| Content | In the first part of his memoirs from 1893-1928, Silvestr Hipman recalls his first trip to Paris in 1926, where he met Bohuslav Martinů, among others. He describes the very modest accommodation of BM on Rue Delambre in a room rented from Václav Nebeský and the composer's character. BM appeared most often at the Rotonde and Dôme cafés around 11 pm. BM left a good impression on SH.
In the second part of his memoirs from 1929-1932 (written in December 1966) Silvestr Hipman recalled an Easter trip to the Highlands with Petr Křička and Milan Jana in 1929, during which they also visited Polička and remembered Bohuslav Martinů. SH told his friends the story of his trip to Paris in October 1928, when he took a taxi with BM and Charlotte Martinů to the French premiere of The Bartered Bride at the Opéra Comique.
In the third part of his memoirs (from 1933 onwards) SH recalls musical evenings with the Mánes Group, of which Bohuslav Martinů was a distant Parisian member.
Silvestr Hipman made another visit to Paris as part of his honeymoon tour of France in September 1935. In Paris on 5 September, he and his wife briefly stayed at Montparnasse, where Bohuslav Martinů had stayed nearby during the 1920s.
SH goes on to describe the organisation of the Tuesdays, beginning on 8 October 1935, which were later regularly attended by Vítězslava Kaprálová, among others. At the 15th Discussion Tuesday held on 4 February 1936, Bohuslav Martinů spoke about his work PLAYS ABOUT MARY, the premiere of which took place at the National Theatre on 7 February 1936. On 4 February, Vladimír Hanousek and [Arnoštka] Grünfeldová performed Bohuslav Martinů's SONATA [?].
In Part 4 of his memoirs (written at the end of 1968) Silvestr Hipman gives a positive assessment of the Prague premiere of JULIETTA at the National Theatre on 16 March 1938 (more in his report of 19 March 1938 printed in Ranni noviny), but he is concerned about the very poor attendance. |
| Note | music memoirs by Silvestr Hipman:
I. part (1893-1928), Martinů mentioned on pg.175-176
II. part (1929-1932), Martinů mentioned on pg. 243
III. part (1933-1934), Martinů mentioned on pg. 428, 494, 513-516
IV. part (1935-1938), Martinů mentioned on pg. 664 |