Venue: St Nicholas's Church in the Malá strana [Little Quarter]
Event type: Church music events
Date: 10/05/1850 11am
Season: Summer
Bohemia 28/4/1850 published news that at the beginning of May the Cecilia Society was to give a solemn memorial service [Todtenfeier] for the late Tomaschek [Tomášek] at which they would perforn his ‘great Requiem’. Further details, the report noted, would be given later. On 9/5/1850 the newspaper announced that the performance by the Cecilia Society under the leadership of Apt would take place on Friday 10th May at 11am in the Church of St Nicholas. Out of respect for the deceased, the report noted, the directorship of the Society had chosen to give Tomášek’s ‘great Requiem in C minor.’ The solo vocal parts were listed as to be sung by‘ Misses Claudius and Casanova, and the Messrs Peták and Nedvěd.’ Giving the high mass would be the Strahov Prelate Zeidler. Details of the event which reported its date, time, venue and work being performed were listed in the Tagesanzeiger text of Bohemia 10/5/1850.
A brief post-event report, signed ‘**’, was published in the Lokalzeitung section of Bohemia 12/5/1850. This reported that ‘the day before yesterday [10th May] at 11am, the Cecilia Society ‘after many laborious [mühsam – lit. laborious, arduous] rehearsals under the leadership of the Society’s director Mr Apt’, performed Tomášek’s ‘great Instrumental-Requiem’ in St Nicholas Church in the Little Quarter, in memory of the immortal master. At last! A private society... has fulfilled an act of piety that was owed by all the musicians of Prague. The performance was fitting, the chorus was particularly coherent, and through the participation of the Artillery ensemble the orchestra left nothing to be desired.’ The comment about ‘At last!... act of piety’ was undoubtedly a reference to the delay in a major Requiem performance being given in the city following Tomášek’s death in April. Concerning the participating ensemble, the ‘Artilleriekapelle’ would have referred to the musical ensemble of the First Field Artillery Regiment of Franz Joseph, then residing in Prague and playing an active rôle in local musical life.
The St Nicholas church at which this performance took place was the Catholic Church in Malostranská náměstí [Little-Quarter Square], a few hundred metres from Tomášek’s former residence, and not the Protestant-origin church by that name in the Staré město [Old Town].