September 28, 2022 https://gruncleodd.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/DSCN4206Dvorak-Museum-190x143.jpg

If I were to ask you to name any famous Czech composers of the late 19th century you might quickly say Bedřich Smetana, or Leoš Janáček, or even Gustav Mahler. (I admit Mahler is a bit of a stretch since …

September 27, 2022 https://gruncleodd.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/DSCN4199Czech-Founding-Myths-124x190.jpg

Prague before Prague. The oldest known human artifact in today’s Czechia was discovered in the Pod hradem cave near the city of Brno some 200 kilometers southeast of Prague and dates to between 48,000 and 40,000 years BP. But despite …

September 26, 2022 https://gruncleodd.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/cafe-louvre-82-190x127.jpg

Salieri’s relationship with Mozart and his family. It was likely sometime after 1780 and Salieri’s return from Paris after the triumphant premiere of Les Danaïdes that Salieri and Mozart had their first professional encounter. Both Pushkin’s and Shaffer’s plays and …