Venue: Žofín Island (Žofín Hall)
Event type: Examinations and didactic events
Date: 02/08/1859
Season: Summer
The Dalibor report, signed ‘J.’, listed only those works by Czech composers that were performed at these examinations, and did not specify which works were performed on which of the two days. The following pupils were noted as having performed in the examinations: Miss M. Česaková, Miss A. Franková, Miss F. Mörthová, Miss E. Fresová, Miss A. Muchová, Messrs F.R. Altschul; J. Faber; ‘Albert z Osborne’ (Albert from Osborne); Al. Hasenhörel; Sigmund Glanz; O. Škroup. Glanz also graduated from the Prague Organ School this same year, having undertaken the Organ School’s examinations on 30/7/1859. There he obtained the highest mark of his year, immediately ahead of Antonín Dvořák. The individual seemingly with the pseudonym ‘Albert from Osborne’, indicative either of Queen Victoria’s Prince Consort or Victoria’s eldest son, cannot be identified; this name does not reappear in any other performance of Jiránek’s pupils reported by Dalibor. The possibility that this person may have been a member of the British Royal family has to be considered extremely remote; according to the Court Circular published in the the London Times, the Prince Consort was at the time of these examinations resident at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Queen Victoria’s son, Albert Edward, although very recently returned from a trip to the continent was at this date studying in Edinburgh, according to later biographers. Was the inclusion in the Dalibor report of the name ‘Albert z Osborne’ therefore representative of some private joke on the part of either the Dalibor critic or the periodical’s editor? Most likely is that the individual performing at this event was utilizing the name a a psedonym. However. such incognito European trips by the members of Europes ruling families were not exceptional. Prager Morgenpost 22/1/1858 for instance published news that the Prince of Wales had recently arrived in Prague and stayed at the Guest House ‘Zum Englischen Hof’ under the pseudonym ‘Marquis von Cowley’.