Traces of Musical Life in Advertisements of Humoristické Listy (with focus on the 1880s)

• Authors: Balódy Milan

Title variants

CS

Stopy hudebního života v inzerci Humoristických listů (se zaměřením na 80. léta 19. století)

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

The study uses advertising sections of the widely read and successful weekly Humoristické listy [Humorous Papers] as a source of the history of music. Through an analysis of advertisement departments, it maps the city inhabitants´ opportunities in the late nineteenth century to fill their leisure time with musical activities. The advertisements create a space where the offer encounters the inquiry. They thus become a witness to contemporary tastes, preferences, and mentalities. The research shows that alongside traditional musical instruments, which required at least a rudimentary interpretation skills to master the play, instruments operating by mechanical means (automatophones) or those designed without much artistic ambition for profane social entertainment (e.g. bigotphones) were gaining in popularity. The space in which contact with music took place was also expanding. Various refreshment venues allured people with regular concerts. The submitted text is a contribution to the history of popular music in the Czech lands, and it partly reflects the public taste of the time.

Keywords

EN

Musical advertisements; musical taste; leisure time; popular culture; Humoristické listy; musical life in the Czech lands

• Publisher: The National Institute of Folk Culture
• Journal: Národopisná revue (Journal of Ethnology)
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 322 - 333

Contributors

author

Balódy Milan