Otakar Hostinský

Otakar Hostinský.

Otakar Hostinský (2 January 1847, Martiněves (near Litoměřice) – 19 January 1910, Prague) was a Czech historian, musicologist, and professor of musical aesthetics. He is known primarily for his support of composer Bedřich Smetana and his contributions to Czech aesthetic theory, which influenced many cultural figures in early twentieth-century Prague, including Zdeněk Nejedlý, Otakar Zich, and Vladimír Helfert. He also wrote the opera librettos to Zdeněk Fibich's masterpiece, The Bride of Messina, and Josef Rozkosný's Cinderella.

Selected writings

(German titles given in the original; Czech titles translated into English)

Art and Nationality, 1869
Wagnerianism and Czech National Identity, 1870
On "Program" Music, 1873
Das Musikalisch-Schöne und das Gesamtkunstwerk vom Standpunkte der formalen Aesthetik, 1877
On the Contemporary State and Direction of Czech Music, 1880
On Czech Musical Declamation, 1882
On Melodrama, 1885
A Brief Overview of the History of Music, 1885
On Artistic Realism, 1890
Herbarts Aesthetik, 1891
Volkslied und Tanz der Slaven, 1893
On Progress in Art, 1894
On Folksong, 1897
On Experimental Aesthetics, 1900
B. Smetana and his Struggle for Modern Czech Music, 1901
On the Socialization of Art, 1903
Art and Society, 1907
Czech Music, 1864-1904, 1909

References