Chvála, Emmanuel (EN)

Chvála Emmanuel, *1 January 1851 Prague, †28 October 1924 Prague, Czech music critic and composer. He studied engineering and technology in Vienna and worked as a railway engineer. He obtained his musical education in Prague under C. Müller and J. Cainer (piano) and under J. Förster and Z. Fibich (composition). He was an active member of the Umělecká beseda society and other Prague musical institutions; from 1895 he was a member of the ČAVU (Česka Akademie Věd a Uměni). From 1878, he wrote reviews and articles for Prague magazines (“Lumír” and “Dalibor”), but mainly for the daily press, including, between 1880 and 1921, the daily newspaper “Národní politika” under the pseudonym “la.”

Chvála was one of the leading Czech music critics of his time. His reviews, written with great literary finesse, also had a wide social impact. Maintaining – unlike Z. Nejedlý – a distance from various factions, during a period of deep division within the Czech musical community between supporters of Dvořák and Smetana (the so-called “battle over Dvořák”), Chvála promoted the music of both composers with equal dedication. A fervent supporter of Dvořák’s pupils (J. Suk, V. Novák), he, together with Nejedlý, called for a proper assessment of Fibich’s work. He also published treatises on the music of Mozart, Weber and Grieg. Chvála’s compositions – rarely performed today – show an influence from Smetana’s style, yet are characterised by a high level of compositional skill (a predilection for polyphony). Some of his songs, particularly Ó, jak jsi krásná from the collection Čtvero písní, were popular for some time.