Personendetails

Vítzězslav Hálek

Hálek, Vítězslav (1835-1874). Czech poet and writer. Among the most influential of the patriotic, nationally inspired native poets of the nineteenth century. Hálek’s verse was often set by Czech composers of the middle to late century. His Večerní písně [Evening songs] were probably set many more times than any other poetic vernacular Czech text. One of the five founders member of the literary circle of the Umělecká beseda. The rise to prominence of Hálek during the late 1850s was evident in reports that began to appear about him in the local Prague press. For example, Tagesbote aus Böhmen 12/5/1857 reported that ‘The young Bohemian writer Vítězslaw Hálek, whom we must count among the most promising talents up to now of the younger Bohemian circle of poets, even though only sporadically and in modest quantity published, has completed a large romantic epic poem Alfred which will soon be in print.’