What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 28 October 2022.

Laubova was built in 1896.

Nikki Lauba (1949-2019) was a Formula One driver from the old Austro-Hungarian Empire.

No, sorry, wait.

Until 1952, the street was called Vilímovská, possibly after a vineyard. There’s a street with the same name in Dejvice.

Ferdinand Laub was born in 1832 on Újezd, the son of a famous (and brilliantly named) music teacher, Erasmus Laub.

He first performed on the violin in a pub on Václavské náměstí at the age of six; his first solo concert, at Stavovské divadlo, took place when he was ten.

After studying at Prague Conservatory (where his graduation performance was attended by Berlioz and Liszt), he toured both the Czech Lands and Germany, before becoming a soloist in Vienna’s theatre orchestra.

In 1851, he played at the inaugural Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace, London. Tours around Europe ensued, although health issues meant that this wasn’t always easy for him.

From 1855 to 1862, he was a professor at the Stern’sches Konservatorium in Berlin; in 1866, he became a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, where he befriended Tchaikovsky (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/01/14/prague-3-day-135-cajkovskeho/).

Chronic lung and liver disease forced him to abandon this position in 1874; he died in the following year, when on the way to a spa in South Tyrol.

He was 43.

ČT made this documentary about Lauba in 2017: https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/11780457224-ceske-houslove-legendy/217522162500006/