05.05.2004                                                                                          

First Day Covers:
a
b
c


3 stamps:

Issue Date: 5 May 2004
Colour: black/
Printing stamp: rotary recess/photogravure
Printing FDC: Recess print from flat plates
Stamp size: 23 x 40 mm
Designs:
CZK  6.50: Opera Dalibor by Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884)
CZK  8.00: Opera Jakobín by Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
CZK 10.00: Opera Její Pastorkyňa by Leoš Janáček (1854-1928)
Sheet: 50 stamps
Graphic Artist: Renáta Fučíková
Engraver: Jaroslav Tvrdoň
Printer: Post Printing House in Prague


On 5th May 2004, the Ministry of Communications of the Czeck Republic issued three commemorative postage stamps dedicated to three famous Czech composers and characters from their operas:

BEDŘICH SMETANA (1824-1884), THE OPERA DALIBOR
colours: black (recess print) / ochre, red & brown (photogravure)

B. Smetana grew up in the period of the Revival. For a long time he used to compose only instrumental music. His activity as a composer of text-related music began no sooner than after his return from Sweden (1856-61). The first opera were the "Brandenburgers in Bohemia" soon followed by the "Bartered Bride". Smetana used to set himself new tasks again and again, creating without repetitions and seeking to unveil the essential features of the Czech nationhood which he could formulate in art. Dalibor, the third of Smetana's operas, was first performed in May 1868.

The authors of its libretto were Josef Wenzig and Ervín Špindler. Immediately after the first performance the opera met with opposition.The official critics received it as an imitation of Wagner, without understanding that the music is both bold and unusual but also completely original and purely Czech.

The old legend about an incarcerated knight who learned by himself to play violine because of need celebrates Dalibor as a striker who defends loyalty and friendship even at the cost of his life

ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK (1841-1904), THE OPERA JAKOBÍN
colours: black (recess print) / greygreen, red & green (photogravure)

Besides B. Smetana A. Dvořák is the most conspicuous of the 19th century Czech composers. Characteristic of his works is the very rich musical ingenuity which was beyond any comparison at the time of their creation. Almost all of Dvořák's works passed through the entire world but his operatic creations with some small exceptions remained during his life reserved for the Czech audience. Most of his operas belong to the basic works on the Czech opera repertory, the operas "Rusalka", "Čert a Káča" and "Jakobín" can even be described as popular. The opera Jakobín, with words by Marie Červinková-Riegrová, was first performed in February 1889.

Dvořák ingenuously incorporated the airs and closed pieces into the entire framework of the opera and its dramatic character.The character of a provincial teacher and musician and the serenade composed by him belong to the best creations by Dvořák.

LEOŠ JANÁČEK (1854-1928), THE OPERA JEJÍ PASTORKYŇA L.
colours: black (recess print) / pink, red & red-brown (photogravure)

Janáček had long to struggle for a recognition of his artistic creations. The peculiar way of expression, the pithiness of musical speech and its intonation, the novelty and original harmony as well as an extraordinary power of emotions penetrate all his compositions. Today they are played and published both in the Czech Republic and abroad where they enjoy a great reputation. The opera Její Pastorkyňa, Janáček's major work, with a libretto according to a drama from the rural life in Moravia written by G. Preissová, was first performed in January 1904 in the National Theatre Brno. The National Theatre Prague waited 12 years before performing it;Janáček was then over 60. This opera brought him directly into the advance group of composers seeking to create new modern music; after 1918 he became the greatest representative of the contemporary Czech music worldwide. The most essential contribution made by JejíPastorkyňa is the deep human engagement with an apprehension of the fortunes and misfortunes of men as well as of the fact that men are formed by the entire environment and society. The whole opera has a passionate dramatic character finally opening into a purgatory hymn. The stamp bears a figural portrait of L Janacek, in the background are two characters from Její Pastorkyňa: Jenufa and her beau Steva.

There are three First Day Covers includng commemorative cancellation. The cachet of the cover with affixed CZK 6.50 stamp (a) is Milada bringing a violin to Dalibor to his jail, on the cover with the CZK 8.00 stamp (b) are Bohus and Julie entering the castle park; the cachet of the cover with affixed CZK 10.00 stamp is Jenufa with the woman-sexton is an engraver's transposition of further illustration by M Jagr from the same book depicting a boy with a model of a small ship accompanied by a dog. The covers were printed by recess print from flat plates in black.

The stamps are valid for inland and international postage.

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