Adolf Patera
Czech historian and philologist (b. 27 July 1836 [N.S.] in Hudlice; d. 9 December 1912 [N.S.] in Prague).
Patera was a graduate in the field of Slavic philology at the Faculty of Arts of Prague University. In 1861 he became librarian of the Czech Museum, and was appointed the director of the institution in 1893. He was a member of several learned societies, and promoted cultural ties between the Russian and Czech-speaking peoples. During Tchaikovsky's visit to Prague in February 1888, the composer delivered a short speech in Czech at a banquet following one of his concerts, using a transliteration made for him by Patera.
Correspondence with Tchaikovsky
6 letters from Tchaikovsky to Adolf Patera have survived, dating from 1888 and 1889, of which those highlighted in bold have been translated into English on this website:
- Letter 3530 – 15/27 March 1888, from Vienna
- Letter 3732 – 26 November/8 December 1888, from Vienna
- Letter 3749 – 26 December 1888/7 January 1889, from Frolovskoye
- Letter 3763 – 9/21 January 1889, from Frolovskoye
- Letter 3799 – 17 February/1 March 1889, from Leipzig
- Letter 3811 – 28 February/12 March 1889, from Hamburg
4 letters from Adolf Patera to the composer, dating from 1888 and 1889, are preserved in the Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve at Klin (a4, Nos. 3227–3230).
Bibliography
- Pražské návštěvy P. I. Čajkovského (1952)
- Чайковский в Праге (1953)
- Антонин Дворжак. Сборник статей (1967)
