Helfert, Vladimir
Helfert, Vladimir
Helfert, Vladimir, distinguished Czech musicologist; b. Plânice, near Klatovy, March 24, 1886; d. Prague, May 18, 1945. He took courses in history and geography at the Univ. of Prague, and then studied musicology with Kretzschmar, Stumpf, and Wolf at the Univ. of Berlin (1906–07); completed his studies with Hostinsky at the Univ. of Prague (Ph.D., 1908, with the diss. Jin Benda a Jean Rousseau). He was active as a history and geography teacher in Prague until 1919. He then moved to Brno, where he became a lecturer (1921), docent (1926), and prof, of musicology (1931) at the Univ. He was founder-ed. of the Musica Antiqua Bohemica series, as well as ed. of several journals. He founded the Baroque, Classical, and Janacek collections at the Moravian Museum, and also conducted the amateur Brno Orchestrami Sdruzeni. He was arrested by the Nazis in 1940 and held in Breslau until 1943; then was rearrested in 1945 and taken to the Terezin concentration camp, where he contracted typhus; he died a few days after his liberation.
Writings
(all publ. in Prague unless otherwise given): Smetanismus a wagnerismus (1911); Hudebni barok na öeskych zamcich (The Musical Baroque in Czech Castles; 1916); Smetanovskékapitoly (Chapters on Smetana; 1917; 2nd ed., 1954); Nase hudba a ëesky stât (Our Music and the Czech State; 1918; 2nd ed., 1970); Hudba na Jaromëfickém zâmku: Frantiëek Mita 1696-1745 (Music in the Jaromerice Castle: Frantisele Mica 1696-1745; 1924); Tvurfi rozvoj Bedficha Smetany, I (Bedrich Smetana’s Creative Development; 1924; 2nd ed., 1953; Ger. tr., 1956); Jifi Benda (Brno, 1929-34); ed. with G. cernusâk, Pazdirkûv hudebni slovnik naulny (Pazdirek’s Scientific Music Dictionary; Brno, 1929; 1933-1); Zäklady hudebni vychovy na nehudebnich ëkolach (Principles of Musical Education in Secondary Schools; 1930); öeska moderni hudba (Czech Modern Music; Olomouc, 1936; Fr. and Ger. trs., 1938); with E. Steinhard, Histoire de la musique dans la république Tchécoslovaque (1936; Ger. tr., 1936; 2nd ed., rev., 1938, as Die Musik in der tschechoslovakischen Republik); Utok na leskou moderni hudbu (The Attack on öeska moderni hudba; Olomouc, 1937); Leoë Janaöek, I (Brno, 1939); Stâtni hudebnë historicky ustav (The State Inst, of Music History; ed. by G. cernusâk; 1945); O Janaëkovi (ed. by B. Stëdron; 1949); O Smetanovi (ed. by B. ètëdron; 1950); O aeské hudbë (On Czech Music; ed. by B. étëdron and I. Polednâk; 1957); Vybrané studie, I: O hudebni tvofivosti (Selected Studies, I: On Musical Creativity; ed. by F. Hrabal; 1970).
Bibliography
B. ètëdron, Dr. V. H. (Prague, 1940); R. Pecman and J. Vyslouzil, eds., V. H.: Pokrokovy vedec a ëlovëk (V. H.: Progressive Scholar and Man; Brno, 1975).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire