What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 11 September 2022.

Křížkovského was built in 1910.

Karel Křížkovský was born to a single mother in Holasovice (not a typo) in 1820, and was brought up by his uncles in Neplachovice near Opava.

In his youth, he became a chorister at the Church of St. Ducha in Opava, later studying at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Olomouc.

In 1845, he entered the Augustine Monastery in Brno, where he took the name Pavel. He was ordained three years later, and became director of the Monastery’s Choir.

One of the singers who sang under his direction was a young Leoš Janáček.

As well as his choir work, he learned multiple instruments and founded two choral societies (Mužský pěvecký sbor v Brně and Brno Beseda).

As a composer, he wrote songs inspired by Moravian folk music; in 1861, his choral work Utonulá was performed in Prague.

In 1863, his cantata written in honour of the arrival of Cyril and Methodius in Moravia 1,000 years earlier was performed at the Velehrad Festival by a 940-member choir.

Taking place during the Czech National Revival, this was the largest church celebration in Bohemia until that point.

However, secular success didn’t sit well with the Church, which ordered Křížkovský to stick to church music just when he’d been invited to write an opera.

Křížkovský became director of the Moravian Metropolitan Cathedral Choir in 1872.

He retired in 1877, dying of a stroke eight years later.