May
Karel Hynek Mácha, engraving by Jan Vilímek
Author(s)	Karel Hynek Mácha
Country	Czech Republic
Language	Czech
Genre(s)	narrative poem
Publisher	self-published
Publication date	1836
Media type	Print

Máj (archaic Czech for the month May; pronounced [maːj]) is a romantic poem by Karel Hynek Mácha in four cantos. It was fiercely criticized when first published, but since then has gained the status of one of the most prominent works of Czech literature; the poem now is memorized by schoolchildren and continuously in print.

Setting[link]

According to the author's epilogue, the poem is a homage to the beauty of spring. It is set in a bucolic landscape, inspired by such features as a lake then called Velký rybník, and now called Máchovo jezero, "Mácha's lake," after the poet. The poem's action takes place near the town of Hiršberg. Castles such as Bezděz, Karlštejn, and Křivoklát (Mácha was an avid walker and knew Central Bohemia intimately) also influence the setting of the poem.^[1]

Dramatis personae[link]

As a dramatic poem (in the byronic sense), the poem has a cast of characters: Vilém, a bandit, in love with Jarmila; Jarmila, a girl in love with Vilém but dishonoured by Vilém's father; and Hynek, the narrator.

Plot[link]

A young girl, Jarmila, has been seduced by a man who is killed by his own son, Vilém; the latter is a robber known as the "terrible forest lord." On the evening of 1 May, sitting on a hill by a lake, she awaits his coming, but is instead told by a one of Vilém's associates that her lover sits across the lake in a castle, to be executed for the murder. While he waits, he ponders on the beauty of nature and his young life. The next day, he is led to a hill where he is decapitated; his mangled limbs are displayed in a wheel fastened to a pillar, and his head is placed on top of the pillar. Seven years later, on 31 December, a traveler named Hynek, comes across Vilém's pallid skull and the next day is told the story by an innkeeper. Years later, on the evening of 1 May, he returns and compares his own life that the month of May.

Structure[link]

Máchovo jezero / Macha's lake.

The poem consists of four cantos and two intermezzos.

First canto[link]

The poem opens with a description of the lake and the night sky on the evening of 1 May; everything speaks of love—the turtledove, whose call ends Cantos 1, 3, and 4; the silent moss; and the nightingale. Jarmila awaits her lover anxiously under an oak tree, but instead is met by a boatman, a man she knows and presumably a member of Vilém's gang of robbers, who tells her that her lover is to be executed and curses her for having caused his death. The turtledove, closing the canto, cries "Jarmila! Jarmila!! Jarmila!!!"

Second canto[link]

Bezděz Castle

On the same night, the lake is described from the other side, now with images of dying stars and the pale face of the moon prevailing. Vilém, locked in a tower overlooking the lake, is chained to a stone table and bewails his fate. Remembering his youth, he quickly recalls how his father drove him from that joyful place "to grow up in the midst of thieves"; he became the leader of their band, and was called the "terrible forest lord." He falls in love with a "wilted rose" and kills her seducer, not knowing it is his father. In his complaint, he claims the guilt was not his own; his curse is his father's. The clanking chains wake the prison guards, who goes to the cell and finds Vilém motionless and senseless at the table. Vilém whispers the story in the guard's ear—the tearful guard never retells the story and "no one ever saw a smile / on his pale face again."

First intermezzo[link]

Midnight, in the countryside. A chorus of ghosts awaits the coming of a new dead soul, and especially the "guardian" of the burial site: as the author explains in a note, the last one buried stands guard over the graves at night until a newly buried person can take their place. Personified elements of the poem, such as the gale over the lake, the pillar with wheel, night, and the moon speak out on what they will contribute to the funeral. The mole under the earth, for instance, will dig his grave. This continues until the break of day.

Third canto[link]

On the morning of 2 May, Vilém is led from his prison to the place of execution. The setting is as beautiful as the spring—there is a sweet morning wind, and "every living creature celebrates young May." A crowd accompanies Vilém to the hillock where the stake and wheel stand; many pray for him. The convict, overlooking the beauty of the landscape, bewails how he will never see Nature's bounty again and apostrophizes the clouds, and calls out to earth, whom he calls "my cradle and my grave, my mother / my only homeland." In short order the executioner's sword flashes, the dead man's head "drops--bounces--bounces again," and his head and limbs are displayed on the pillar and the wheel. The canto ends with the turtledove crying "Vilém! Vilém!! Vilém!!!"

Second intermezzo[link]

In the forest, under oak trees, Vilém's gang silently sits in a circle, in the middle of the night. All of nature whispers "Our leader's dead," the forests in the distance quake and echo the complaint, "Our lord is dead!"

Fourth canto[link]

On the last day of the year, a traveler, seven years after these events, comes across the knoll where the stake and wheel still display Vilém's bones and skull. Fleeing to the town, he asks, the next morning, about the skeleton, and his innkeeper tells him the story. Returning many years later, on 1 May, he sits on the hill; nature has awoken again and again the nightingale sings while the wind plays through the hollow skull. He sits until nightfall, meditating on Vilém's life as well as his own, decrying "humanity's lost paradise, ... my lovely childhood." The poem ends with the turtledove, who "invites to love: / 'Hynek'!--Vilém!!--Jarmila!!!'"

Rhyme and meter[link]

The basic metrical unit is the iamb, unusual for the Czech poetry at that time, and probably inspired by English romanticism, particularly by George Gordon Byron. Czech medieval and folk poetry did not yet use word stress count as an element of prosody, while their Renaissance poetry was mainly dactylic.^[1]

Most of the poem rhymes in an abba pattern, and while most of the lines are tetrameters, some of the longer non-narrative lyrical descriptions consist of longer lines. Sometimes the poet uses longer dashes to indicate stops that are nonetheless part of the line, such as in the second canto, where the dripping of water measures out the convict's time: "zní--hyne--zní a hyne-- / zní--hyne--zní a hyne zas--" ("sound--die--sound and die-- / sound--die--sound and die again").

Critical reception[link]

Mácha's grave in Prague

As with many poets, of particular interest to scholars is the relationship between Mácha himself and his poetic work, which is "intensely personal, almost confessional."^[2] Roman Jakobson, for instance, published an essay called "Co je poesie?", focused on Mácha and his Máj,^[3] in which he "calls attention to the stark contrast between the devotional reverence of Macha's love poem and the cynically coarse references to its heroine in the poet's diary."^[2] This problem is "solved" in reference to the demands of literary genre: "The formulae of love poetry encouraged, indeed urged upon the poet, the tone of adoration, of worship."^[2]

Movie version[link]

In 2008, Czech director F.A. Brabec made a movie, also called Máj, based on the poem.

References[link]

External links[link]

• May by K.H. Mácha (in Czech and English)
• May (translated by James Naughton) (in Czech and English)
• Máj at the Internet Movie Database

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (March 2010)

Karel Gott
Karel Gott in 2002
Background information
Born	(1939-07-14) July 14, 1939 (age 72)
Origin	Pilsen, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Genres	Pop
Occupations	Singer
Years active	1958–present
Labels	Supraphon,[1] Polydor
Website	www.karelgott.com

Karel Gott (born July 14, 1939 in Plzeň) is a Czech Schlager singer, and an amateur painter. He is considered as the most successful male singer in former Czechoslovakia and currently in the Czech Republic; he has being voted the Most Favorite Male Singer in the annual national pool Český slavík (English: Czech Nightingale) in total thirty-six times. He also gained widespread fame in the German-speaking countries.^{[citation needed]}

Biography[link]

Gott was born in Pilsen, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now Plzeň, Czech Republic), and has lived in Prague since age 6. He initially wanted to study art, but failed the exams at UMPRUM, the Secondary School of Art and Industry, upon which he began training as an electrician. On completing his studies, he began working as an electrician, but was soon fascinated by the new types of music flooding the city, and became interested in jazz. He experimented with playing the bass and the guitar, but eventually decided to focus on singing, studying it privately. During the 1950s, he occasionally performed as an amateur singer and often participated in competitions.

In 1958, he participated in an amateur singing contest in the Prague Slavonic House, entitled "Looking for New Talent." He utterly failed to impress the judges, but soon made a name for himself in Prague jazz circles, finally getting his first engagement at the Vltava Prague Cafe that same year.

In 1960, he decided to undertake singing professionally. He studied opera at the Prague Conservatory under Konstantin Karenin, a student of the brilliant Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin. Knowing of Gott's interest in current musical trends, Karenin instructed him not only in classical Italian pieces, but also in the hits of the day. It was at this time that Gott traveled abroad for the first time with the Jazz Orchestra of the Czechoslovak Broadcast, conducted by Karel Krautgartner.

In 1962, Gott released his first single with Supraphon. Titled Až nám bude dvakrát tolik (When we are twice as old), it was a duet with the leading jazz singer, Vlasta Průchová. It was also at this time that Gott was voted into the Zlatý slavík (Golden Nightingale) viewer's survey, placing 49th and receiving a total of three votes. Shortly afterwards, in 1963, Gott left the conservatory to continue his studies privately until 1966.

In 1963 Gott was offered a place at the recently founded Prague Semafor theater, which was then at the forefront of the emerging Czechoslovakian pop music scene. This was his introduction to performance, where he learned how to communicate with an audience and move on a stage. In the same year, he released his first solo single, a Czech recording of Henry Mancini's Moon River, as well as his song Oči sněhem zaváté (Eyes Covered by Snow), which became the year's best-selling record. Shortly afterwards, Gott received the first of thirty-four (Golden Nightingale) awards, given to the most popular artist of the year.

Gott established the "Apollo Theater" in 1965, along with two brothers who were with him in Semafor: Jiří and Ladislav Štaidl. At this point, he was already a major star, appearing in the programs "Pilgrimage for Two" and "Evening Prayer" while building his own repertoire with his own orchestra. He began composing his own songs, and toured Czechoslovakia and abroad with the Apollo Theater. That year, he released his first album, Karel Gott Sings with Supraphon to great acclaim. Songs from his Supraphon archives are currently being released by Sony Music Bonton. This first album was followed by an English export album titled The Golden Voice of Prague (Artia-Supraphon).

In 1967, Gott performed at MIDEM, the International Fair of Record Companies and Music Producers in Cannes, France, where the applause was measured during every concert. He surprised everyone by achieving a level of 54 to Tom Jones' 58. Following this event, Gott signed a contract with the Polydor / Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft record company, renewing it several times until it became a life contract in 1997. Between 1967 and 2000, Polydor released over 125 albums and 72 singles for Karel Gott in German speaking countries in Europe. Gott represented Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 with the song Tausend Fenster, finishing in 13th place.

In the same year, Gott spent six months performing daily at the New Frontier Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, which experience made a great impression on him.

In the 70s, domestic success was marked by Gott's presence on television, including the filming of a ten part serial entitled Karel Gott in Slany. On May 3, 1977, he was awarded the title of Merited Artist, and in the following year received the Golden Hat of Cologne, given yearly to a personality in the cultural and social sphere. After human rights campaigners signed Charter 77 to protest the abuses of the totalitarian regime, Gott collaborated in the government orchestrated anti-charter movement.

The 80s were marked by international success, including the filming of the musical In the Track of Bel Canto in Italy in 1981, with a corresponding German-Italian album and duet performance with Sofia Rotaru in the Soviet Union.^[2] In 1983, Gott was given the Gold Medal of Hermann Lönse in Munich, Germany, for the development of the German national song. On April 30, 1985, he was awarded the title of National Artist for his exceptional artistic contributions. In 1986, he received Polydor's Golden Needle, which up until then had only ever been given to Leonard Bernstein and Herbert von Karajan. The Supraphon Diamond Record Award was given him on September 8, 1992, for having sold 13 million recordings, a number which would account for 86% of Czechoslovakia's population.

In 1990, Gott decided to end his career and arranged a huge farewell tour. However, the tour was so successful that he re-evaluated his decision. In 1993, he established his own artistic agency, GOJA, with František Janeček. It is this agency that currently produces Gott's records and organizes his artistic activities.

In 1996, following renewed public interest in his career, Gott again won 'The Golden Nightingale Award' with a huge lead over his rivals, and has retained the accolade every year since [2008]. He remains popular in a number of countries, including those of the former Soviet Union, where his first record, produced by Melodiya in 1977, sold a staggering 4.5 million copies. He has performed widely outside The Czech Republic, in countries as varied as the United Arab Emirates, China, Cuba, and Japan.

During the 90s, Gott began to focus increasingly on painting, his second great love. The first exhibition of his paintings took place in 1992, at the Prague Christ Child Gallery. He has since exhibited his work successfully in Berlin, Moscow, Munich, Cologne, Vienna, and Bratislava.

Karel Gott recorded a cover version of the song All by Myself called Kam tenkrát šel můj bratr Jan (Where Did My Brother Jan Go This Time).[1] The song was dedicated to Jan Palach who set himself on fire and burned to death as a protest against Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in January 1969.^{[citation needed]} The song was recorded in 1977 while Soviet troops were still present in the country. In order to continue in his career, he had to sign in 1978 the so-called "Anti-charter", a petition organized by the Communist government against the Charter 77 signed by Václav Havel and other dissidents, protesting the government's violations of the Helsinki Accords. In 2008, he covered, together with Bushido, "Forever Young" from Alphaville, for Bushido's album Heavy Metal Payback. The song is called "Für immer jung".

He has two adult daughters (Dominika and Lucie) from former relationships (they have different mothers). He is also the father to Charlotte Ella with Ivana Macháčková whom he married on January 7, 2008 in Las Vegas, the city where he started his international career. She gave birth to a second daughter, Nelly Sofie, in summer 2008. ^[3]

Discography[link]

See also[link]

• Neznámy pár - duet with Marika Gombitová
• Hrajme píseň - trio with Marika Gombitová and Josef Laufer

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Karel Gott

• www.karelgott.com — official homepage
  • Biography
• www.karelgott.net — unofficial site
  • Biography
• Biography of Karel Gott — at www.gott.cz
• www.karel-gott.de — official homepage for German-speaking countries (German)
• Karel Gott^{[dead link]} — at the Czech Republic website
• Karel Gott — at allmusic
• Karel Gott at the Internet Movie Database
• Karel Gott discography at Discogs
• An Interactive VR Panorama of Karel Gott, arriving at Vaclav Havel's 70th birthday party, 4 October 2006
• http://www.discographien.de/alle_cds_von_Karel+Gott.htm

Hana Zagorová (born 6 September 1946 in Petřkovice) is a Czech female singer who has been recording since 1964.^[1] She has written the lyrics to around fifty of her recorded songs^{[citation needed]}. Nine times she was listed number one in the national Zlaty Slavík ("Golden Nightingale") popularity chart.^[2]

Since 1992 she has been married to opera singer Štefan Margita.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

• Hana Zagorová discography

References[link]

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