Songs

Jiří Winter was a great lover of old shopkeeper's songs, and when he received their collection from B. Václavek in the late 1940s, he accompanied two of them with his illustrations - Jenovéf and Don Špagát. More than half a century ago, charming illustrations flashed several times in the press and on television, and then rested for more than half a century in the attic of the family house where Jiří Winter lived. 

Song about Don Twine 

The illustration of the fair song Don Špagát was the first work for Czech television. It was created in 1953. The song Don Spaghetti was reportedly heard on the radio in the 1950s. Unfortunately, we do not know who set her to music at the time. Do any of you know? After many decades, it was revived by Vláďa Veit, who also sang it several times to the delight of visitors to the openings. Enjoy his irresistible interpretation of the old text, as well as his charming illustrations by Jiří Winter. The song Don Špagát was also in the repertoire of the Laterna Magika theater in the 1960s as part of the performance "Variations", for which Jiří created a completely new artistic concept. Unfortunately, we have no record of these performances, except for one photo. 

PLEASE TO THE PUBLIC: Does anyone have a treasure in the ground in the form of old photos, the Laterna Magika theater program, or even a film recording?  

History of DONA SPAGAT 

The song was published in Bedřich Václavek's collection of folk songs in 1947. It was featured in a text taken from the original prints of the song sold at fairs and fairs: Many human lives were killed and killed after death.It was given to all young men and virgins of both sexes and in the dark. with Karel Mrázek in the autumn of 1954. On April 1, Nepraktou illustrated a song on the last page of the 13th issue of Květy magazine. 

When Winter began working with Czechoslovak television in 1953, he drew several pictures to broadcast the song. In 1960, he was approached by the dramaturgy of Laterna magika to develop artistic designs for a song about Don Spaghetti in the new program "Variations". These were figurines cut from a newspaper press that moved in animation on a projection screen, and when the character was pierced with a sword or dagger, it fell into a pile of papers falling from the screen onto the stage, where the dancers performed other scenes from the cruel murder. Directed by Emil Radok and Jaromil Jireš, the musical accompaniment was provided by Jiří Šust. Printed by S. Pospíšil in Chrudim (stored in the collection of shopkeeper's songs in the museum in Český Dub) 

Song about Jenovéfa 

The Fair Song of Jenovéf is originally a religious shopkeeper's song published in Prague by Václav Šleret in 1795. Winter was drawn by Winter in 1953 for the 23rd member exhibition of the Marold Association of Fine Artists in the Marold Hall in Klimentská Street in Prague 1. He once again exhibited the drawing at the first ensemble. exhibition (also in Marold) in 1954, which had Winter-Neprakta and Karel Mrázek.

The lyrics of the song are based on the legend of the chapel of St. Jenovéfy near Ohrazenice 

Between Ohrazenice and Hostim is the chapel of St. Jenovéfy. The following legend is attached to the chapel: When there was a lot of war in the old days, the count and the wife of Jenovéfa had to entrust his first servant to the war so that nothing bad would happen to her in his absence. The servant wrote false things to the Count about Jenovef. He delayed the letters sent by the Count to the Countess, so Jenovefa knew nothing about her husband and could not write to him. When the count did not receive any letters from his wife, he believed the false news and ordered his wife to be killed. He ordered them to cut out her tongue and send it to him. The servant immediately ordered the two men to do so. Jenovéfa begged the men not to kill her. The men felt sorry for her, so they killed the dog instead, cut out his tongue, and took him to the evil servant. Jenovéfa had to swear to the men that he would go far into the woods and never return to the castle. When Jenovéfa lived in the woods, a little baby boy was born there. And there came to them a cave in the cave to feed them with its milk. When Jenovéfa was completely exhausted and knew she was about to die, she told her son to go to the side of the sun after her death that his father lived in the big castle, to tell him that he was takes. 

It so happened that the count was hunting and saw a beautiful doe there and ran after it. Laňka led him to the hiding place where Jenovéfa was. A little boy was sitting by the cave. When he saw the count, he cried out and ran into the cave. So the count found them here and Jenovéfa told him everything. The count took them to the castle, where Jenovéfa had already died exhausted. The evil servant was then torn apart by four pairs of oxen. The chapel stands there in memory.

A terrible song about the Golem  

The scary song about the Golem contained 12 colored drawings. Winter drew them on the motive of the Voskovec and Werich moritat in 1953 and exhibited at both exhibitions in Marold (1953 and 1954). At that time, the Golem by sculptor Jaroslav Horejc from The Emperor's Baker was already popular, but Neprakta drew it "more alive". Unfortunately, the song was not sung and the performance never took place for political reasons at the time. The management did not come to sing the song in Yiddish, the Jewish language, as originally intended by Winter and Werich. The project was not dedicated from above, so it eventually came to an end. Which is a pity. The Golem song in Yiddish / Hebrew would certainly be wonderful. 

Song Brave gunner Jabůrek 

The brave river gunner Jabůrek is the hero of the shopkeeper's song, beginning with the words "Tam u Královýho Hradec ...". The popular and publicly known song describes an event related to the battle of Austrian soldiers with the King of Prussia in 1866 at Sadová. To mark the 100th anniversary of the famous battle, celebrated throughout the Hradec Králové region, the RIO publishing house published a large poster with non-practical illustrations and a leaflet with words and music notation, used from the original print of the Fr. publishing house. Urbánka, a Czech bookseller in Prague with an introduction: "A short song to the light published, for example to all bachelors ad cibilu to the militer according to the edition of Pospíšil's printing house in Hradec Králové." The entire load was sold out during the battle celebrations, and the RIO publishing house, in addition to reprinting Jabůrek, considered further cooperation with Neprakta on some well-known fair songs. When Winter handed Jan Werich a poster with a song about Jabůrek as a gift, the idea arose to make a Terrible Song about the Golem again. Werich wanted to translate the song into Hebrew and offer a release abroad. However, the project was never realized.