Venue: Estates Theatre
Event type: Art music culture
Date: 24/04/1854
The supplement 14 to Lumír 1854 published on 22/4/1854 reported upon the events taking place as part of the Prague celebrations for the wedding of Franz Josef and Elizabeth of Bavaria, noting: ‘On Monday, the day of the celebration of the wedding of His Majesty the Emperor will be celebrated mass in the Prague parish churches and „Te Deum“ (at St Vitus about 9 in Týn about 11 o’clock), and a great parade of the [Prague] garrison... In the evening will be a festive Te Deum in the church of St Clement in the Old Town. In the theatre will be a festively illuminated prologue and for the first time will be sung the new National Anthem, then a performance of the opera „Norma“.’ The report also noted that other non-musical events would include the opening of a new asylum for babies and infants at St Castullus [Sv Haštal], the laying of the foundation stone for the building of the new parish school of St Maria de Victoria in the Little Town, and the giving out of lunches for more than 3000 poor.
The supplement 15 to this periodical, published on 25/4/1854 reported that ‘In the Theatre was about 3.30pm a Czech, and in the evening, a German festival performance, before both the new national hymn was sung in celebration, the one in Czech that we published in the Saturday supplement.’ This national anthem published in the Saturday supplement of 22/4/1854 simply comprised a new set of words by J.G. Seidl written to Haydn’s melody and translated into Czech by Josef Antonín Šrůtek: