What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 16 September 2022.

Zvonařova was built in 1904.

Josef Leopold Zvonař was born near in Kublov near Beroun in 1824.

At the age of 18, he moved to Prague to train to study pedagogy, but, as he was already proficient in several instruments, music was a greater attraction.

Therefore, he enrolled at an organ school (does ‘organ school’ look odd to you? It does to me). While there, he realised his talents lay more in music theory and composition.

Therefore, in 1844, he took a teaching position at the school, which he would hold for 16 years.

In 1860, he wrote the first history of Czech music, Dějiny české hudby, and also wrote pioneering papers on the study of Czech folk music.

He mainly composed music to accompany German, and, later, Czech poetry, with his most famous piece being his adaptation of Vlastenské hory by Karel František Pitsch.

He co-founded Umělecká beseda and the Hlahol choir association, and was a member of the National Theatre’s commission. He also wrote music reviews for papers including the Prager Zeitung.

He died of tuberculosis in 1865 at the age of 41, partially as a consequence of overworking.

A music professor, Mirko Očadlík, once said that, if Smetana was the Messiah of Czech music, then Zvonař was its John the Baptist, thanks to his contribution to music theory and popularising music among the Czech people.