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Copyright of Opus Musicum is the property of Opus Musicum and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, I present some of the most important features of music theory, its effects and one of the ways in which the current state of music theory can be interpreted. The aim of the text is to describe the roles of music theory within the current musicology discourse and its connection to current musical practice, while pointing out the possibilities of music theory, which can still be relevant and valuable. Although hard to define, I argue that music theory has certain "essential features", which outline the basic shape of the discipline. I posit, as most important, its relationship to practice and its focus on (exclusively) musical structures. I discuss the impact of these features and their relevancy in contemporary music discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In November 2018, the EDUdrama initiative of Slovak drama teachers organised a conference on drama education in Bratislava. It was followed by the publication of proceedings from the conference comprising conference papers that attempt to summarize the situation of this field in Slovakia. Eva Machkova briefly introduces each of these contributions, pondering over the challenges that her Slovak colleagues are facing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of this study is a manuscript songbook collection which the Chrudim watchmaker Johann Valentin Schmitt began to assemble in the year 1807. The manuscript is currently housed in the collection of the Moravian Library and originally came from the papers of the musical composer Antonín Němec. This interesting songbook provides an opportunity to examine private music activities in the home of a craftsman and burgher at the beginning of the nineteenth century and into the vocal repertoire of music amateurs in the Czech Lands at the time. It primarily contains period songs and excerpts from theatrical works by Viennese authors (most frequently by Wilhelm Pohl as well as Franz Jakob Freystädtler, Joseph Haydn, Ferdinand Kauer and others) and the songs of musicians working in various German regions (for example, Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel, Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg and the Brno native Franz Lauska). The collection is further supplemented by arias from period French comic operas of the day by Luigi Cherubini and Etienne-Nicolas Méhul and songs by Prague composers (for example, Vinzenz Maschek and Jan Nepomuk Augustin Vitásek). Some of the unidentified anonymous songs can also be found in other Czech and Austrian songbooks of the time, while others have not been identified in any other sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Opus Musicum is the property of Opus Musicum and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Is there a prototype for the 21st-century female metalhead? And can it be described? This is one of many questions I am addressing in my partial research, which is a continuation of my long-term dissertation research on female identity in the metal subculture in contemporary Czechia. In the metal subculture, women are still a marginalized minority, but with their thinking and specific conception of style and image. The image here is not uniform; on the contrary, it is very individualized and original. The male world often inspires female metalheads, but this is not the rule, and the motivations for a particular view of the subculture can be very peculiar within masculinity. But at the same time, they are women - will they stand up in this masculine subculture and outside of it? Is there specific sexism towards women here too, and does this undermine the integrity of the female world? And are there sex symbols that have the same visual and cultural connotations in the metal subculture as in mainstream music genres? In this paper, I address issues of style, identification, image, and cultural conceptions of female visualization in a metal subculture that has never fully revealed its feminine side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study is concerned with the still as yet unpublished letters of Leoš Janáček to Vlastimil Blažek, which were found among Blažek‘s papers in the National Museum – the Czech Museum of Music. The letters touch upon Janáček‘s visits to Bertramka on Easter 1928, after which he published the essay Zvoní na poplach (Alarm Bells Are Ringing) in the newspaper Lidové noviny (People‘s News). This was an answer to Blažek‘s letters, presented in the critical edition of the Correspondence of Leoš Janáček. The article also makes mention of the circumstances around Janáček‘s visits to Prague on the occasion of the Prague premiere of the Glagolitic Mass and his meetings with Kamila Stösslová. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the libretto of the opera Boris Goudenow (1710) by the composer and theorist Johann Mattheson in the context of Pseudo-Demetrius dramatic works written until around the end of the Baroque period. Pseudo-Demetrius dramatic works, i. e. works that depict events in early 17th century Russia and feature the character of False Dmitry I and often Boris Godunov, are not a rare phenomenon in European literary history. Most of them were written in the 19th century in Germany and Russia, where another and much more famous opera about tsar Boris Godunov was written by Modest P. Mussorgsky. However, the first playwrights began to deal with the two monarchs, Godunov and especially False Dmitry I, only a few years after the death of both tsars. The very first drama about Pseudo-Demetrius was written by Lope de Vega in Spain, followed by Italian writers, and the same theme appeared in England by the end of the Baroque. A comparison of these dramatic works shows that the prevailing religion of the authors' homeland played a significant role in their understanding of the characters of False Dmitry and Boris, which was also related to the sources from which they drew information when studying the subject matter. In Catholic countries, they generally used rather Jesuit and Catholic sources, and therefore understood False Dmitry I as the rightful successor and a virtuous Catholic, i. e. the opposite of the way he was described in hagiographical and historiographical works in Russia. In Protestant countries, the religious nature of False Dmitry's adventure played a secondary role. This is not unlike the opera by Mattheson, who not only wrote the music to Boris Goudenow but also the libretto. In his opera he depicted the period when Godunov allegedly pretended to be persuaded to ascend the throne, but his character is not negative (unlike Boris in the Catholic dramas) and his peripeties stand in the background of the love plots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Opus Musicum is the property of Opus Musicum and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper attempts to examine the musical composition Six Pieces for Sixth-tone Harmonium or String Quartet (1928) by Alois Hába. Given that the author of the paper is currently the only musician capable of playing a sixth-tone harmonium, as well as the only one to have recorded the piece in question, the study includes valuable findings made while playing the piece, and explains how a sixth-tone harmonium is played. It also describes in detail the sixth-tone harmoniums built for Alois Hába by August Förster, and finishes by analyzing the composition's form and interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Opus Musicum is the property of Opus Musicum and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Opus Musicum is the property of Opus Musicum and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper discusses a letter sent by Czech composer and violinist Josef Suk to conductor and composer František Neumann on April 5th, 1922, putting the letter in the context of Suk's other correspondence, archived in the Department of Music History of the Moravian Museum in Brno. It then proceeds to comment on the letter's transcription and discuss its content. The letter concerns the upcoming performance of Suk's Asrael Symphony in Brno, and informs Neumann of some of the corrections made by Václav Talich as he conducted the performance of the symphony by the Czech Philharmonic, thus confirming the authenticity of said corrections. Neumann took the corrections, which involved primarily adding a fifth and sixth French horn player, into account when conducting the performance on April 9th, 1922. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses two types of musicals known as book musical and concept musical, neither of which have met with much interest in the Czech cultural scene. I have introduced equivalent Czech terms for both these types. The paper focuses on establishing a theoretical background for both terms, deriving from works of foreign authors (such as William A. Everett and Paul R. Laird, Raymond Knapp, or Larry Stempel), and summarizes the principal attributes of both types of musical. The two types are characterized through four basic components: 1. theme & motive vs. plot & story; 2. structure and composition; 3. cast of characters; 4. musical numbers. The paper's findings are subsequently applied to specific examples from two musicals, Miss Saigon and Rent. The study lays theoretical groundwork for possible follow-up texts which would apply its findings to specific musicals, including musicals written by Czech authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the research into the collaboration between classical and jazz musicians, who have created a joint 20-strong ensemble to rehearse the music of Anthony Braxton. It is a follow-up to our previous paper, Joining Jazz and Classical Musicians in a Single Improvisation Ensemble (Opus Musicum, vol. 51, 2019, No. 3, pp. 26-39), which describes the process of finding common means of expression during non-idiomatic improvisation. To discuss the new sound possibilities in a multi-genre ensemble, we have chosen conducted improvisation using selected musical pieces, including Braxton's Language Types and Composition No. 174, which is a combination of jazz, experimental and contemporary music, with open instrumentation mixing improvisation, classical and original notation. The research has confirmed our initial hypothesis, i.e. that introducing partial organization in an improvisation ensemble can eliminate or at least reduce previously noted shortcomings and risks of free improvisation and lead to the creation of a functional collective performance, while still retaining the desired spontaneity, creativity and enjoyment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the research into the collaboration between classical and jazz musicians, who have created a joint 20-strong ensemble to rehearse the music of Anthony Braxton. It is a follow-up to our previous paper, Joining Jazz and Classical Musicians in a Single Improvisation Ensemble (Opus Musicum, vol. 51, 2019, No. 3, pp. 26-39), which describes the process of finding common means of expression during non-idiomatic improvisation. To discuss the new sound possibilities in a multi-genre ensemble, we have chosen conducted improvisation using selected musical pieces, including Braxton's Language Types and Composition No. 174, which is a combination of jazz, experimental and contemporary music, with open instrumentation mixing improvisation, classical and original notation. The research has confirmed our initial hypothesis, i.e. that introducing partial organization in an improvisation ensemble can eliminate or at least reduce previously noted shortcomings and risks of free improvisation and lead to the creation of a functional collective performance, while still retaining the desired spontaneity, creativity and enjoyment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on empirical data, contemporary Czech Republic is considered to be more secular than Slovakia. The differences between these countries have been described by the way of rates of traditional forms of religiosity in society. The declining share of the religious population is often explained through the secularisation thesis. From this perspective, the process of secularisation entails decreasing importance of religion in everyday life, and it is associated with the modernisation process. Nevertheless, both religious and non-religious worldviews have an impact on people's decisions in their everyday lives. In addressing their daily needs, individuals rely in their rational calculus on the values and opinions stemming from their worldview. This paper explores the importance of religion for assortative mating on the marriage market. It seeks to document whether (and to what extent) the high level of secularism in Czech society, compared to Slovak religiosity, has an impact on religious assortative mating. An answer to that question will help us explore the importance of religion on the marriage market, or the role religious belief plays in people's search for their prospective partners. The question is whether religious people prefer religious partners or whether their religiousness is rather irrelevant. There are two possible methodological approaches to analysing the significance of religion for assortative mating. The first approach is based on identifying the degree of importance of religious belief when searching for a potential partner. The second approach measures the degree of religious homogamy or heterogamy in the society, as the rate of religious homogamy/heterogamy is a result of the previous choices made on the marriage market. An analysis of the significance of religion for assortative mating through the degree of religious homogamy is referred to as ex-post sociological explanation. Compared to Slovakia, religion can be assumed to be less important for assortative mating in the contemporary Czech society, given its higher rate of secularisation. Secularisation is defined as declining significance of religion in society. The role of religion in assortative mating decreased along with the general significance of religion in society. The process of secularisation has been explained by many theories, which associate secularisation with the process of modernisation. In other words, there are processes of detraditionalisation and individualisation in society that enable individuals to decide freely about their own lives. This paper proposes two hypotheses. First, religion has lower importance for assortative mating in contemporary Czech society than it has in contemporary Slovak society. This is due to the high level of secularism in the Czech Republic. Second, the importance of religiosity for assortative mating has also dropped in cases of people with self-declared traditional religiosity because the influence of traditional forms of religiosity has been eliminated by the processes of detraditionalisation and individualisation of religion. None of the hypotheses were confirmed. Only 20 percent of people of both countries listed shared religious views as very important in their relationship. On the other hand, it was established that nearly 90 percent of partners shared the same worldview. This indicates that these couples were religiously homogamous and that there were no large differences between both countries in the level of religious homogamy/heterogamy. Substantial differences were only found between self-declared level of significance of religion for assortative mating and the rate of religious homogamy in couples. In other words, there are differences between the subjective and objective indicators of the significance of religion for assortative mating. But no major differences between the two countries were not found. Judged narrowly by the significance of religion for assortative mating, as measured by both subjective and objective indicators, worldview (whether a religious or non-religious one) in contemporary Czech society is not a substantially different factor than in Slovak society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Opus Musicum is the property of Opus Musicum and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The study compares the Czech and foreign 1990s music industries before and after the arrival of digitalization. It treats such factors as the income of music industry, number of sold media pieces, but also the sociocultural context, which accounts for possible reasons for changes in the music market. The unstoppable technical development brought about the replacement of audiotapes by CDs, which boosted the evolution of illegal copies, mostly due to the inadequate prices of the original recordings. The study captures the gradual relocation of the music market onto the internet, which caused a change in the approach to musical culture of both producers and listeners. The paper presents the 1990s as the period of the highest financial profits (both worldwide, and in Czechia), which plummet at the beginning of the 2000s in connection to the arrival of digitalization and MP3 streaming. In the new millennium, these profits have never reached the record-breaking numbers of the 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the protection of personal and sensitive data in the archival files and their difficulties, both from the historical perspective with a view to the previous legislation on personal data protection and in terms of current hectic development which was strongly accelerated by the implementation of the European regulation on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data. It analyses the legal regulation of this topic in the Czech archival act and its limits as well as the individual stages of the GDPR introduction into the life cycle of the archival documents. The study points to the risks of regulating the non-archival activities and fields, which can also have a meaningful impact on archiving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this article is to contribute to the study of the history of Czech sociology by examining the journal Acta Universitatis Carolinae Philosophica et Historica - Studia Sociologica (AUC StS), published by the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University. After almost 50 years of its existence, this less-known periodical can be viewed as documentary evidence on the developments and transformations in a part of Czech (or Czechoslovak) sociology. We account for the journal's main characteristics and discuss its position and role in Czech sociology. In addition to standard procedures of content analysis, we employ the innovative method of citation network analysis. Accordingly, one of the paper's important goals is to assess the adequacy of the methods applied for addressing research questions of this kind. Citation network analysis helps us identify the co-citation structure of periodicals and the influence of individual authors or works on a disciplinary field. We employed it primarily to determine the most frequently cited authors and mutual citations in AUC StS. The data was obtained through transcription of bibliographic references at ends of articles (for more recent volumes) or in footnotes (for older volumes). The dataset contains 2637 authors and 5082 citations. Citation network analysis proved adequate for the purpose, providing comprehensive and intelligible results. It can be applied for comparison with similar studies of other periodicals or publications. Czechoslovak and Czech sociology as a whole was profoundly influenced and shaped by the political transformations around the year 1968 (Soviet military invasion of Czechoslovakia following a period of political liberalization) and 1989 (end of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia during so-called Velvet Revolution). The inception of AUC StS was a result of a conjuncture in Czech sociology in the 1960s. Our analysis of the periodical confirmed the expected effects of the historic turn in 1989. Considerably more book reviews were published before the Velvet Revolution, whereas the number of full articles increased after 1989. Marx, Engels and Lenin were the most frequently cited international authors before 1989, superseded by Giddens, Beck and Luhmann. "Western" sociology classics (Durkheim, Weber etc.) only began to be frequently cited after the revolution. Among Czech authors, J. Buriánek, M. Petrusek and J. Šubrt were the most frequently cited throughout the history of AUC StS. A total of 86 individuals (45 men and 41 women) contributed to the 21 issues of AUC StS, mostly Czech sociologists. Given its structure of authors, AUC StS (as opposed to the Czech Sociological Review, for instance) has remained a genuinely Czech periodical, even in the most recent years. Mean age of authors grew from one issue to another until the year 2006, which can be explained by a stable circle of a few active contributors. In contrast, mean age decreased considerably over the past decade. E. Urbánek, J. Sedláček and J. Buriánek were the most productive contributors. Papers on sociological theory dominate the journal's structure of topics. After 1989, attention to empirical research grew at the expense of sociological tradition (i.e. particular schools and streams). The trends in article topics exhibit diminishing focus on social structure and stratification, history of Czech and Slovak sociology or general research methodology, on one hand, and growing interest in specialized areas of sociological inquiry, and in particular social transformation and modernization, social deviance and pathology, or environmental problems. Our comprehensive analysis demonstrates AUC StS as a journal of a relatively stable orientation, in terms of both authors and topics. It reveals some trends that might arguably be ascribed to Czech sociology as a whole, with structure of authors cited clearly shifting from "East" to "West" and an increasing diversity of sources cited. The growing interest in modernization and transformation of Czech society and in empirical research in special areas of social reality can be viewed as another trend that has affected all of Czech sociology over the past quarter century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zpravy MOS is the property of Comenius Museum in Prerov and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Paměť a Dějiny is the property of Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Single motherhood is known to have negative consequences on the wellbeing and life chances of mothers and their children. It appears as a consequence of parental dissolution or birth to an unpartnered woman. There are studies of divorce and union separation in the Czech Republic but less is known about women who bear their children outside unions. The goal of the paper is to determine if the proportion of mothers who bear children without having a partner changes in time and if there is a change in the socio-demographic characteristics of mothers. As the data on unpartnered childbearing are limited, the paper also aims to map the available data sources and their possibilities and limitations. Two data sources are used to measure births to unpartnered mothers, the birth register (BR) and the Labour Force Survey (LFS). BR data include mothers of liveborn infants in 2007-2014 (n = 886,467) but do not contain a direct measure of family arrangement. Single mothers are defined as those who did not provide information about newborn's father. The LFS dataset is limited to households with a member under one year of age interviewed in 1993-2010 (n = 8,172). Single motherhood is defined as an absence of mother's partner in the household. Results about single motherhood are reported for all households and for those headed by one of the infant's parents. The main independent variable is time period. Three maternal characteristics are controlled for, namely education, age, and parity. The proportion of children with unidentified fathers declined slightly from about 10% in 2007 to 8% in 2014. Both measures of unpartnered childbearing based on household composition suggest a growing trend in the 1993-2007 period and then stabilisation. The proportion of mothers without partners among all households with an infant rose from 7% (1993-1995) to 12-13% (2005-2010). As for households headed by child's single parent, the number of single mothers is underestimated because a substantial proportion of tem live in households headed by other persons. There is a growing trend from 3% to 8%. These figures also indicate that the proportion of single mothers who live in their own households increased from 37% (1993-1995) to 60% (2008-2010). Logistic regression was used to test if the trends apply to mothers in all socio-demographic groups. The results suggest that each of the measures of unpartnered motherhood is strongly associated with low (i.e. primary) education, first parity, and low or high age of mothers (up to 25 or above 35 y.o.). Interaction between time period and maternal characteristics shows that the decline in the non-identification of fathers occured in all groups of mothers except those with low (i.e. primary or vocational) education and those of third or higher parity. These groups show a growing tendency not to acknowledge fathers. The absence of fathers in households with infants exhibited a similar trend in all groups of mothers. In sum, different definitions result in different estimates of unpartnered motherhood. Depending on the measure, the ratio of births outside unions was estimated between 8% and 12% at the end of the 2000s (i.e. the time period of 2008-2010 when all of the time series overlap). Measurement based on the absence of father in any type of household provides the highest estimate of the proportion of unpartnered childbearing, while the other two measures lead to lower estimates. The results regarding temporal trends in unpartnered childbearing also depend on measurement. This suggests that the absence of coresident partner and denial of information about child's father are different events and they are likely to further differentiate in the future. The fact that the growing tendency to acknowledge paternity is not accompanied by higher numbers of coresident unions indicates a changing norm of fatherhood. The observed trends also imply that non-marital birth and the absence of paternal information, i.e. the two pieces of information recorded in the birth register, are becoming less and less informative regarding the composition of households of newborns. This makes future research more dependent on survey data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Czech Republic and its predecessor, Czechoslovakia, have a long-term tradition of immunization programmes, with a current coverage rate of 98-99%. Vaccination is mandated by law to all individuals living in the territory of the Czech Republic. In legal terms, a person who refuses to have their child vaccinated commits an administrative offence against public health. While many experts consider immunization as one of the greatest achievements of modern medicine, some members of Czech society do not regard compulsory vaccination as a clearly positive phenomenon. This paper focuses on parents' critical perspectives on immunization in the Czech Republic. Its goal is to present the sociodemographic characteristics of parents with critical attitudes to immunization as well as the argumentative discourses they mobilize. The text is based on a questionnaire survey of parents who are active critics of immunization practice. The questionnaire was published at the website of Rozalio, a leading NGO that mobilizes parents against the practice of compulsory vaccination in the Czech Republic. 372 respondents participated in the survey. Open-ended questions were used to invite the parents to share their attitudes on vaccination and their motivations to refuse or critique the practice. The paper starts by presenting a sociodemographic profile of the parents who participated in the questionnaire survey. The quantitative data presented are not representative and rather provide us with general hints to better understand who the parents against vaccination are. The results indicate that critical debates on the practice of compulsory vaccination are primarily attended by better-educated women living in different parts of the Czech Republic. Subsequently, the central part of the analysis deals with the respondents' answers to open-ended questions about their motivations to refuse/postpone vaccination. Three distinct ways the parents framed their critical attitudes to vaccination were identified in the analysis. The most salient frame, "cbiomedical discourse of risk", exploited the concepts and principles of biomedicine but deviated from the dominant interpretation of immunization as public good, instead emphasizing related individual risks. As opposed to the concept of collective immunity as one of the pillars of general immunization policies and epidemiologic discourses, the parents emphasized the need to take an individual approach and personalize the risk. The second frame, "discourse of holistic health", was much less salient. Referring to the principles of holistic medicine, it emphasized the role of lifestyle at the expense of medical control of the body. Finally, "activist discourse" was another less frequently mentioned frame. It argued against vaccination as part of a more general critique of the ways the health care system operates and government interferes with individual freedoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following papers are included: "Responses to the Literature Papers" (Malynne M. Sternstein); "Kitsch and Irony in Kundera: 'The Joke' and 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being'" (Aaron Beaver); "Daniela Fischerova's 'The Message Table': (Lauren McConnell); "Rethinking the Grotesque in Hrabal's Fiction" Carnival as a Model for Closely Watching Trains" (Laura Shear Urbaszewski); "Responses to the Linguistics Papers" (Masako U. Fidler); "Czech Preposition Vocalization: Towards an Articulatory Approach" (Jefrey D. Holdeman); Czech Quantity: the Proto-Slavic Accentology" (Mark Pisaro); "The East, West, and the Center of Europe as Cultural Concepts, Emblems, and Vehicles of Creative Misunderstanding" (Petr Bilek); "When Just Saying 'No' is Not Enough: Some Discourse Interactional Properties of 'Ano,''No,' and 'Jo'" (Masako U. Fidler); "In Search of Representational Means for Inner Worlds: Gogol-Dostoevsky-Kafka" (Alexander Levitsky); "Czech Jewish Identity After the Holocaust: The Case of Jiri Weil, the Pinkas Synagogue, and Weil's Elegy for the 77,297" (Alisa Gayle Mayor). References appear at the end of each chapter. (KFT)

This volume contains the following papers: "Texas Czech of Texas Czechs: An Ethnolinguistic Perspective on Language Use in a Dying Language Community" (Lida Dutkova); "Language Variation in an Immigrant Community: Language and Community Maintenance" (Eva Eckert); "Some Special Problems of Imperfective Derivation in Czech" (Charles Townsend); "Responses to the Linguistics Papers" (Mirjam Fried); "Betraying K: Milan Kundera Exile and the Translator's Art" (Deborah Garfinkle); "Kundera's Kafka, Kafka's Kundera" (Hana Pichova, Marjorie E. Rhine); "From Prague to New York City: Feminist Poetics of Iva Pekarkova" (Elena Sokol); "Responses to the Literature Papers" (Karen von Kunes); "Referentiality vs. Intertextuality: Transformations of Meanings and Ambiguity of Reference in Contemporary Czech Prose-Fiction" (Petr Bilek); "The Baroque Spirit of Czech Literature and the Legacy of Russian Arabesques: Neruda, Capek, Gogol, and Dostoevsky" (Alexander Levitsky); "West Slavic Influence on East Slavic Cyrillic Orthography Before the 12th Century: Novgorodan and Galician" (Robert Mathiesen); "A Conversational Analysis of Debate" (Masako Ueda); "Appendix: The Czech Teaching Resources and Materials Project" (Jeff Holdeman). References appear at the end of each chapter. (KFT)

A student of the Faculty of Arts at the Masaryk University in Brno and graduate of the Theatre and Education Studio at JAMU makes the readers acquainted with five British institutions that offer study programmes in the field of theatre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The paper presents an application of a mixed-methods design in the study of interethnic attitudes (prejudice). Its goal is to analyze the relationship between attitudes towards the Roma and contacts with members of this group. Both quantitative and qualitative empirical material is used here and methodologically, the analysis presented seeks to verify the applicability, limits and usefulness of mixed methods for prejudice research. Theoretically, the text is based on the contact hypothesis, which mainly holds that contacts with members of a group that is targeted by prejudice lower the level of prejudice towards the group as a whole. It was formulated by Gordon Allport in the 1950s and developed later by authors like Thomas Pettigrew or Linda Tropp. The premises of the contact hypothesis are applied in the case of attitudes towards the Roma in the Czech Republic. Mixed-methods design provides the methodological framework for this study. A secondary analysis of quantitative surveys (by the Public Opinion Research Centre) is followed (enriched and deepened) by a primary analysis of qualitative semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of members of the Czech majority. This mixed design is intended to achieve more comprehensive and convincing results compared to a single-method (either qualitative or quantitative) approach. Results of the quantitative surveys show that intergroup contact is related to reduced prejudice and that the effect of contact is stronger than that of sociodemographic variables like education or age. At the same time, even among people who have positive contacts with the Roma (as their friends or good acquaintances), the attitudes to this group as a whole (i.e. the Roma as a social category) are only relatively less prejudiced, and the absolute average level of prejudice towards the Roma is quite high even among them. The qualitative part of the research shows mechanisms that can explain both the process of mitigating prejudices and, maybe even more strongly, persistence of prejudices among the people who have contacts. Interview participants argued about "normality of prejudiced attitudes" and "exceptionality" of their Roma friends, which enabled them to have good relations with concrete individuals and at the same time keep negative attitudes to the group as a whole. The data analyzed have several limitations. The quantitative data are cross-sectional, not longitudinal, so causality can be targeted only indirectly. Contact with the Roma is described only by one simple indicator of whether the respondent has a friend or good acquaintance among the Roma. The qualitative data have some limits, too - the sample is highly variable but fails to include people with pronounced prejudices against the Roma or people from the lowest social strata of the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this article is to inform social scientists, especially those of a quantitative orientation, about the basic characteristics of Big Data and to present the opportunities and limitations of using such data in social research. The paper informs about three basic types of Big Data as they are distinguished in contemporary methodological literature, namely administrative data, transaction data and social network data, and exemplifies how they can be utilized by quantitative social research. According to many, questionnaire-based sample survey as the dominant method of quantitative social research has found itself in a crisis, especially as response rates have decreased in most developed countries and public confidence in opinion polling has declined. The author presents the characteristics and specifics of Big Data compared to survey research -- a method whose primary distinguishing characteristic is the capacity to quantify individual behaviour, social action and attitudes at the level of populations. In this context, the article draws attention to the differences between Big Data and survey data typically presented in scholarly literature, namely that datasets are not representative of known populations, the values of observed variables are systematically biased, there is a limited number of variables in Big Data sets, there is uncertainty about the meaning of observed values, and social environment has direct influence on the behaviours captured by Big Data. Attention is also paid to such characteristics of Big Data that pose an obstacle to smooth integration of this type of data in the social scientific mainstream. First, the collection, processing and analysis of Big Data is extremely demanding in terms of programming skills, something social scientists typically do not have. Second, the availability of Big Data is limited as they are normally possessed by private corporations, some of which (Facebook, Google) have undoubtedly come to form data oligopolies -- and their management is mostly unwilling to share their data with traditional academics. Based on the above-mentioned specifics, differences and limitations, it is argued that Big Data currently do not have the potential of becoming a full-fledged source of social science data and replacing sample surveys as the dominant research method. Finally, the article draws attention to the specifics of different types of Big Data as they are primarily generated for purposes other than social research and result from specific situations framed by existing social relations -- and it is from this perspective that Big Data should be viewed by social researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-random selection of reproductive partners in the human population, i.e. assortative mating, has been a stable occurrence for decades and across societies, including the Czech Republic. Social sciences have paid primary attention to homogamy, marriage between similar partners, also due to its potential impact on society. High levels of homogamy in a society may imply high closedness of the different groups, prevent social mobility, suggest racial tensions, or lead to higher inequality. Three factors are deemed as responsible for homogamy. Structural factors are represented by the partners' physical closeness as they meet, for example, at school or other institutions. Second, there are individual factors, namely one's personal preferences for a relationship with someone similar to one. Finally, social factors represent the influence of social groups as they have their own stake in preserving group cohesion through marriage between their members. However, evidence of assortative mating and its mechanisms mostly comes from attitudinal data or questionnaire surveys, which make it difficult to differ between individual and structural factors, among others. In this review article, I focus on the potential of data from online dating sites to help us better understand assortative mating. Is the Internet changing the ways people meet? How does assortative mating work in the online environment and what can it tell us about the mating process in general? The paper starts by presenting the main theories of assortative mating and adding information on the specifics of the online environment. There are basically two contradictory expectations of the effect of the Internet on the mating process. The first group assumes that the easy access to thousands of potential partners across all sociodemographic groups an online dating service provides, plus the absence of direct influence of intermediaries such as community members, will lead to higher diversity of the ensuing marriages. In short, the level of assortative mating will decrease. The opposite expectation is based on the assumption that people generally prefer contact with similar partners and online dating services help them more effectively filter mates by preferred criteria, thus avoiding contact with people who do not fit their expectations. As a result, assortative mating will grow. The theory section is followed by a review of contemporary international research of online dating services with regard to assortative mating. I conclude the detailed review by arguing that the human preference for similar partners occurs in the online environment as well, and therefore, assortative mating likely cannot be explained by structural factors only. Moreover, all points to the fact that data from real-life user interaction in online dating services can importantly widen our knowledge of assortative mating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents to Czech social scientists an introductory review of the concept of equivalence and the method of blockmodeling in social network analysis (SNA). After introducing the central concepts of SNA such as node and tie, along with their basic metrics such as centrality and cohesion, I present the concepts of role and position. These are treated by SNA as clusters of nodes with similar ties, something I juxtapose to algorithms to identify cohesive subgroups of nodes. Subsequently, I define and compare the two most frequently applied types of equivalence -- structural, which is strict but broadly applicable, and regular, which is more liberal but has limited uses. Structural equivalence builds on a strict definition of similarity of ties, treating as equivalent only such nodes that have the same ties to the same other nodes. Regular equivalence works with looser criteria and better corresponds with both the theoretical and the intuitive notions of role; this, however, is outweighed by the absence of a unique regular-equivalent solution within a network and by the difficulty to process networks with undirected ties. Regular-equivalent nodes are such that have ties to other mutually equivalent nodes. I present examples to demonstrate the differences between both definitions. In the following section, I discuss measurement of similarity between the different nodes' profiles of ties (e.g., correlation and Euclidean distance) and possible uses of the standard statistical methods of cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling to detect equivalent classes of nodes within networks. After pointing to the weaknesses of these techniques in network data analysis, I present blockmodeling as a method designed specifically to identify roles and positions within networks. I schematize the blockmodeling procedure and present its basic terms before comparing classic inductive blockmodeling, which is primarily fit for the purposes of exploration and network reduction, with deductive generalized blockmodeling, which is applicable in testing hypotheses about basic structural characteristics of a network. I bring attention to the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches. Relatedly, I present an application of blockmodeling especially for the purposes of simplified network representation, comparing structural patterns across networks, and testing structural theories. In the following section, I demonstrate specific blockmodeling algorithms based on both structural equivalence (CONCOR and Tabu Search optimization) and regular equivalence (REGE and Tabu Search optimization). Then I verify the adequacy of their resulting assignment of positions to nodes using eta coefficient, Q modularity and correlation of the ideal blocked and the empirical adjacency matrices. In the concluding section, I demonstrate the entire blockmodeling procedure on an empirical case of a small network with undirected ties using the UCINET software tool, including interpretation of results. Finally, I reflect the contemporary position of blockmodeling among leading research approaches in SNA, referring to other empirically oriented studies that demonstrate the broad applicability and utility of position analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of political socialization, as shown by numerous findings, is characterised as the transmission of political action and behaviour through the generations. In connection with the political changes the Czech Republic experienced since 1945, not only the prospect of generational continuity but also discontinuity come into consideration. The article deals with the influence of parents and other socialization factors on political self-identification in the Czech population. It focuses mainly on the major age groups: young people up to the age of 29, the younger middle generation of 30-44 years, the older middle generation of 45-59 years and individuals aged 60 years or older, and their parents. The starting point of the considerations is the theory of social change and the interconnection of political socialization on the micro and macro levels. The paper analyses the circumstances of socialization and its effects on political orientation in a representative sample of Czech population (N = 522). The basis for determining the impact of socialization was set as the intensity of interest in political events together with the main resources affecting political orientation such as self-education and reading, followed by parental influence. The ratio of father's and mother's communist orientation plus their interest in politics accounted for the other socialization factors. Political background of the respondents was compared with their self-identification on the left-right political scale. Correlation analysis helped highlight the significance of father's influence, rather than mother's, in the process of political socialization. It also showed an overall negative impact of parental political discussion on the formation of left-right orientation. ANOVA analysis demonstrated a strong relationship between socio-occupational status and political inclusion. This inclusion effect was more frequent among left-wing labourers and pensioners and right-wing entrepreneurs, tradesmen, students and apprentices. Not only social background but also age signalled significant differences in opinions. The youngest generation as a whole relates to the right wing of the political spectrum. At the same time, the generation of 60+ is inclined to the left of the centre. As a matter of fact, this group, more than other age groups, is interested in political events and is deeply involved in political discussions. The young generation manifests itself in both directions. Parents' political socialization actions towards their children induced agreement with parental political orientation only to a lesser extent. The study also dealt with two influences, sometimes mutually supportive and other times competing, namely parental socialization influence, political and economic conditions. Attitudes to social and political situation differed between age groups. The influence of society--level circumstances is more significant than that of parental political socialization. It was possible to observe political continuity between the generations of 60+, or even their parents, and the older middle generation aged 45-59. When there is mostly continuity between them and their children then discontinuity tends to arise between them and their parents. The distribution of political orientation reveals a dynamic field. Attitudes to changes in society vary between generations as well. During the shaping of political orientation, the influence of social and political conditions is more decisive than political action, no matter how good its intentions are. This confirms the concept of political socialization as a way in which individual socialization interacts with one's social position due to various social factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on two festive compositions which were composed in the year 1738 for Countess Maria Antonia von Kaunitz, who married count of Questenberg at the very same year. First of the mentioned compositions is the serenata II giudizio di Paride by the famous Italian composer Domenico Sarro. The second one is the festive opera II delizioso ritiro scielto da Lucullo, console Romano by the Viennese composer and theorbist Ignazio Conti. The libretto of the latter was written by the then impresario of opera at Brno - Philippo Neri del Fantasia. The serenata II giudizio di Paride was composed to celebrate the Countess' Name Day and was a whimsical pastoral play performed in the early evening on the 13th June in the illuminated garden theatre. The opera II delizioso ritiro scielto da Lucullo, console Romano was performed in the castle theatre hall only two days later. The stage designs were made according to the famous Imperial theatre architect and engineer Giuseppe Galii Bibiena, and gave an audience an idea of the Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou castle's premises. As a matter of fact, through this voluminous and representative work, with the main character inspirited by the Count Questenberg himself, the Count wanted to express his attitude to life, accentuate his Moravian patriotism, as well as to show off, to both his wife and the present aristocratic audience, the life advantages of his seat at Jaroměřice, which he was rightly proud of. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the beginning of the 1990's there have been relatively large changes in the reproductive behaviour of the population of the Czech Republic, including a significant increase in the proportion of children born out of wedlock. The paper describes the development of fertility rates among unmarried and married women in the years 1989-2014 in detail. Attention is paid to three main influences which are responsible for the proportion of children born out of wedlock, and obviously above all to the rates of nonmarital and marital fertility (by age and by birth order). The analysis shows that although there has been a convergence of the rates of fertility of married and unmarried women since the beginning of the 21st century, the reproductive behaviour of these women is still significantly different (average age of mother at birth of (first) child, distribution of birth order). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is focused on changing rates of church affiliation and church attendance in the course of intergenerational and intragenerational transmission on the cases of four post-communist countries of central Europe: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. It is a generally accepted fact that the rates of traditional forms of religiosity in the Czech society declined continuously during the second half of the 20th century, while such an enormous decline was not indicated in other post-communist countries of Central Europe. These differences and their causes are main question for this analytical work. Contemporary religiosity is dependent on rates of its reproduction between generations. Inter- and intragenerational transmission was influenced by two basic factors: First, by an anti-religious policy, which varied between the communist regimes, and second by the resistance of some people and families against that concrete anti-religious policy. The rapid secularisation of Czech society was due to those two factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Levels of trust in political institutions and political actors are constantly low in the Czech Republic. This paper deals with the perspective of professional politicians, which is an unexplored topic in the Czech context. At the same time, we supplement the traditional view of political culture with an approach based on interpretive and constructivist sociology. We focus on the construction of symbolic boundaries by Czech politicians. We pursue a combination of narrative (Ricoeur) and critical discourse analysis (Wodak) based on 21 thematically oriented biographical interviews with politicians from three traditional political parties (ODS, ČSSD, KSČM) who have been actively involved in politics since the early 90's. The findings suggest that the politicians use symbolic boundaries as a cultural instrument for legitimizing their identity, status and practice of "traditional" politics. By defining others, the politicians are able to construct a reality in which they are on the same boat with citizens while standing on the command bridge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Piano Cycle On an Overgrown Path is the composer's most frequently performed instrumental piece. The eleven year period of its composition indicates the complicated genesis of the work. Janáček initially did not react to a call in the year 1897 to write simple compositions for harmonium for a volume of Slavic Melodies. He finally sent the publisher, however, seven 'moods' in the year 1900, from which five were published in all in print in the years 1901 and 1902, with only the title On an Overgrown Path. Jan Branberger approached Janáček in the year 1908 with a request for short instrumental compositions for an edition of B. Kočí. Janáček gradually expanded the cycle to ten compositions (two unpublished compositions from the year 1900 were not used) and provided them with poetic titles. They were finally released in the year 1911 with the Brno publisher A. Píša. Shortly before this release of the original cycle, Janáček released the first composition from the 'new' cycle On an Overgrown Path on 30 September 1911 in the literary supplement to the evening edition of Lidové noviny, this time without, however the poetic title. The printed draft was Ševčík's undated copy, which contained three numbered compositions in all, all of them without names. It is highly probable that the entire new cycle came about in the year 1911. The remaining two compositions in the new cycle were not, however, published during the lifetime of the composer. The final composition does not have its final phrasing and the composer wrote possible changes to it in pencil. The second edition of the first cycle came about in the year 1925 in the music section of Umělecká beseda from the original printed plates, with only minor changes. Janáček did not actively contribute to the publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]