culture. A female image of the Music is identified with the soul of the people in a state of sociocultural and political emancipation.

Keywords

symbolic autoidentification, gender, culture, art, music, Czech Lands, J. Mánes, J. Myslbek.

References

1 Belza I. F. Ocherki razvitiia cheshskoi muzykal'noi klassiki [Essays on the development of Czech musical classics]. Moscow, Leningrad, MUZGIZ Publ., 1951. 588 p. (In Russian)

2 Martynov I. I. Bedrzhikh Smetana. Moscow, MUZGIZ Publ., 1963. 496 p. (In Russian)

3 Mel'nikov G. P. Cheshskaia etatizatsionnaia legenda v srednevekovoi khronistike [Czech etatization`s legend in medieval chronicles]. Vestnik slavianskikh kul'tur, 2014, no 2, pp. 9–13. (In Russian)

4 Tilkovsky V. Manes. Budapesht, Izdatel'stvo Korvina Publ., 1962. 96 p. (In Russian)

5 Josef Václav Myslbek, text by L. Kofránek, K. Pokorný and other. Praha, Státní nakladatelství krásné literatury Publ., 1954. 238 p. (In Czech) 

6 Josef Mánes, edited by J. Pečírka. Praha, Melantrich Publ., 1939. 496 p. (In Czech)

PDF-file

Download