Hudební Revue. Vydává hudební odbor "Umělecké Besedy"

“The Czech music magazine Hudební revue was the official body of the music department of Umělecká beseda, which was founded in Prague in 1863 as one of the oldest Czech associations. In 1907, the Hudební matice was renewed and as part of its activities, the Music Department of Umělecká beseda managed (after an episode of Branberger's magazine Smetana in 1906–1907) to start publishing its own serious music periodical - Hudební revue.

The Hudební revue was published in Prague from 1908 to 1920, ten times a year (always on the first day of the month, except in August and September). The publishing was undertaken by the enterprising bookstore and publishing house of B. Kočí. In the preface to the first issue of Hudební revue (dated December 15, 1907), the editors Karel Stecker and Karel Hoffmeister outlined the motives for the creation of the magazine and its mission for the future. On the pages of the Hudební revue, an extremely important struggle took place for the further development of Czech music to promote the musical values of the Novák-Suk generation, which was often attacked mainly by music critics influenced by Nejedlý's aesthetics in the Dalibor magazine. The attacks were conducted from ideological rather than purely musicological positions in the name of the dogmatically enforced and supposedly single binding line Smetana-Fibich-Förster. Critics were bothered by Novák's and Suk's Dvořák's orientation. The struggle culminated dramatically around 1912 with sharp attacks by both groups in the press. However, the duel of the mentioned orientations continued in the 1920s. And even in 1963, in the slogan Hudební revue, prepared for the Czechoslovak Music Dictionary of Persons and Institutions by Gracian Černušák, it was written that the editors “did not always have a sufficient understanding of the ideological side in their expertise, as it turned out during the battles for Dvořák (vol. VII) and then at the end of the war in the transition to new conditions ".

With the beginning of the First World War in 1914, the publication of the Hudební revue was endangered, but it was managed to be maintained, and in January 1915, after a short break, it began to be published, at least to a lesser extent. In its fourteenth year, i.e. in 1921, the Hudební revue ended its existence, but in the following year it was replaced by Listy Hudební matrice, which began to focus mainly on contemporary music.

The first eleven years of the Hudební revue were edited by Karel Stecker and Karel Hoffmeister, and for the next two years Otakar Šourek and Jan Löwenbach worked in the editorial office. The Hudební revue was a high-quality and professionally profiled magazine, to which musically educated authors - theorists and composers - contributed. At the same time, however, the editors sought not to exclude the participation and interest of friends of the musical arts in the wider strata of society. We managed to publish texts for several target groups, thanks to which Hudební revue had a wide readership. Most of the editors of Branberger's Smetana joined the Hudební revue, not to mention Otakar Nebuška, Václav Štěpán, Boleslav Vomáček, Richard Veselý, Ladislav Vycpálek and Ota Zítek. The Hudební revue published historical texts, extensively evaluated contemporary art, and focused on music education issues, as well as reflections on emerging scientific disciplines and new perspectives on music issues within the overall development of the newly formed Czechoslovakia.”

"Hudební revue" Český hudební slovník osob a institucí, ed. Petr Macek (Filozofické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity, Centrum hudební lexikografie, Ústav hudební vědy). Available online at https://www.ceskyhudebnislovnik.cz/slovnik/index.php?option=com_mdictionary&task=record.record_detail&id=5981