What's in a Prague street name

Bohuslava Martinů was built in 1966.

Bohuslav Martinů was born in a church in Polička (near Pardubice) in 1890.

From 1906 to 1910, he attended the Prague Conservatory, studying the violin, the organ and composition, but didn’t complete his studies, partly because he was much more interested in exploring Prague (Bohuslav, I hear you).

However, this didn’t stop him from becoming a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic in 1920. He had already composed a successful cantata, Czech Rhapsody (Česká rapsodie), in 1919.

After composing his first string quartet and two ballads, Martinů left Czechoslovakia for Paris in 1923, where jazz, neoclassicism and ragtime would all leave an imprint on his compositions. Stravinsky was a particular influence.

However, Martinů maintained his links with the homeland, especially through forming a close friendship group with other expats in Paris, and his ballet Špalíček (1932) would incorporate Czech folk tunes.

In 1926, Martinů met Charlotte Quennehen, a seamstress from Picardy. They would marry in 1931.

In the 1930s, he settled into a neo-classical style; his most important composition of the decade – arguably of his lifetime – was Julietta, an opera premiered at Prague’s National Theatre (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/14/prague-1-day-105-divadelni/) in 1938.

This is the soprano Ota Horáková, who played Julietta on that day.

After the Munich Agreement was signed, Martinů attempted to join the Czech resistance, but was rejected due to his age. However, he did compose Field Mass / Polní mše, a cantata honouring the Czechs fighting in the French army.

He and Charlotte then decided to flee Paris in 1940 when it became clear that the Nazis were about to occupy the city. They would end up settling in the United States in 1941.

Struggling to adapt to Manhattan – and not speaking English – Martinů would find quieter surroundings (all the easier to compose in) when they moved to Jamaica Estates, Queens.

Charlotte never warmed to America; Martinů also considered returning to Czechoslovakia after World War Two, but, after the Communists took power, he was branded a traitor to the nation, and decided to stay put.

Despite gaining US citizenship in 1952, he mainly lived in France, Italy and Switzerland from 1953 onwards.

Martinů died in Switzerland in 1959; Charlotte would die in 1978. A year later, their remains were transferred to Czechoslovakia; they are both buried in his native Polička.

Here’s a picture of him there with his mother in 1927.

Very nice video on Martinů by the National Museum: